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Summary Developments in Christian Thought notes OCR A Level RS
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comprehensive notes for A Level Religious studies paper 3 Developments in Christian Thought
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Developments in Christian Thought paper 3 March 20233.1 Augustine
Original Sin, The Fall, Post-lapsarian
Christianity adopted as the official religion in the Roman Empire by Emperor Constantineà Christians no longer
persecuted and ideas can now proliferate.
Augustine- devout, initially took on Manicheismà
Manicheesà believed that the world was engaged in a cosmic battle of good/evil, with the soul being naturally part of
the kingdom of light but trapped in the kingdom of darkness because of the appetites of the body
+ Neoplatonismà Plotinus, shame in living in a human body, Plato’s ideas that the impermanent physical body was
very much opposite to the permanent world of the forms- Plato’s cycle of opposites
However Augustine later rejected such views because they left no room for the salvific purpose of Jesus’s crucifixion
and resurrectionà read St Paul’s letters to Rome and concluded that humans could not find truth through reason alone
but needed the grace of God
Became a priest and bishop under tutelage of St Ambrose – his personal life presented him with theological difficulties
including having a mistress who he had a child with, which he had to give up in order to marry someone else
Thought of sexual relationships as a barrier of spirituality, did not share Constantine’s tolerance and ordered the
destruction of non-Christian places
Wrote Soliloquies and Confessions
Effects of the Fall:
- Adam and Eve disobeying God, Genesis-‘ I will make your pains in childbearing very severe’, eating from the
tree of knowledge
- Had been given stewardship , Calvin’s imago dei
- Humans pre-fall capable of Condordia, truly loving relationships, like a kind of friendship
- Evil introduced as a ‘privatio boni’ post-Fall as a privation of God
- ‘ be fruitful and multiply’ , obedience to God’s commands even when they conflict with human reasoning
The Fall:
- Human choosing to do wrong, Christian reflections on the idea that humanity is inclined to sin
- Genesis 2-3
- Women seen as more prone to sin than man
- Genesis 3:14- ‘ ‘ and you will eat dust all the days of your life… from dust you are and to dust you will
return’, disobedience to god’s will hence they are banished
Pre-Fall – humans had Concordia, a pure form of friendship, but we fell into sin and guilt – evil due to the misuse of
free will
1) Cupiditasà lust, selfishness and attachment to impermanent material goods
2) Caritasà generous love of others, an expression of the will of God as eternal law, displayed through virtues
like prudence, fortitude, etc
3) Concupiscenceà giving in to selfish lusts, e.g. eating a meal when one is starving- hedonism, for Augustine,
over-reliance on material virtues and ‘fleshly’ lusts
Romans 7à Paul describes struggling between his spiritual inclinations and selfish physical desires à ‘ I am
unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin’ – emphasised that Christians are ‘forgiven sinners’ – they have not stopped sinning
but can be forgiven because of their faith- upon death the soul can leave the physical body that is so easily tempted-
link to Plato’s dualist charioteer analogy
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, - Augustine’s negative outlook on human nature- inclined and if anything attracted to evilà stealing a pear for the sake
of stealing it and not for any other reason
*Nuanceà Hobbes v Rousseau, debate on human nature- is Augustine too negative?
Thomas Aquinas- human conscience naturalistically linked to God, hierarchy of law and synderesis, humanity
naturally inclined to do good as we might observe telos and ‘right reason in accordance with nature’.
Augustine on womenà
- Sinful humanity at the mercy of concupiscence, sexual desire seen as sinful, concupiscence, celibacy in
devoting oneself to God
- Devoting oneself to God
- However letter to edicea Augustine condemns her for devoting herself to modest celibacy without the
agreement of her husband.
- Rejected the idea of women being somehow more evil than men because of the Fall, an idea held by his
contemporaries
Concordia and human society
- Humans living harmoniously without the need for repressive political authority, fatherly authority- sinful
natures of greed, violence, lust, etc
- Practice of salvery as evidence of sin on a societal level
- ‘heavenly peace’ ‘earthly peace’
- Nature greedy and violent
- So-called virtues necessary for people to live together in earthly peace like self-control and physical courage
are only necessary because of Original Sin – gave the ‘pilgrim in a foreign land’ analogy to explain how the
Christian should behave in relation to the advantages of human societyà keeping one’s eyes on the
destination, aka ‘The City of God’
- Heavenly society- ‘ecclesia’ is the perfect way to live
Grace
- Salvation, the undeserved gift , people saved from sin
- Saving people from eternal punishment for their sinful nature
- Wrote about the summum bonum/ highest, most supreme good
- ‘ a lack of goodness’
How Convincing?
- Influential
- Can be criticised, and understood as a mythical, pictorial way of expressing truths about humanity.
- Idea of Original Sin might be hard to reconcile with, seems overly harsh- begs the question of when exactly
human evolution became ‘in the image of God’ , we might not like the idea that we are inherently sinful, but
regardless it is true
- Augustine’s engagement with the human experience of seeking truth makes his idea very recognisable
- Could lead to overt pessimism, little point in trying to repair the damage that has already been done, have to
rely on the grace of God from the outset
- God’s omnibenevolence, Schleiermacher- no reason for angels to Fall
- Judaism by contrast celebrates sexual relationships, whereas Augustine arguably perpetuates the idea that
there is something impure about sexuality
- - emphasis on each person carrying the divine light of God- grace is divine, point of Jesus’ resurrection
( Luke’s gospel- ‘He is Risen!’
- Contrasts secular ideas on human nature of evolutionary biologists- driven by a survival instinct, genetic
programming.
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