Tertullian and traducianism - in De Anima - was he noted by Arthur Custance?

[Steven Avery]

From Kirk

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traducianism from Tertullian .. sin nature passed through the man, maybe it is in De anima

Tertullian
supported traducianism, the doctrine that both body and soul (and therefore the sinful nature) are passed from parent to child, largely articulated in his work De Anima (On the Soul). He argued that the soul is inherited from Adam through reproduction, allowing original sin to be transmitted biologically rather than just by example or imputation.
Key Aspects of Tertullian’s Traducianism:

• Source: Outlined primarily in De Anima (chapter 19 and others).
• Mechanism: The soul is not created immediately by God at conception but is transmitted from the parents—a "seed" of the soul, much like the body.
• Original Sin: Because the soul is passed down, the "corruption" of sin inherited from Adam is carried through the generations.
• Composition: Man is composed of two substances, soul and body, which are both passed down.

Tertullian’s view aimed to explain how humanity inherits Adam's sinful state, framing it as a physical, inherited corruption rather than just a spiritual, imputed one. While not adopted as official dogma by all, his traducianism was a significant early theological explanation for original sin.

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traducianism from Tertullian .. sin nature passed through the man, maybe it is in De anima


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You’ve nailed the source.
Tertullian (c. 155–220 AD) is the father of Traducianism, the belief that the soul is not created anew by God at conception but is generated by the parents along with the body.
His most detailed defense of this is indeed in his treatise
De Anima
(A Treatise on the Soul), specifically around chapters 19 through 41.

How the "Sin Nature" is Passed
Tertullian's view is highly "realistic" and biological:

• The Single Seed: He argued that every human soul is a "shrub" or "branch" (from the Latin tradux) grown from the original soul of Adam.
• The "Semen" of the Soul: In
  De Anima
  27, he posits that human semen contains both the physical material for the body and a "soul-producing" element (animae seminarium).
• Contaminated Inheritance: Because Adam’s soul became corrupted by sin, every subsequent soul "budded" from his is born with that same taint. He famously wrote, "Thus every soul is considered to be in Adam until it is considered anew to be in Christ" (
  De Anima
  40).

The "Through the Man" Theory
While Tertullian argued that the entire human nature (soul and body) is inherited, modern discussions often use his Traducianism to support the theory that sin is passed specifically through the male line:

• Paternal Transmission: This theory (A Patre) suggests that because Jesus was born of a virgin (without a human father), He did not inherit the "sin nature".
• Scriptural Roots: Proponents often cite Romans 5:12, which says sin entered the world through one man (Adam), and Hebrews 7:9–10, which describes Levi as being "in the loins" of his father Abraham.

Note on Tertullian: While he emphasized Adam as the source, he believed the "seed" for the whole person was delivered by the father during conception, making the male the primary agent of transmission.
Are you looking for the exact Latin quote from
De Anima
regarding the "seed" of the soul, or are you comparing this to the Roman Catholic view of the Immaculate Conception?

• A Patre: A Theory on the Transmission of Original Sin - R. L. Solberg
  Dec 16, 2021 — Although Miryam had a fallen human nature, as Yeshua's mother, her fallenness would not have been transmitted to Him. Thus, withou...
  
  
  
  R. L. Solberg
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Quo peruersius quid dici potest? Tertullian’s De anima an...
  Oct 1, 2025 — Since from the beginning there exists only one seed of the soul that originated from Adam, who is thus forefather of the souls of ...
  
  
  
  De Gruyter Brill
  
  
  
  
  
  
• What's original in original sin? - The BioLogos Forum
  Jul 9, 2019 — Tertullian is sometimes overlooked in the debate about original sin, but it was he who first introduced the doctrine of inheritabl...
  
  
  
  The BioLogos Forum

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[Steven Avery]

 

[Steven Avery]

1. De Anima (On the Soul), especially chapters 10, 19, 27, and 39
Although the search excerpts above do not quote these chapters directly, they confirm that Tertullian’s traducianism is rooted in De Anima, which is repeatedly identified as the locus of his doctrine.

The most important lines (in standard translations) include:

a. “The soul is seminally transmitted.”
Tertullian argues that the soul is “traduced” (drawn along) from the parents just as the body is. This is the core statement from which the entire doctrine takes its name.

b. “The soul and the body are conceived together.”
He insists that the soul is not added later by a special act of God but arises with the body in generation.