A: ORIGINAL SIN Flashcards
Why had Augustine been attracted to the Manichee sect?
Partly due to its apparent ability to provide a credible explanation for why people sin.
What was Augustine’s first question regarding sin?
Why do humans have the potential to sin if they are made by a good God?
What quotation can be used for original sin?
“For in your sight no man is free from sin, not even a child who has lived only one day on earth.”
What was Augustine’s second question regarding sin?
If we don’t actually want to sin why do we do it?
What does Augustine state in his confessions book that relates to free will?
“I was told that we do evil because we choose to… I could not see it clearly.”
What is the traditional way of explaining Augustine’s answer to his second question?
Darkness is an absence of light so evil is no more than an absence of good.
How did Augustine think we could explain humanity’s sinful nature?
By looking at the state of ignorance after the Fall which is the inevitable consequence of choosing a path of cupiditas.
What path did Adam and Eve choose? What did this result in?
Chose the path of cupiditas and passed on the tendency to sin to future generations.
Who’s sin corrupted everything according to Augustine?
Adam’s, including the corruption of human freedom to be good.
What did Augustine see human will as after the fall?
‘Divided’.
How is this division of human will seen?
People still have the God-given ability to reason and to recognise right from wrong, but they have corrupted this will, so they’re inclined to do wrong.
What does St Paul say in Romans 7 which relates to Augustine’s viewpoint?
“We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspirited.”
What does Paul mean in Romans 7?
How he longs to be free from sin, but that he feels chained to it, pulled in different directions.
What did Paul’s writings in Romans 7 reflect about Augustine?
He could relate to it in his own inner life.
What did Augustine believe about sin and human nature generally?
Sin has become a part of human nature, something that is displayed within children as they’re born with it.
