psychē

Semantic range

1. 1life itself — what one loses or saves
2. 2the inner self, seat of will and emotion
3. 3a person, counted as an individual

Psychē renders Hebrew nephesh and carries much of its concreteness — "whosoever will save his life [psychē] shall lose it" (Matthew 16:25) is about life, not about an immaterial part.

Greek philosophy pulled the word toward an immortal soul temporarily housed in a body, and much of later Christian thought followed. Restoration doctrine explicitly reverses that: "the spirit and the body are the soul of man" (D&C 88:15), and the resurrection is the permanent reunion of the two (Alma 11:43; D&C 138:17).

See also

• נֶפֶשׁnephesh
• πνεῦμαpneuma
• ἀνάστασιςanastasis