To reincarnate is to return to physical life, reborn in another body. This is the central idea of various religious doctrines, especially the East. In the West, the theory of reincarnation is widely divulged by Spiritism. To understand the plurality of lives it is necessary to believe in the immortality of the soul.

According to the Doctrine, the plurality of lives is proof of divine mercy. Only through reincarnation we have the opportunity to progress morally, correcting our shortcomings and improving our qualities. Reincarnation is therefore a natural law.

The passage of the Spirits in the flesh is thus justified by Spiritism:

132. What is the purpose of the incarnation of Spirits?

 - God determined this in order to bring the Spirits to perfection: for some, it is expiation; for others, a mission. But to reach this perfection, they must suffer all the difficulties of their corporeal existence; this is the atonement. Incarnation has another purpose, which is to allow the Spirit to accomplish his part in the work of creation. To do this he takes a body in each world, in harmony with the essential matter of the specific world where he goes to, in order to fulfill, from that point of view, God's orders. And in this way, the Spirit also contributes for the progress of the work in general. (The Book of Spirits by Allan Kardec).

Reincarnation did not come from Spiritism

The doctrine of successive lives, also called Palingenesia, from the Greek “Palin” (new) and “genesis” (birth) relates to the History of Ancient Civilizations. The first records about the reincarnation are from the Hindu, 5000 years BC. Later, the Egyptians also made notes on the subject: "Before birth, the child has lived, and death is not the end" (Egyptian papyrus, 3000 BC).

The great thinkers, precursors to Spiritism and to the Christian idea, widely discussed the issue in their philosophical schools. Pythagoras claimed to be the reincarnation of Euphorbus the son of Panto, who was killed by Menelaus in the Trojan War:

"The soul never dies, but resumes a new life, changes the address, and takes another body. As for me, I've been Euphorbias in the Trojan War and I remember perfectly well my name and my parents and that I was killed fighting with the King of Sparta ... But while living in various bodies, the soul is always the same, since only the body changes”. (Pythagoras 572-492 BC). 

Socrates, considered by many the greatest philosopher of the Western world, also expressed his thoughts on the subject. Although he left no written statement, his teachings were recorded and immortalized by his disciples: "I am convinced that we live again and that we come from those who died, and that the souls of those who died are alive". (Socrates, 469-399 BC).

Plato, who was strongly influenced by Socrates and Pythagoras, became the great disseminator of the doctrine of reincarnation. His records are mentioned by various theologians to justify the object in question: "O thou young man or young woman who you think you abandoned by the gods, know that if you become worse, you will have to be with the worst souls, but if you become better, you will join the best souls, and in every succession of life and death you will suffer and make suffer what an equal can deservedly suffer at the hands of equals too. This is the justice of Heaven”. “To learn is to remember”. (Plato, 427-347 BC).        

Reincarnation as a Jewish dogma

In Israel there were two schools of philosophy that dominated the spiritual class of the time, the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The first was formed by middle-class representatives, it was more flexible and believed in reincarnation, but used the term resurrection to describe the idea of the return of the soul to the physical life. "They [the Pharisees] also believed that souls had an immortal power within them and that in this land they will be rewarded or punished, according to the way they live, virtuously or in evil: and the later are maintained in an eternal prison, while the first shall have the power to live again”. (Flavius Josephus - Antiquities).

Already the Sadducees, outnumbered, were represented by the high society. Its members were conservative and did not believe in any way in the immortality of the soul and consequently in reincarnation.

But why mention here the Jewish beliefs?

The answer is simple, Jesus was a Jew and before starting His preaching, He probably received the same religious background of His people. The Gospel of Luke tells us that when Jesus turned 12 years old, He traveled with His parents from Nazareth to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover, the Jewish Passover; this fact shows the contact of Jesus with the Jewish religion. 

Jesus and reincarnation

Much has been said about the teachings of Jesus. Every religion emphasizes what suits it best, using the biblical records to substantiate their beliefs. Based on this assumption, we can mention some biblical passages that can be related to the doctrine of reincarnation.

Let us consider a passage of the Bible that references the dialogue between the Nazarene and a doctor of the Jewish law, Nicodemus, "Verily, verily I say that no one can see the Kingdom of God unless he is born again”. Then Nicodemus asked Him: “How can a man be born already old? Can he enter the womb of his mother, to be born a second time?” Jesus answered, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, unless one is born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. Who is born from flesh is flesh, and the one who is born from the spirit is spirit.  Do not be surprised because I said that you have to be born again. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes to; the same happens with the one who born of the spirit”. (John, Chapter III, vv. 1 to 12). 

In this passage, Jesus shows that one must be born again to enter the Kingdom of God, that is, to reach perfection. This is the principle of plurality of lives.

Another biblical segment that gives us subsidies to confirm the hypothesis that Jesus spoke about reincarnation refers to His explanation to the Apostles regarding Elijah and John the Baptist: "It is true that Elijah will come and restore all things; but I declare to you that Elijah has already come and they did not recognize him and treated him as it pleased them. This is how they will make the Son of Man suffer. Then his disciples understood that He was speaking about John the Baptist". (Matthew, Chapter XVII, vv. 10-13 and Mark, Chapter IX, vv. 11 to 13).

Now here the idea of transmigration of the soul seems very clear. If John the Baptist was Elijah, this fact can only be explained by reincarnation, as John the Baptist and Elijah were two different people with different physical bodies. If the belief in the doctrine of reincarnation was contrary to the teachings of Jesus, surely He would have fought it back, as He did with so many other conservative beliefs. 

Reincarnation a belief of early Christianity

Some scholars argue that the theory of reincarnation was accepted among early Christians. In fact, famous theologians and doctors of the Church as Origen, St. Clement, St. Jerome, and even St. Augustine, gave their opinion in favor of the plurality of lives:
 

"Every soul comes into this world strengthened by the victories or weakened by the defeats of its previous life. His place in this world is determined by his merits or demerits earlier. His work in this world will determine his place in the world that will follow”. (De Principiis and Counter Celsum - Origen).
 

"Did I not live in another body, somewhere else, before entering the womb of my mother?" (Confessions - St. Augustine). 

The proposal of successive lives would have resisted until the year 553, when Emperor Justinian convened the 2nd Council of Constantinople to fight Origen's ideas, which were adopted by the Church.

Why did Justinian take part in a religious question?

It is believed that his wife, Empress Theodora, before getting married, was a prostitute. For this not to compromise his reputation, Theodora ordered the murder of all prostitutes in the area, about five hundred of them. This caused insurrection among the Christians who believed in reincarnation; they accused her of murder. Many said that Theodora would have to return to life five hundred times to pay for the crimes she committed. The Empress, in turn, came to hate the doctrine of reincarnation and therefore asked her husband to take action in connection therewith. The Emperor, who had started a chase to Origen since the year 543, organized the Council and ordered with his authority that any idea related to reincarnation was banned from Christianity. 

This Council did not count with the presence of all the Bishops. Representatives of Rome and the majority of the western dioceses did not attend the meeting. Thus, Justinian managed easily to have his interests approved. Participants of the Council decided, therefore, to replace the belief in reincarnation by the belief in the resurrection. The final decision of the 2nd Council of Constantinople regarding this subject is: "The one, who sustains the mythical belief in the pre-existence of the soul, and consequently is of the strange opinion that the soul returns, let him be cursed”.

This decision still reflects today in the Christian doctrine. Justinian’s government changed the course of Christianity significantly. The Church of Rome has changed its speech, and eventually also influenced the Protestant doctrines.

For this reason, the Higher Spirits work to strengthen Spiritism, which proposes to redeem early Christianity. 

Reincarnation in the eyes of science

There are several scientific researches on reincarnation worldwide, including Brazil. One of the largest and most complex studies conducted so far off is based at Virginia University in the United States. A group of researchers, initially led by the psychiatrist Ian Stevenson, who died in 2007, study for decades, cases where people say they remember their previous lives. Dr. Stevenson spent 37 years recording and analyzing testimonies of children who claimed to have vivid memories of other lives. Some records, in fact, are impressive.

There are children, which at a very early age, already show innate talents in various fields of knowledge and are considered a mystery in the eyes of science. Small geniuses like Mozart, who composed his first song at age of 5, and so many other examples of kids with unusual knowledge, remain unexplained.

Would not it be fair to admit that there is a prior knowledge that can justify these talents? As children who were not even literate yet and develop complex skills in different areas, remembering prior situations to their present existence?

It was these observations that instigated Dr. Stevenson's research, which resulted in the publication of scientific materials and some books on the subject. The scientific community, however, does not look favorably upon the possibility of scientific proof of reincarnation. The reason is that studies on the subject are usually based on evidence narrated, people’s reports and based on comparisons. The difficulty in raising concrete evidence is very great because often there are considerable gaps between one and another reincarnation. There would be, according to this idea, nothing "tangible".

Another difficulty, often mentioned by Dr. Stevenson is that his fellow scientists believe in materialistic theories as absolute truths and are not open to new study possibilities. "If Inquisition still existed, these scientists, engaged in this type of research, would certainly be burned for heresy".  (Ian Stevenson).

It is important to remember that Galileo was also rejected by supporting the idea of Copernicus that the heavenly bodies revolved around the sun. So it is today with so many other issues; reincarnation is just one of them. The difference is that today no one is sentenced to death for defending his views, as in the time of Galileo.

Despite all the difficulties, Dr. Stevenson was able to arouse the interest of many of the scientists to the subject. The surveys are continuing and every day the expectations grow to prove the scientific evidence of the plurality of lives, though, for some, the evidence is irrefutable.

References:

Reincarnation in the Gospel - Hugo Alvarenga Novaes

Christianity and Spiritism - Leon Denis

The Gospel According to Spiritism - Allan Kardec

The Book of Spirits - Allan Kardec

Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation - American Society For Psychical Research. Portuguese version published by Editora Cultural Difusora.