some kind ofbody that was both earthy and moist? ln no way; that rather is what
332 The Literal Meaning of Genesis lf the human soul is not made out ofnon-rational soul, neither is it made out ofany bodily element
18. The material, therefore, for the human soul is not any non-rational soul either.9
12. What then is it from which the soul was made by the puff of God? Was it some kind ofbody that was both earthy and moist? ln no way; that rather is what flesh was made from, after all. What else, I mean, is mud but moist earth? Nor can it be supposed that the soul was made of moisture alone, as though the flesh was from earth, the soul from water. It is surely too absurd to think that the soul of the man was made from the same material as the flesh of a fish and a bird. 10
1 9. So then from air, perhaps? A puff, you see, accords with this element; yes, but our puff, not God's. That is why we said above1 1 that this idea could be suit ably entertained if we supposed God to be the soul of the universe as of one gigantic animated being, so that in this case he would puff the man's soul from the air of his body, just as ours puffs from the air of its own. Since, however, it is common ground that God is far and away above the whole body of the universe and the whole spiritual realm which he created, how can this seriously be main tained? Or could it be that the more present God is by his unique omnipotence to his universal creation, the more it was within his power to make a puff out of air, to be the man's soul?
But the soul is not corporeal, while anything made out of the corporeal elements of the universe must necessarily be corporeal, and this air too is counted among the elements of the universe. Even were the soul said to be made from the pure element of that heavenly fire, it would be wrong to believe this. There have indeed been those who maintained that every kind of body can be changed into every otherkind ofbody; but that any kind ofbody, whether earthly or heavenly, is ever converted into soul and becomes an incorporeal substance—well, I know of nobody who has ever held this, and faith has no room for it.
A satisfactory compromise suggested by medical science
1 3, 20. Finally 1 2—if we are not to dismiss what the medical men not only say, but insist that they can prove to be true—although every sort of flesh manifestly
9. He had already ruled out, in sections 10 and 11 above, the possibility of the human soul's material being some kind of spiritual matter. The non-rational soul he hasjust also dismissed is a kind of half-way stage between spiritual matter and normal bodily or material matter, which he is now going on to discuss, and eliminate. 10. Made on the fifth day, when the waters produced fishes and birds.
1 1 . Chapter 4, section 6.
1 2. Reading Denique with the Maurists, instead ofDeinde with the CSEL text; this carries a connotation of "consequently" which does not really fit the context.