VIII. Vinet—“I Do Not Believe in the Immortality of the Soul”

Late in life ALEXANDRE VINET (1797-1847), in a series of letters, ^{4141) Lettres d’Alexandre Vinet (Lausanne, 1882).} expressed his opposition to Plato, Descartes, and the ecclesiastical dogma, and formally denied the immortality of the soul separate from the body. Instead, he made immortality dependent upon the resurrection of the body. He contended that God alone is immortal, and communicates His immortality to such as are in conformity with Him, and to such as are united to Him. Here is Vinet’s statement of March 16, 1845:CFF2 597.1

“I do not believe to the immortality of the soul, but in the immortality of man, who is body and soul, a complete and complex whole; that is to say that I believe, with St. Paul, in the resurrection of the body, a dogma more reasonable than the other. Nor do I believe, or at least I have no proof, that God cannot dissipate this breath, efface this personality, destroy this ego composed of body and soul (if, indeed, it is composite). ^{4242) Ibid., vol. 2, p. 278, Letter cc, tr. in Petavel The Problem of Immortality, p. 420.}CFF2 597.2

In this he broke away from Plato and traditional dogma.CFF2 598.1

Vinet was groping toward Conditionalism, and warned of the dangers of Universalism. He also spoke of an absolute death for the wicked-that that which is lost is “destroyed,” and “no longer has the integrity of its parts and its qualities, that has perished and is no more.” ^{4343) Petavel, The Problem of Immortality, p. 422. See note 2, where vines says that loss is “complete and consummated.”} But Vinet did not think the hour had “arrived for an open rupture with traditional dogma.” ^{4444) Ibid., p. 426.}CFF2 598.2