WJEC/Eduqas RS for A2/Yr2: Religion and Ethics (DRAFT)

T4 Determinism and free will

In response to Pelagius’ free will theology and on behalf of the Church, Augustine developed the Doctrine of Original Sin and this included his theory of predestination . Doctrine of Original Sin: role of concupiscence In Augustine’s book City of God , he portrays an idyllic picture of the Garden of Eden before ‘ the fall ’. ‘In Paradise, then, man … lived in the enjoyment of God, and was good by God’s goodness … no sadness of any kind was there.’ So why did Adam and Eve sin? Augustine argued that Adam had already in his

Specification content Doctrine of Original Sin: role of concupiscence, humanity as ‘a lump of sin’ (massa peccati) Key terms Concupiscence: strong desire for earthly pleasures Predestination: in religious terms, it is the theory that all events are the result of the will of God, particularly regarding the post-mortem fate of people, i.e. to salvation or to damnation. Predestination is a form of religious hard determinism Reason: the power of the mind to think and form judgements logically The fall: the descent from perfection to sin recounted in Genesis 3

St Augustine DRAFT

heart turned away from God and that is why the Devil successfully tempted him. The disobedience that resulted is known as ‘the original sin’ – the first instance of disobedience of humanity to God. Key quote When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. (Genesis 3:6) According to Augustine, the outcome of original sin is that sin became a radical defect of all human characters. It is a defect that Adam and Eve acquired as a result of committing the original sin and so it affected their original perfect nature. Augustine called this defect in the human character ‘ concupiscence ’, a tendency towards sinning against God. Concupiscence is a Latin term that translates as ‘longing’ in a sensual way. In practice, concupiscence means that people have earthly desires that may conflict with spiritual desires to know and love God. In Catholic theology, concupiscence is often seen as a desire for lower appetites that runs contrary to a person’s God-given reason . Concupiscence, in itself, is not a sin but instead it is a deficiency in a person’s ability to choose good and resist earthly desires when they are in conflict with God’s laws. This defect of concupiscence, according to Augustine, is passed on from Adam and Eve to every person born into this world. Since all humanity is related to Adam and Eve, then, Augustine argued, all of humanity inherited Adam’s sin. Adam’s guilt is also the guilt of humanity as a whole. Augustine saw support for this view in the writings of St Paul in Romans 5:12 ‘just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people because all sinned’.

4.1 Why was Augustine angry at Pelagius’ free will theory?

Key quotes All humans were seminally present in the loins of Adam. (Augustine)

Adam and Eve committing original sin

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