Augustine !!!!

The fall and orignial sin AO1

• before - Adam and Eve had a harmonious relationship- sex would have been a purely rational act

• Human nature is corrupted by a tendency to do evil- causes an irresistible desire to sin- inherited by every human‘seminally present in the loins of Adam’

• massa damnata (the mass of the damned).

• Cupiditas & Caritas- Cupiditas is love of earthly impermanent things- Caritas is agape

• Concupiscence is a defining feature of original sin- bodily desire overpowers reason- sexual desire

The Fall & original sin AO2

• The scientific evidence is against the fall- we have of genetic diversity- suggests that we evolved and were not created- Augustine’s biological understanding of reproduction is false

however

• Augustine could be defended- views on human nature being corrupted by original sin can still be derived from the evidence of his observations of himself and his society- pear stealing

• G. K. Chesterton agreed with this point sin ‘in the street’,

• R. Niebuhr who said it was the one ‘empirically verifiable’ Christian doctrine

evaluation

• Pelagius: Augustine’s observations reflect his society, not human nature- simply be because of the way we are raised- “educated in evil”

• contemporary historical and sociological evidence-

• Martin Luther King said, “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice”

• pinker attributes to the power of human reason that violence has decreased

• If Augustine were correct that original sin caused an irresistible temptation to sin, then human behaviour could not have morally improved, yet it has

Augustine: Exclusivism, Grace, Predestination & Limited election AO1

• genuine persevering faith in Jesus is only possible with God’s help: his gift of grace, which predestines some people

• St Paul calls grace a “gift”

• getting into heaven is not something that human beings have the power to achieve

• Romans 8, St Paul seems to hold to predestination is already unalterably fixed

• God has either predestined us for heaven, or he hasn’t and our original sin damns us to hell. This view is called double predestination

Augustine: Exclusivism, Grace, Predestination & Limited election AO2

• Pelagius: predestination makes punishment unjust- not ethical for all humanity to be blamed for the actions of Adam and Eve- an indefensible view of moral responsibility

• Pelagius concludes that only our having free will and thus being without coercion from original sin

however

• Punishment is just for sinful beings- It’s not God’s fault, it’s Adams’. So, Augustine argues that predestination is not unjust of God, since we are corrupted by original sin and so if we go to hell it is deserved

• “secret yet just judgement of God”

• Psalm 25:10: ‘All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth,’

evaluation

• It’s not our fault that we have original sin, so it still seems unfair and thus incompatible with omnibenevolence to suggest that we deserve punishment for it

• children w cancer

Pelagius: God commands moral action so we must be capable of moral goodness AO1

• God commanding humans to do morally good actions and avoid morally bad actions

• hard to see what the point of even trying to be good is, if we are so corrupted that we are unable as augustine claims

• accusing God of ignorance as if God were “unmindful of human frailty”

• “imposed commands upon man which man is not able to bear”

• elagius concludes that humans are “to be praised for their willing and doing a good work

Pelagius: God commands moral action so we must be capable of moral goodness AO2

• Augustine: biblical evidence against Pelagian free will

• humans can desire and accomplish good actions, however not by themselves as a result of a free will only with gods grace

• Augustine responds that good acts come from love, which Paul claims is greater than knowledge

• “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the holy spirit”

• If we receive love by divine grace, that suggests our good loving actions resulted from that gift of the ability to love

counter

• Pelagius responded- human will was “always assisted by divine help”- Without that help, we could not choose to do good, but with it we have the power to choose good and thus merit salvation.

• counter against augustine and original sin

• doesnt mean we cannot gain salvation