Paracelsus's theory of embodiment emerged gradually from his need to assert himself as a unique physician with a new approach to medicine. He keenly recognized the widespread interest in understanding human conception and gestation that permeated religious, medical and legal discourses of his day. People were curious about when and how a person gained a soul, whether physical deformity was indicative of a lurking evil and wondered if the moment of birth was such a precarious time that women should be supervised in the birthing room. Defining and explaining the meaning of the body took on new significance in the sixteenth century as Reformers asserted the direct connection to the divine rather than the mediated spirituality of the Church. At the same time German universities began to offer medical education and the field of medicine was likewise experiencing a revolution of sorts. Authority needed to be established. When the university-educated physicians asserted their dominance based on knowledge of classical texts, midwives, alchemists and other marginalized practitioners sought to highlight their unique skills. Paracelsus was cognizant of the multiple ways in which the body and soul were scrutinized and while he may have marched to the beat of his own drummer, he never ceased to inquire about the relationship between spiritual being and the physical self. He likely never intended to articulate a theory of embodiment. Instead, he began on a rather simplistic crusade to establish his medical authority that drew on already established medieval alchemical traditions and also his new-found freedom to read and interpret the Bible for himself. It was undeniably a frightening endeavour that became even more dangerous to him as he began to question the limits of the divine. Had more of his writing been published during his lifetime, he may have been hanged or tortured like other radical reformers of his day. But Paracelsus was curious and used his writing as a way to work through his conviction that medicine required attention not only to the body but also recognition of spiritual qualities which drew him to explain that all humans embody both spiritual and physical aspects.