augustine Flashcards
the fall
Enmity between humans and inevitability of death can all be accounted for by the Fall
consequences of humans’ disobedience of the will of God.
He believed that sinful humanity was now ruled by ‘concupiscence’, meaning sexual desire but also other kinds of desires for things in the material world
scientific/symbolic evidence against the fall
Richard Dawkins in ‘The God Delusion’ - literal belief in Adam and Eve is scientifically implausible (as seen by fossil evidence) - there cannot have been ‘perfect’ first people as humans evolved over time from simple organisms to more complex beings
Geneticists claim that the evidence we have of genetic diversity means that it’s not possible for all of humanity to have descended from two people
view of the Fall as a symbol for the journey of life is only corroborated by the fact that in Hebrew, Adam translates to ‘man’, while Eve means ‘mother of living things’. This suggests that they are simply archetypal and symbolic figures of the ’everyman’.
niebuhr
original sin = Niebuhr said it was the one ‘empirically verifiable’ Christian doctrine
views on human nature being corrupted by original sin can still be derived from the evidence of his observations of himself and his society
could still be right that human nature is corrupted by original sin, even if he’s wrong about the Fall being the exact means by which that came to be
pelagius
- a Christian Monk who didnt believe in original sin and believed that human are born in a prefall state
only appears to be our nature because of how thoroughly corrupted we are by our upbringing, which Pelagius refers to as being “educated in evil”
being held responsible for our state of ignorance makes the punishment seem cruel and arbitrary, not omnibenevolent
gift of grace/free will
gift of grace, which predestines some people to have and keep faith in Christ
Election refers to God’s choosing to grant grace. St Paul calls grace a “gift” which we cannot ‘take credit’ for earning (Ephesians 2:8)
if we are to have genuine love for God, it must be freely given - also makes it possible for humans to sin
free will defence inconsistency
In book I (of the freedom of the will) Augustine argues that the responsibility for an action lies with the person that performs it, not with God.
However, he argues a conflicting view in book III, talking of the ignorance of human nature and our inability to overcome our sins.
It seems unjust and rather problematic to punish people for ignorance that they can do nothing about and have therefore no responsibility for.
Pelagius points out that the bible is full of cases of God commanding humans to do morally good actions and avoid morally bad actions. It’s difficult to see why God would make these demands if original sin meant that humans did not have the ability to obey those commands
