Full quiz

Question 1

What did Thomas Hobbes think about human nature?

Answer 1

Thomas Hobbes said that human life is ‘solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short’. For Hobbes, that sums up the natural state of a human being and all that saves us is society, which makes us civilised.

Question 2

What did Jean-Jacques Rosseau think about human nature?

Answer 2

Jean-Jacques Rosseau said that ‘man is born free and everywhere he is in his chains’. His view was the opposite to Hobbes : it is society that messes up human nature, the naturla state of a human being is good.

Question 3

Which scholar said that humans were created in the image of God, but at the Fall, human nature was irretrivevably damaged and we spend our lives battling against this, shown through our relationship with sin?

Answer 3

Augustine.

Question 4

What is the name of the theory that seems to suggest that human nature is moving away from the primitive?

Answer 4

Evolution.

Question 5

What did Marx think about human nature?

Answer 5

Marx said we are essentially creative beings - this creativity adapts to the different situations we are placed in and so different people will have different natures.

Question 6

What did Sartre say there was none of ?

Answer 6

Sartre said that we make our own essence through the choices we make - there is no basic human nature.

Question 7

What were humans made like according to Genesis?

Answer 7

When God created humans he made them as the pinnacle of his creation in his ‘image and likeness’.

Question 8

Where did humans live in Genesis?

Answer 8

They lived in the Garden of Eden - a perfect paradise where all they had to do was name the animals and live their lives.

Question 9

What was their life like before the Fall?

Answer 9

• they had everything they needed.
• there were no threats to their lives.
• they were in harmony with God: he used to walk in the garden with them.
• they lived in complete obedience to God.

Question 10

What did Augustine say there was perfect harmon between, before the Fall?

Answer 10

Augustine interpreted these few versus of Genesis to say that there was perfect harmony between the human body, will and reason.

Question 11

What is concupiscence?

Answer 11

The idea that our natural perfected state has been wounded so that we are not bad, but always inclining towards sin.

Question 12

What is sin?

Answer 12

Turning away from the will of God.

Question 13

What is the Fall?

Answer 13

The moment when Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating the fruit of the forbidden tree; humans are fallen because of this moment.

Question 14

Outline 3 things Augustine found from Adam and Eve’s relationship

Answer 14

• They were married as friends
• They were friends with God and the rest of creation
• Their friendship included reproduction.
• They would have had the pleasure of sex, but as friendship is a greater good than lust, the sex would have been without lust. Adam could use his balanced body, will and reason to make his body have sex when he wanted.

Question 15

After the Fall what shame did Adam and Eve feel?

Answer 15

The shame of nakedness.

Question 16

What was lost according to Augustine, after the Fall?

Answer 16

Harmony is lost.

Question 17

Which 2 loves separate, after the Fall?

Answer 17

Self-love and generous love seperate within the will - they pull humans in opposing directions.

Question 18

What has been corrupted, after the Fall?

Answer 18

Augustine is clear that it is the will, not the body, that has been corrupted.

Question 19

Which passage did Augustine use to refer to his need to overcome his sexual desires?

Answer 19

St Paul writes, ‘I do not understand what I do. For what i want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do’. (Romans 7:15). Augustine interpreted this passage in his own life to refer to his need to overcome his sexual desires.

Question 20

What rules human relationships according to Augustine?

Answer 20

Lust begins to rule human relationships. This lack of control over our desires, especially our lust, is concupiscence.

Question 21

What characterizes human relationships according to Augustine?

Answer 21

For Augustine, Original Sin, which came into the world at the Fall, characterizes human nature.

Question 22

How is the disharmony in the will best illustrated, according to Augustine?

Answer 22

Disharmony in the Will is illustrated sexually: man loses his ability to control his sexual desires - not just during sex but also in his desire to have sex. Those who do not have the urge for sex are showing a will rebelling in other ways.

Question 23

What is passed onto all generations through sexual intercourse?

Answer 23

Augustine believed that Original Sin is passed on to all generations through sexual intercourse because all humans are united through being descendants of Adam and Eve.

Question 24

With the exception of Jesus, all human beings are concieved as a result of what?

Answer 24

As a result of lust (except Jesus). This is shown in concupiscence. The Roman Catholic Church still holds view.

Question 25

How was Original sin a double death? What 2 things did it kill?

Answer 25

• killing the friendship between God and humans

- becoming mortal, following the Fall.

Question 26

What did humans need to control their rebellious wills?

Answer 26

Humans needed proper authority to control them and their rebellious wills.

Question 27

How can society achieve peace accroding to Augustine?

Answer 27

Society must strive for this limited form of peace by aiming for virtues such as self-control, which would never have been needed without the Fall.

Question 28

Outline 3 strengths of Augustine’s views of original sin

Answer 28

• Sexual desires seem to play a disproportionate part in human life.
• The Roman Catholic Church says that humans are divided an need the help of God to develop.
• Augustine’s view seems to correspond with our won experiences of life - we are torn in different directions, even when they are wrong.
• Freud also said that the libido is central to the motivation of humans.

Question 29

Outline 3 weaknesses of Augustine’s views of original sin

Answer 29

• Augustine’s account relies on a literal interpretation of the Adam and Eve story and it could be unfair for people to be tainted by an act from so long ago.
• There does not seem to be room for human to develop spiritually or morally in Augustine’s account.
• Evolution implies that we are headed towards perfection, (mutating into better species over time), not away from it.
• Dawkins said that Augustine’s negative approach has led to a lot of human suffering as well as an overemphasis on sexuality.

Question 30

Where is God’s grace seen especially?

Answer 30

God’s grace is seen especially in the sacrifice made by Jesus on the cross.

Question 31

Who was Augustine’s inspired by?

Answer 31

Inspired by Plato, Augustine talks about God’s goodness being a greatest good (summum bonum) that is available only for some.

Question 32

Is Augustine’s view of human nature pessimistic or optimistic? Outline 3 reasons for each.

Answer 32

pessimistic
- We are tainted from the moment we are born.
- Little opportunity to develop away from our fallen states and no total escape from it.
- Concupiscence is an extremely strong force that we cannot escape.
- His teaching about election and predestination suggests that hell is a certainty for some from the moment of birth.
- We are not truly free beings
His pessimism seems to reflect his own mind rather that God’s.
Optimistic
- God’s grace is given ti underserving humanity.
- Jesus died on the cross to save humans from sin: he redeemede humans - paid the price for their sinful natures.
- The Church exists to help Christians on their journey, starting with the important moment of baptism that keeps the wound of original sin closed.
- Faith exists as a way to point people in the direction of the summum bonum.

Question 33

Which thinker was gaining popularity at the time of Augustine?

Answer 33

While Augustine was writing, the thinking of Pelagius was gaining in popularity.

Question 34

Unlike Augustine, what did Pelagius believe it was possible to do?

Answer 34

Augustine tried to counteract Pelagius’s view that it is possible to live a moral life.

Question 35

Sum up Augustine’s overall views that were upheld by a Church council in 418.

Answer 35

Original sin is inherited, babies need to be baptised and humans can only be good through God’s grace.

Question 36

Views on human nature

Answer 36

Augustine = Human nature is damaged by the Fall. It is sinful. 
Pelagius = Humans can't have a flawed nature. If we did, then God would be commanding the impossible when he asks humans to be holy.

Question 37

Views on sin

Answer 37

Augustine = Humans are incapable of avoiding sin. The will is now such that it has a tendency away from goodness. 
Pelagius = Humans do not have to sin. It is theoretically possible for humans to be good. Sin can only be sin if it is freely chosen. It must be possible for humans to live the perfect life without God's intervention.

Question 38

Views on guilt and Original Sin

Answer 38

Augustine = Adam's sin affects all people. The Fall transmits guilt to the whole human race. Human beings are sinful at birth. 
Pelagius = We are all created in the same state as Adam. We are only responsible for our own sin. We become sinners not at birth but when we choose to sin.

Question 39

Views on death

Answer 39

Augustine = Death is the consequence and punishment for sin. 
Pelagius = Death is a biological necessity but not a punishment.

Question 40

Views on grace.

Answer 40

Augustine = Humans cannot do any good deeds except  by God's grace. 
Pelagius = God's grace assists people in doing the right thing and showing what is right and wrong but humans carry out the actions. Pelagius saw grace as the natural human faculties, given by God.

Question 41

Views on salvation

Answer 41

Augustine = Salvation is the free and unmerited gift of God. The parable of the workers (Matthew 20:1-16) shows God  rewards how he pleases- the reward is not because of actions. 
Pelagius = Humans use their free will to choose God- their actions in choosing to bring the reward. For Augustine and his followers, this sounds like Pelagius is downplaying the role of grace.

Question 42

Views on suffering

Answer 42

Augustine = All suffering is deserved- even in infant deaths- as all are in Original Sin. 
Pelagius = Augustine makes God sound arbitrary in punishing innocent babies.

Question 43

Views on God

Answer 43

Augustine = Shows his benevolence through grace. Is not to blame for evil because evil is an absence of good, not a thing in itself. 
Pelagius = It would be unjust of God to condemn humans for something they could not help. He would not have give instructions that could not be kept.

Question 44

Views on Jesus

Answer 44

Augustine = is the expression of God's grace. 
Pelagius = Good people existed in the Old Testament. They lived before Jesus brought salvation inot the world.

Question 45

According to modern Christians what does the fall symbolise?

Answer 45

For many Christians, especially given modern understandings of the Big Bang and evolution, which c