Chapter 2 - Original Sin.it share on the teachings of the question on original sin

the question every Christian is dealing with where did the original sin come from and how can I explain it

1. THEOLOGY OF ORIGINAL SIN

2. Original sin in the faith of the Church and its hermeneutics in contemporary theology

3. What is the question at the centre of the doctrine of Original Sin?

4. The most difficult questions for the human mind: Where did evil come from? If there is only one God ( monotheism ) , if he is responsible for everything that exists ( creation ) If he is good and in absolute control of everything that happens in nature and history ( providence ) Then how could he allow evil to enter the world? The notion of an almighty God seems incompatible with the existence of evil.

5. Definition of sin?

6. Definition by many Theologians Lack of conformity to the moral law of God.

7. Biblical View Sin is more than a “ lack of conformity : It is a rebellion against God and his just rule over our lives. It is an attempt to extinguish not only His wise commands to duty, but also, to abolish his presence and to extinguish knowledge of him Sin has at its core the idea of autonomy and rebellion

8. Original Sin as a theological problem today

9. There is no clarity as into what the original sin consists today. Very few theologians today know with certainty where we stand, and even less where we are going. The factors of change may be reduced to three: Biblical and dogmatic, Scientific Philosophical

10. On the biblical side Genesis 2-3 /Romans 5:12-21

11. Modern biblical interpretation has altered the meaning attached to the two texts traditionally connected with original sin . Adam and Eve were traditionally considered real historical figures , like David and Solomon. They were seen as the two biological parents of all humanity, who committed the sin described in the Bible. Now everything has changed. Genesis 2 and 3 are not history but historical aetiology , and their real meaning must be sought in a different direction .

12. On the Scientific Side

13. The theory of evolution has revolutionized the traditional understanding of the origins. The biblical 4.000 or 5.000 years of 'history' have been replaced by some 2.000.000 years of human evolution We see our ancestors striving for full rational and moral consciousness through an extremely slow process. The new picture seems to eliminate two of the traditional assumptions of original sin: Descent of the human race from a single biological couple (monogenism), And the moral maturity required to commit a real 'sin .'

14. Modern philosophy

15. Personalism and existentialism find unacceptable the idea of inherited guilt . Moral responsibility is un transferable The idea of a mega sin committed millions of years ago, for which all humanity has to pay a price today smacks of myth This idea tends to be dismissed out of hand by the contemporary world view

16. ORIGINAL SIN IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

17. When we think of original sin, the first text that comes to mind is Genesis 3, the sin of Adam and Eve. But we cannot interpret its meaning unless we first establish its literary type. According to modern biblical scholars, Gn 3 is not history but historical aetiology What is the relationship between the two?

18. H istory and H istorical A etiology

19. History In their effort to reconstruct the past, historians makes use of records that were written at the time when an event took place . Historical Aetiology Moves from present to past . We start with the present situation In this case, there are no documents or historical records : all we have is the present experience. Beginning with what we see, we arrive at what lies behind it . Historical aetiology consists in: " indicating an earlier event as the reason for an observed state of affairs

20. What was the Intention of the Author of Genesis 3?

21. To explain contemporary Israel's universal and hereditary condition of moral impotence, suffering and death . Since moral impotence was universal , it had to be traced to the father of all, Adam. When the sacred writer tells the 'story' of the Fall, the details he uses can only give symbolic expression to what he perceives to be the real cause of present evil : a sinful act right at the beginning of humankind. An interpreter needs to distinguish the 'message' from the 'means' used to express it

22. What do we learn from Gn 3?

23. Horizontal ruptures are only the consequence of a prior, vertical rupture. The ultimate root of evil in the world is not moral sin but theological sin. Only because we have rejected God do we also reject our brothers and sisters. As long as that communion subsists, all other relationships are sound and healthy . As soon as that relationship breaks down, the person's universe falls apart.

24. Original Sin in Writings of St Paul

25. When Paul started articulating the theological implications of the new life in Christ, he was faced with a twofold problem : (1) H ow to explain that the one man Jesus had a salvific influence on all human beings (2) How to convey the idea of universal incorporation into one man It is here that Adam comes to his mind as the only parallel in salvation history . Just as the one-man Adam had a negative influence on his descendants , So the one man Jesus Christ had a positive influence on all humanity

26. We keep in mind that what came first in Paul's mind was Christ and not Adam This way we will avoid the danger of putting the two on the same level

27. Contemporary Approaches to Original Sin

28. Piet Schoonenberg

29. In the 1960s he offered one of the first major re-constructions of the doctrine of original sin . His 1965 book Man and Sin: A Theological View . He raised an awareness of the theological limitations of an individualistic and juridical theology of sin . In a juridical conception of sin primary attention is placed on individual wrongdoing without attention to the wider social context or situation

30. Emphasis on the individual

31. The classical doctrine of original sin extended the individualism of personal sin to account for universal sin. Each individual inherits Adam’s sin , transmitted through the act of procreation by one’s parents; The remedy is also perceived in individual categories . Each individual is restored to right relationship with God through the personal reception of grace in baptism .

32. Piet Schoonenberg locates sin in the context of relationships

33. The world is a “fellowship in sin

34. Individual decisions and acts are not self-contained but affect others. The situation one is in may be determined inwardly by others’ decisions and actions . The historical situation is conditioned and shaped by the freedom of others . Because refusal of God (sin) has entered the world already, each person meets it in some way . It is already there before we arrive on the scene. It precedes us before we are born. Inevitably, persons are situated in a sinful world. The world is a “fellowship in sin ”.

35. How does the world condition human beings?

36. It conditions human beings in a variety of concrete ways: (a) bad example ; (b) absence of good example ; [both a and b eliminate values and norms]; (c) absence of the grace which men and women are meant to mediate. Thus solidarity in sin creates a situation of blindness to value

37. Every human being is born lacking grace because the communication of ethical-religious values has been interrupted through the sins of past ancestry» When we are born we enter a human setting where evil already has a strong grip on society because of the sins of all those who came before us. « In Schoonenberg’s theory human beings are not conceived in sin but become sinners in contact with the world.

38. How are we to make sense of the doctrine of original sin today?

39. The doctrine in its traditional formulation is based on a literal and historical interpretation of the first 3 chapters of the book of Genesis. Such an interpretation is impossible to reconcile with what science has revealed about the origins of our species

40. The Council of Trent

41. Taught that Adam, the first man , by his sin lost the holiness and righteousness in which he had been constituted T hereby bringing death upon himself and the whole human race . Sin is "transmitted by generation and not by imitation" to his descendants . Adopted St Augustine’s view that Adam and Eve before the fall lived in: An idyllic state Endowed with perfect health , Absence of pain and moral struggle Physical immortality .

42. Vatican II

43. Vatican II freed Catholic theologians to tackle the question in new and credible ways . Dutch catechism , commissioned by the bishops of the Netherlands, It took the emphasis off a sin committed at the dawn of history and instead directed attention towards the sinful condition of humanity since the dawn of history .

44. Conservative Fear

45. That (original) sin was purely environmental, rather than something rooted in human nature , as Trent had taught. Some conservative critics believed that the only way to safeguard the concept of a "fallen nature " was to appeal to a special sin committed at the beginning of history . This was the position taken, by the Catechism of the Catholic Church . It attributes biological death to the fall of Adam and Eve (paragraph 400).

46. The 1968 Commentary by then Professor Joseph Ratzinger

47. In his commentary on Vatican II’s Gaudium et Spes , wrote that the belief that human beings would have been immune from bodily death had they not sinned "is scarcely intelligible to present-day thought". The authors of the Catechism of the Catholic Church did not follow him on this. Vatican II Teaching In article 13 of Gaudium et Spes , " the essential content of Trent cannot be abandoned . . . theology must be left free to inquire afresh precisely what that essential content really is".

48. Two Alternatives

49. There are two alternatives in pursuit of a contemporary understanding of original sin . First Alternative To refuse to acknowledge that there is any problem about reaffirming the traditional formulation of the doctrine, Pretend as if modern science and biblical criticism did not exist. Second Alternative To reject the traditional doctrine out of hand as indefensible today.

50. These two extreme views do equally serious damage to the credibility of the Christian doctrines of sin and redemption. The new Catechism of the Catholic Church adopts the first alternative (paragraph 390, italics in the original). Vatican II, teaches that human beings have abused their freedom from the very beginning of history (Gaudium et Spes 13) . The conciliar text avoided "specific mention of the moment of the Fall“, it simply affirmed that "‘ from the very dawn of history’ man revolted against God ".

51. The first claim conflicts with scientific anthropology The second claim is open to scientific anthropology and to the possibility of interpreting it from the perspective of faith. There is a radical difference between: (1) The claim that an historical man and woman, committed a mega-sin affecting the whole human race , (2) The claim that from the beginning of history human beings have sinned by failing to be what God wishes them to be .