mortalist

Mortalism is a theological belief that the soul is not immortal but dies with the body and will be resurrected at some future date. This contrasts with the traditional view of an inherently immortal soul that survives death. Mortalists believe that the state of the soul after death is unconsciousness until a general resurrection. This doctrine holds that immortality is a gift bestowed by God at the resurrection, rather than an inherent quality of the soul.

The belief in mortalism has appeared in various forms throughout history and across different religious traditions. Some early Christian groups and thinkers held mortalist views, often interpreting scripture in ways that supported the idea of a natural death of the soul. In some interpretations, the "soul" refers to the conscious self, which ceases to exist upon death until resurrection. This understanding is often rooted in specific readings of biblical passages that speak of sleep, unconsciousness, or a lack of knowledge of anything after death.

The opposite of mortalism is psychopannychism, which posits that the soul sleeps between death and resurrection, and immortalism, which asserts the soul's inherent immortality. Mortalism is not a widely held doctrine in mainstream Christianity today, but it continues to be a subject of theological discussion and is present in some smaller religious movements and individual theological stances. The core idea remains that life and consciousness are entirely dependent on the body, and any continuation beyond death is a direct act of divine intervention.