The Faith Movement: a time of renewal

Aquinas thus refines Augustine’s teachings. And in describing what happens when man sins, Aquinas shows that it breaks this direct link, this plumb-line, and deprives all future human beings of the gifts with which Adam and Eve had been endowed by God. Human beings are now less than they were: but they are still human, created and loved by God, and greatly capable of loving him in return. Grace will now be needed to lift humanity up, and to heal the sinfulness.

Aquinas is not grappling with Pelagius and writes with greater serenity than does Augustine, although still with vigour. Man’s sin was that of pride, and a desire to be like God in having knowledge of things and fore-knowledge of the future.

The Church today teaches what both Augustine and Aquinas taught and believed: that Original Sin is “a deprivation of original holiness and justice, but human nature has not been totally corrupted: it is wounded in the natural powers proper to it, subject to ignorance, suffering and the dominion of death, and inclined to sin – an inclination to evil that is called ‘concupiscence’.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church). ⁵

Today, we may read the story of Genesis and note that in its concept of God creating things over a period of time there could be an indication of an evolutionary process, ordered and directed by the Divine hand. We could note that we certainly feel the effects on Original Sin in concupiscence in our own lives – and not least in the area of sexual union. We might also note that the centuries which have passed since Augustine’s day have not all been kind to his memory – the Church has often, and sometimes with justice, been accused of over-emphasising the wickedness of sexual sin over the wickedness of other sins, because of some deeply-held conviction that there is something Genesis-orientated about it and because it is connected with the transmission of life itself.

Our current knowledge of human origins certainly encourages us to assume that the world is extremely old, and that human beings arrived on it following a lengthy process, some of which we can track by studying fossils and geology.

“To look at the embryos of a fish, a chick, a calf and a man reveals an obvious likeness that could hardly be a coincidence. Then again, the likeness in the chemical structure of the cells of living things, combined with the study of genetics and of plant and animal classification linked to the fossil records (palaeontology), provides overwhelming support for the fact of evolution. And when the physical and chemical laws which are found to operate in the living things are the same as those in the non-living world, then the pieces fit together and evolutionis seen to be a process that cannot be limited to the living world only but must embrace the Universe as a whole” (Roger Nesbitt, Evolution and the Existence of God). ⁶

Evolution

In the 19 th and early 20 th centuries the debates about evolution – initiated by Charles Darwin and his discoveries – made many Christians wary. The Church seemed uncomfortable with Darwin’s work and there is a defensive tone to much of what was written by Christians on this subject at that time. But not all: John Henry Newman wrote in 1868 that “the theory of Darwin, true or not, is not necessarily atheistic; on the contrary, it may simply be suggesting a larger idea of divine providence and skill.” ⁷

Man’s fall, as understood by Augustine and Aquinas and taught consistently by the Church down the ages, did not mean that God was thus angry and had to be placated. On the contrary: when he sent his Son it was because of love. He seeks to renew the bond of love with mankind, and he never ceases to do this. “Even when he disobeyed you and lost your friendship, you did not abandon him to the power of death, but helped all men to seek and find you....” (Eucharistic prayer IV)

Nor was the Incarnation a sort of “rescue mission”. God’s Word was there “in the beginning” and the Gospel of St John tells us that this Word was always with God and was God. When “the Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us” ¹⁶ it was not because there had been a mistake in God’s original plan: he had always wanted to be close to his beloved creatures. Because of man’s sin, the Incarnation now took place under different circumstances. But the love was the same, and the Word found a safe and pure dwelling in the sinless womb of the Virgin Mary, just as the first Adam had found a safe home on the then-sinless earth.

Through Christ we can be healed, and it is a truly powerful healing. Through Adam’s sin, death had entered into the world, but through Christ’s death on the Cross, and his Resurrection, something new is achieved and we can say with the Scriptures “O Death, where is your sting/ Where, grave, your victory?” ¹⁷

But today, discussion of an authentic Catholic teaching on Original Sin must not only take account of our current knowledge of human origins – our discoveries about evolution, fossils, human biology, and more – but also current ideas and controversies over human behaviour, the relationship between men and women, and the meaning and purpose of human sexuality.

These would not have been issues in, for example, John Henry Newman’s day, or even fifty years ago. But today the introduction of the topic of Original Sin is likely to elicit a reaction such as “Oh, this’ll be the Catholic Church with its obsession with sexual sins” or – on a slightly different tack – “Why does the Catholic Church have such an odd attitude to women?”

Theology of the Body

Whether we like it or not, we need to tackle this – and in being obliged to do so, we may find new insights.

We might first make the point that in an age when sexual union and the transmission of life are seen as two unconnected things – a division which is causing a great deal of human sadness, collapse of family life, and concomitant financial and social difficulties – this might be a discussion worth having. We do know a lot today about human origins, human reproduction, and the workings of the human body, but we have also lost sight of some very basic truths as we struggle to convince ourselves that two people of the same sex can get married or that in-vitro fertilisation raises no moral questions, or that teenagers should be given contraceptives and encouraged to experiment sexually. Perhaps a very realistic grasp of what sexual union is for, its biological reality, has more value than modern critics will initially acknowledge.