Catholic Dictionary

Find accurate definitions of over 5,000 Catholic terms and phrases (including abbreviations). Based on Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

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TRADUCIANISM

The theory that holds that the soul of a child is physically transmitted from the parents. One form claims that the soul is the result of a material seed akin to the material principle of bodily generation. Another form, called spiritual traducianism, holds that a spiritual seed cast off from the souls of the parents is the germ of the new soul for the infant. The theory is in contradiction with Catholic doctrine that each person's soul is individually and separately created by God as the time of conception.