Augustine and Original Sin

Exerpts from an essay:

The origins of humanity, according to Augustine, begin with Adam and Eve.  He argues that Adam and Eve are the first parents of humanity and first sinners, and are thus the reason that humans die.  Furthermore, he believes that the mortality of all human bodies was a “just punishment” for the disobedience of Adam and Eve.(8)  The modern, scientifically-minded person sees how this is at odds with the Theory of Evolution.  Since we now know that humanity is descended from apes, a suggestion that there was a “first couple” created from dust seems archaic and ignorant of what we now know to be true.  Augustine’s conclusion that humans die because of Adam and Eve is as at odds with science as it is with our individual identities.  Additionally, while Augustine sees mortality as a just punishment, I do not believe a just God would not punish an entire species for the disobedience of an individual.  “Original sin” hinges on these archaic understandings of human origins.

…it is important to understand how Augustine sees the human species and its nature.  He explains that children are “identical” to their parents in nature, since parents make their children (as opposed to the first humans, who were made from dust).(9)  Because Adam and Eve sinned, it is now human nature to sin.  Augustine believes God wanted all humanity to be derived from one couple so that the nature of humanity would be unified and peaceful (arguing that “blood kinship” would lead humans to live harmoniously).(10)  … Augustine’s understanding of human nature as prone to sin by virtue of the actions of Adam and Eve is at odds with our understandings of science (Adam and Eve were not progenitors of our species).

While Augustine understands humanity to be prone to sin, he suggests that “…by the law comes the knowledge of sin; by faith comes the obtaining of grace against sin…and grace heals the will whereby righteousness may freely be loved.”(11)  Again, Augustine focuses sin (and our tendency toward it) as tied to God.  Our only escape from sinfulness is through relationship to the divine.  This is an individualistic sense of humanity in which one’s prime focus is on oneself and one’s relationship to God…

In contrast to Augustine’s concept of sin as descended from Adam and Eve, Keller would suggest that while we are “not to blame for the sins that precede [us] Academically, … [we are] responsible to recognize the collective structures of injustice, to recycle [our] legacy for the better, to resist what wastes life and to take part in what saves.”(12)  For Keller, sin is about responsibility to the world.  We are not sinful because of our ancestors, but we have responsibility for the ripple effects of all sin.  

…  In contrast to Augustine’s idea of the necessity for God’s grace in resisting sin, Keller suggests that God brings forth love in people in a way that is not resistant, but unfolds in concert with the continuously creating creation.(15) …  Augustine’s conception of sin as inherent to our species does not allow the the kind of positive orientation toward justice we find in Keller’s understanding of humanity as a species unfolding in love and relatedness to all creation, in concert with God.  

In conclusion, it is time for religious understandings of sin and human nature to take into account information from the sciences.  The views put forth by Augustine early in church history are no longer adequate for modern minds and are too individualistic for a world facing Climate Change, limited resources, and systematic injustice.  To conceptualize human nature through the story of Adam and Eve (as presented by Augustine) is problematic in the eyes of modern science.  Catherine Keller offers an alternative understanding of humans and our relationship to sin that focuses less on the individual.  She does this by emphasizing the interconnectedness of creation.  To sin, for Keller, is to act against creation.  This understanding leads to an emphasis on justice that can have practical application in our world.  To see ourselves in relationship and to consider how our actions positively affect other beings can help us to imagine a world where we are more considerate to all.  

1. Augustine in Hodgson, King, p. 150
2. Hodgson/King, p. 176
3. Augustin in Hodgson/King, p. 177
4. Augustine in Hodgson/King, p. 151
5. Keller, p. 80
6. Keller, p. 97.
7. Keller, p. 80.
8. Augustine in Hodgson/King, p. 150
9. Augustine in Hodgson/King, p. 147-148
10. Augustine in Hodgson/King, p. 150
11. Augustine in Hodgson/King, p. 179-180
12. Keller, p. 82
13. Keller, p. 93.
14. Keller, p. 100.
15. Keller, p. 100.

Keller, Catherine. On the Mystery: Discerning Divinity in Process. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2008.

King, Robert H., and Peter C. Hodgson, eds. Readings in Christian Theology. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1985.