Chapter 11: Sin and Conversion Flashcards
Hamartia
Greek word for SIN used in Pauline and Johnannie writings
Trent on Sin
Session V: Doctrine of Original Sin
Session VI: Repeats fundamental points of catholic doctrine on sin
1) Lack of faith
2) Every mortal sin deprives us of grace of Christ
3) Maintains distinction between mortal and venial sin
4) Sin does not completely destroy human liberty
Session XIV: proposing the SACRAMENT of penitence, pronounces the NECESSITY to CONFESS each and every mortal sin
Vatican II on SIN
Gaudium et Spes, nn. 13 & 37
GS 13: “What divine revelation makes known to us agrees with experience. Examining his heart, man finds that he has inclinations toward evil too, and is engulfed by manifold ills which cannot come from his good Creator.”
GS 37: …man prone to evil…“constantly imperiled by man’s pride and deranged self-love.”
“…struggle between good and evil…”
Augustinian Definition
“an act, word, or desire, contrary to the eternal law”
2 Elements of Augustinian Definition
1) Sin is a HUMAN ACT
2) Sin is Contrary to the Law of God
Another Definition of SIN
an act contrary to ethical virtue (natural or supernatural), that breaks the communion of men with God in Christ, and consequently, impedes the definitive fullness of divine filiation
2 Elements of Sin
1) “Aversio a Deo” - separation from God = FORMAL element of sin
2) “Conversion ad creaturas” - disordered tendency toward terrestrial goods = quasi-MATERIAL element
Analogical Sense of SIN
there exists a certain similitude between mortal and venial sins, but it is not reducible to a mere difference in “GRADE”. They are ESSENTIALLY DIFFERENT.
3 Conditions for a MORTAL SIN
1) Grave Material
2) Full Awareness/Knowledge
3) Perfect Consent
By Gravity of Material, ACTS classed as:
1) Mortal EX TOTO GENERE SUO
- blasphemy, hatred against God, taking of innocent life
2) Mortal EX GENERE SUO
- theft and injury
3) Mild (“lieve”) EX GENERE SUO
- petty but not harmful lie
2 Ideas of Fundamental Option
SECULARIZATION - weakening of the knowledge of God and of his love toward men. Implies smaller sense of sin. Understand God as far away. Forget fact that GRACE draws man into Intimacy with God.
FALSE ANTHROPOLOGY - weakens sense of Human Freedom, forgetting it is capable of modifying most profound intentions of person and changes them through certain particular acts.
Responses to Fundamental Option
1) distinction between Mortal and Venial sins, not invented by theologians but proclaimed by the Church.
2) teaching on mortal sin NOT a RIGORIST understanding, but taken from the SCRIPTURES - often lists vices that exclude someone from heaven.
3) Church teaches that even ISOLATED SINS and SINS of WEAKNESS (“falls in years of puberty”) can be MORTAL
Levels of Sin according to Fundamental Option
Categorical
1) Venial
2) Grave
Transcendental
3) Mortal
External vs. Internal Sins
EXTERNAL - committed with an action that can be observed from the exterior
INTERNAL - those which remain in the interior of man
3 Types of Interior Sins
1) Consented thought (delectatio morosa).
2) The desire (desiderium) for a completed act.
3) Satisfaction (gaudium) for a completed act.
3 Senses of “Social Sin”
1) EVERY sin, even the most hidden, EFFECTS SOCIETY as a whole
2) There are sins which directly strike MORE DIRECTLY at Social Life
3) There sometimes exists “COLLECTIVE SITUATIONS” which induce sin.
Divisions of Sin
- Original vs. Actual
- Formal (voluntary) vs. Material (objectively disordered, not sufficiently willful)
- sinful ACT vs. sinful STATE (habitual sin)
- Ignorance, Fragility, and Malice
- Carnal (disordered tendency for sensible good [lust]) vs. Spiritual (disordered tendency for spiritual good [pride])
- Commission (execution disordered act) vs. Omission (omission something due)
Specific Distinction of Sins
sins committed against different VIRTUES or PRECEPTS
Numeric Distinction of Sins
the QUANTITY of sins of a certain TYPE that have been committed
Remote Cause of Sin
the Natural “DEFECTABILITY” of man and the subsequent Concupiscence to sin
