Human Nature Before the Fall (Prelapsarian Humanity)
• Genesis 1:27 – Humanity made imago Dei (“in the image of God”).
• Rationality, free will, love (caritas), and harmony with God.
• Original state: Perfect harmony between ratio (reason) and appetitus (desire).
• Will (voluntas): Given by God — enables humans to choose good freely.
• Concordia: Harmony between reason, body, and will — no conflict between reason and desire.
• Caritas (selfless love) governed humanity’s relationships — love directed toward God and others.
• Cupiditas (self-love) existed but was controlled — not sinful pre-Fall.
• Relationships: Cooperative, not competitive — sexual union symbolic of unity, not lust.
• Obedience: Humanity freely chose to obey God — true freedom is alignment with God’s will.
“God saw all that He had made, and it was very good.” — Genesis 1:31
The Fall (Postlapsarian Humanity)
• The Fall (Genesis 3): Adam and Eve disobey God by eating from the tree of knowledge.
• Introduces disordered desire — humanity’s will turns away from God toward self.
• Pride (superbia): Root of sin — wanting to be like God (Genesis 3:5).
• Result: Breakdown of concordia — the will becomes divided.
• Consequences:
Separation from God → loss of beatitudo (true happiness).
Reason weakened — cannot control desires.
Body, mind, and soul in disharmony.
Transmission of sin to all humanity through sexual reproduction (traducianism).
• Romans 5:12: “Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people.”
Divided Will
• Confessions, Book VIII — “The mind commands the body and is instantly obeyed; the mind commands itself and meets resistance.”
• The will is both free and enslaved:
• Free because we still have choice.
• Enslaved because it’s corrupted by sin — non posse non peccare (not able not to sin).
• This creates inner conflict — human nature wants the good, but concupiscentia drags it toward evil.
• Leads to moral weakness and dependency on God’s grace.
Concupiscence
• Mainly expressed in sexual desire, but symbolises all uncontrolled bodily impulses.
• Sex becomes associated with lust, not rational love (caritas).
• Transmission of sin occurs through sexual intercourse — all humans inherit original sin.
• Even infants are born with sinful tendencies (selfishness, dependence, greed).
• Romans 7:15: “I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.”
• Captures the struggle of the divided will enslaved to concupiscence.
Original Sin
Doctrine: All humans inherit Adam’s sin
• Passed down biologically (through semen, according to Augustine’s traducianism).
• Not just imitation of Adam’s sin (contra Pelagius) — a real, transmitted corruption.
• Effects:
• Will corrupted → humans incapable of moral perfection.
• Reason darkened → humans cannot fully know or will the good.
• Physical death and spiritual separation from God.
• Humans are massa peccati — a “lump of sin.”
• Human Freedom: Severely limited — we cannot choose good without divine grace.
• Romans 3:23: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Human Relationships After the Fall
• Before the Fall: Caritas governed relationships — mutual love and cooperation.
• After the Fall: Cupiditas dominates — selfish love and power-seeking.
• Augustine links this to society’s corruption (greed, war, domination).
• Sexual relations: Become a symbol of humanity’s inner conflict (reason vs. passion).
• Gender roles: Augustine sometimes seen as patriarchal — women associated with temptation (Eve as the “weaker” will).
• Yet he also believed men and women equally bore the imago Dei in the soul.
Grace
• Because of original sin, human beings cannot save themselves.
• Grace : Free gift from God that restores will’s ability to choose good.
• Divine initiative: Humans cannot even turn toward God without His grace (gratia praeveniens — prevenient grace).
• Only God’s election saves — humans are totally dependent on God’s mercy.
• Romans 9:15: “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy.”
• Salvation therefore requires humility, not pride — reversal of Adam’s sin.
AGREE SCHOLARS
Reinhold Niebuhr – Human nature is corrupted by pride and selfishness; Augustine’s realism about sin is essential to understanding moral failure in politics and society.
→ Supports Augustine’s belief in the universality of sin.
• Karl Barth – Humanity is utterly dependent on divine grace; echoes Augustine’s rejection of Pelagian self-salvation.
→ Affirms Augustine’s view that grace alone saves.
• John Calvin – Builds directly on Augustine’s doctrine of predestination and total depravity; agrees that humans cannot achieve good without grace.
→ Shows Augustine’s long-term influence on Reformation theology.
• Thomas Aquinas – Modifies but supports Augustine: agrees that the will is weakened, but not destroyed, by sin; grace perfects nature.
→ Moderate support—bridges Augustine’s pessimism with natural law optimism.
• Blaise Pascal – “Man’s greatness and wretchedness” reflect Augustine’s anthropology: we are magnificent yet fallen creatures dependent on grace.
→ Reinforces Augustine’s tension between pride and humility.
• Peter Brown – Argues Augustine’s pessimism is misunderstood; his thought is psychologically realistic and deeply compassionate.
→ Modern historian defending Augustine’s human realism.
• John Rist – Sees Augustine’s theory of disordered love (concupiscentia) as profound moral psychology rather than sexual guilt.
→ Supports Augustine’s insight into the divided will.
• Rowan Williams – Defends Augustine’s theology as a serious attempt to explain moral struggle, not to condemn humanity.
→ Says Augustine helps us understand inner conflict and dependency on grace.
DISAGREE SCHOLARS
• Pelagius – Rejects original sin and inherited guilt; argues humans have genuine freedom to choose good without divine grace.
→ Direct theological opponent; optimistic about human moral capacity.
• John Hick – Argues Augustine’s “Fall” story is mythological, not literal; prefers Irenaeus’ “soul-making” theodicy where evil develops moral character.
→ Critiques Augustine’s pessimism and inherited guilt.
• Mary Daly – Feminist theologian: Augustine’s views on women and sexuality reflect patriarchal control and body-shame.
→ Condemns Augustine’s dualism of body and soul.
• Sigmund Freud – Human conflict stems from unconscious desires, not sin; guilt is psychological, not theological.
→ Undermines Augustine’s claim that sin is inherited through the Fall.
• Julian of Eclanum – Pelagian sympathiser; argued Augustine’s doctrine of inherited sin is unjust and incompatible with divine goodness.
→ Early Church contemporary criticism.
• Charles Taylor – Claims Augustine’s view of the will is too pessimistic; humans are capable of self-improvement and moral growth.
→ Critiques Augustine’s “moral paralysis.”
• Friedrich Nietzsche – Calls Christianity (and Augustine) “a religion of weakness”; rejects the concept of sin as life-denying.
→ Philosophical rejection of Augustine’s anthropology.
• Richard Dawkins – Calls the doctrine of original sin “morally repugnant,” arguing it makes no sense to inherit guilt.
→ Modern scientific/humanist rejection.
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau – Contrasts Augustine’s pessimism with his own belief that humans are naturally good but corrupted by society.
→ Complete philosophical opposite.
• Hannah Arendt – While admiring Augustine’s thought, critiques his inward focus as limiting social and political responsibility.
→ Sees Augustine’s theology as too inwardly moralistic.
STRENGTHS
• Explains human moral failure realistically
• Accounts for why humans often fail to act morally despite knowing the good (divided will, concupiscence).
• Supported by Niebuhr — realistic view of human pride and self-interest.
• Moral seriousness
• Recognises evil as real, not just ignorance (privatio boni concept).
• Prevents moral complacency; insists humans need divine help.
• Psychologically insightful
• Divided will anticipates modern psychology — humans struggle internally between desire and reason.
• Supported by Peter Brown and John Rist.
• Explains salvation and the role of Christ
• Shows why grace is necessary, giving theological justification for the Incarnation and Atonement.
• Influential in Reformation theology (John Calvin) and later scholastic thought (Thomas Aquinas).
• Promotes inner moral reflection
• Encourages confession, repentance, and self-awareness (Confessions).
• Influential historically
• Shaped Western Christianity, theology, and philosophy — e.g., Reformation (Calvin), Catholic scholasticism (Aquinas).
WEAKNESSES
Pessimistic view of human nature
• Humans seen as helpless and morally corrupt (non posse non peccare).
• Criticised by Charles Taylor, Hick, and Pelagius — human agency is underestimated.
• Problem of free will
• If salvation is entirely by grace or predestination, how is moral responsibility justified?
• Criticised by Pelagius and Julian of Eclanum.
• Predestination appears unjust
• God elects some to salvation, leaving others to damnation; can be seen as morally problematic.
• Criticised by John Hick, Rousseau, Dawkins.
• Feminist critique / gender bias
• Eve blamed for the Fall; dualism devalues the body and women.
• Criticised by Mary Daly and later feminist theologians.
• Overemphasis on sin and guilt
• Focus on concupiscence and sexual guilt can be psychologically unhealthy.
• Criticised by Freud and modern liberal theologians.
• Literal Fall vs. modern science
• Doctrine of original sin conflicts with evolutionary biology; literal Adam & Eve unlikely.
• Criticised by John Hick and modern theologians.
• Limits human moral growth
• By emphasising total depravity, humans may appear incapable of self-improvement.
• Criticised by Charles Taylor — overly deterministic and demotivating.
• Inward focus may neglect social ethics
• Emphasis on inner salvation may underplay societal responsibility.
• Criticised by Hannah Arendt.
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