Pre-existence

In Christian theology, pre-existence is the belief that each individual human soul existed before conception, and at conception (or later, depending on when it is believed that the soul enters the body) God places one of these pre-existence souls in the body. Pre-existence is in contrast to creationism and traducianism, which both hold that the individual human soul does not come into existence until conception or later.

Pre-existence is a belief of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.