Pre-existence beforelife, or pre-mortal existence refers to 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

Ensoulment

Ensoulment, in theology, refers to the moment at which a human being gains a soul, whether newly created within a developing fetus or pre-existing and added at a particular stage of development....

) one of these pre-existent souls enters, or is placed by God

God

God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....

, in the body

Body

With regard to living things, a body is the physical body of an individual. "Body" often is used in connection with appearance, health issues and death...

. Alternative positions are traducianism

Traducianism

In Christian theology, traducianism is a doctrine about the origin of the soul , in one of the biblical uses of word to mean the immaterial aspect of human beings . Traducianism means that this immaterial aspect is transmitted through natural generation along with the body, the material aspect of...

 and creationism

Creationism (soul)

Creationism is a doctrine held by some Christians that God creates a soul for each body that is generated...

, which both hold that the individual human soul does not come into existence until conception.

This belief is held to a varying degree in Abrahamic and other religions.
The Old and New Testament address the question of pre-existence indirectly.