Here are some quotes from the early church about the soul and life after
death:
Souls are created at conception (does not pre-exist)
Souls do not cease at death
There is no purgatory
Souls enter ether paradise or Hades
No one has been cast into Gahenna yet.
Souls may or may not stay on earth for a time
Irenaeus 178 AD
Fragment 49 - The body and soul are created at the same time.
Hippolytus 170-236 AD
Refutation of all Heresies 9.24 - The Sadducees abolish fate,
acknowledge that God does nothing that is wicked, nor exercises providence
over (earthly concerns); but contend that the choice between good and
evil lies within the power of men. They deny that there is a resurrection not
only of flesh, but also they suppose that the soul does not continue after
death, but man and animals pass into non-existence.
Against Plato 1 - Hades is beneath the earth and contains paradise (still there)
abode of the wicked and Gehenna (one one yet has been cast in)
Apology 48 - Gehenna, which is a reservoir of secret fire under
the earth for purposes of punishment.
Marcion 2.8 - Man has an immortal soul coming from God, but it is not
God.
Treatise of the Soul 1.4 - The Soul is created and is corporeal. (rich man
in torment)
Treatise of the Soul 1.5 - When the soul leaves the body the body dies.
Treatise of the Soul 1.27 - Soul and body conceived at the same time.
Treatise of the Soul 1.37 - The embryo therefore becomes a human being in
the womb from the moment that its form is completed. The law of Moses,
indeed, punishes with due penalties the man who shall cause abortion. The
soul is imparted at conception.
Treatise of the Soul 1.54 - Hades is a vast deep space in the interior of
the earth. Christians go to Abraham's bosom in Hades after death.
Treatise of the Soul 1.56 - Souls who die prematurely do not have to wait
on earth. Souls go on whether the body is buried or not.
Commodianus 240 AD
26 - Hell is eternal
Origen 230 AD
OFP 1:2:6 - The doctrine of emanations (reincarnation) is false
Against Celsus 2:60 - The soul exists apart from the body after death
Against Celsus 3:22 - Souls are immortal
Against Celsus 6:24-25 - Celsus says that the Christians teach a
purgatory for purification among other Gnostic things. Origen refutes them
all but seems to have never heard of a place for purification. After
researching the scriptures he speculates there may be such a place. And
connects it with Gehenna in the valley of Hinnom.
Lactantius 285 AD
Divine Institutes 2.13 - After death we have immortality or suffering of
eternal pain. Animals just dissolve at death. Physical death is separation
of body and soul.
Some doubt chapters 7 forward.
Divine Institutes 7.8 - The soul is immortal.
Divine Institutes 7.11 - There is an eternal hell with eternal torments
Workmanship of God 19 - The soul is from God not produced by mother and
father like the body.