The Human Dark Side: Evolutionary Psychology and Original Sin

Human nature has a dark side, something important to religions. Evolutionary psychology has been used to illuminate the human shadow side, although as a discipline it has attracted criticism. This article seeks to examine the evolutionary psychology’s understanding of human nature and to propose an unexpected dialog with an enduring account of human evil known as original sin. Two cases are briefly considered: murder and rape. To further the exchange, numerous theoretical and methodological criticisms and replies of evolutionary psychology are explored jointly with original sin. Evolutionary psychology can partner with original sin since they share some theoretical likenesses and together they offer insights into the nature of what it means to be human.     

Regress and the Doctrine of Epistemic Original Sin

Existing solutions to the epistemic regress problem, and the theories of justification built upon them, are inadequate, for they fail to diagnose the root source of the problem. The problem is rooted in our attachment to a pernicious dogma of modern epistemology: the idea that a judgement must be supported by some kind of reason or evidence to be justified. The epistemic analogue of the doctrine of original sin, this idea renders every judgement in need of redemption – guilty until shown to be innocent – distorting our understanding of reason at a very deep level, and preventing us from conceptualizing a satisfactory solution to the problem. If we opt for a more context–sensitive mechanism for assigning default epistemic status, however, we get a more plausible picture of justification, an epistemology more in tune with epistemic practice, and an elegant solution to the regress problem.     

Beyond Original Sin: A Paradigm Shift for the Age of Neuroscience

In this article I explore the implications of Jesus?? location of the kingdom of heaven in the lived experience of the individual and of the findings of neuroscientific research for a paradigm shift in Christian theology, one that moves us beyond the Adamic myth and belief in original sin. Support for a theological paradigm shift based on lived experience is provided by Capps (1993) and for this particular paradigm shift by Pagels (1989) and Ricoeur (2004). I point out that the doctrine of original sin supports and fosters the negativity bias of the brain and inhibits the resculpting of the brain. Drawing on Hanson??s (2009) evidence in support of the brain??s neuroplasticity (i.e., its capacity to change itself) and on Brach??s (2003) critique of the ??trance of unworthiness,?? I make the case for meditative and mindful awareness practices in Christianity and other religious traditions as proven methods for the resculpting of the brain in order that individuals may experience greater joy, contentment, and awareness of the goodness of life and of God??s creation. A longitudinal neuroscientific research study of Roman Catholic nuns (Newberg and Waldman 2009) provides evidence in support of the role of contemplative prayer and meditation in generating the joy and serenity that Jesus?? allusion to the hidden treasure envisions.     

Original Sin and the Hermeneutics of Charity: A Response to Gilbert Meilaender

Looking for a way to read the classic texts of Christian antiquity without treating them either as if they were written yesterday or as if they were archeological artefacts, the author endorses Meilaender's endeavor to develop the insights of Augustine in the modern context. He nevertheless suggests that a different way of drawing the analogy between sex and eating would better capture Augustine's distinctive way of joining theology and ethics and would enable a more vigorous defense of Augustine against modern critics of his treatment of sexuality.     

Herman Bavinck on the Image of God and Original Sin

The organic motif is Bavinck's preferred means to communicate creation's triune shape. An archetypal unity‐in‐diversity in the Godhead implies that creation displays an ectypal unity‐in‐diversity. This article argues that Bavinck's organic ontology provides him with a theological rationale for a doctrine of original sin in which the covenant headship of Adam reflects the organic character of humanity in unity and diversity. Thus, the transmission of original guilt on account of Adam's trespass is not a mere special ordinance by an inscrutable divine will, but an expression of humanity's organic shape. The article concludes by drawing some implications of Bavinck's construction for current discussion concerning original sin.     

《老子想尔注》及其思想

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Towards an Understanding of the Ontological Conditions issuing from Original Sin

The aim of this paper is to explore in the light of recent scientific discoveries, coupled with a return to biblical orthodoxy, the question of the Fall (Augustine and Paul, Gen. 3, Rom. 7), and the apparent intergenerational conditions of original sin. This is the human condition – East of Eden. Invoking Darwin's theory of evolution through natural selection from random mutation as a means of repudiating the existence of original sin can no longer be sustained, scientifically; the biology of horizontal gene transfer (HGT), transgenerational epigenetics (TGE), accelerated evolution (AE) and biological plasticity (BP) has rendered Darwinism grounded in a Naturalistic methodology an inadequate explanation. If humanity is ‘born this way’ – mired in sin – have we condemned ourselves and our children to this status? How does this affect the relationship between biology and free will, between a form of predestination and decision‐making? Therefore, this paper is towards an understanding of the ontology of the original, or first, sin, and is a biblical and scientific exploration of postlapsarian humanity's self‐willed state, ‘East of Eden.’     

Retrieving a Mature Reformed Doctrine of Original Sin: A Conversation with Some Recent Proposals

A ‘broadly Augustinian’ doctrine of original sin continues to receive support in contemporary Catholic and Protestant theological discourse as the best account of human experience and biblical teaching. Notwithstanding this, substantial challenges arise in connection with this doctrine which Catholics and Protestants have classically sought to address in their own ways. With a contemporary Protestant audience in mind, I attempt to rehabilitate the theological viability of the oft‐criticized mature Reformed doctrine of original sin which entails the immediate imputation of Adamic guilt. In dialogue with some recent dogmatic contributions, I draw upon eloquent advocates of the Reformed doctrine, such as Petrus van Mastricht and Francis Turretin, to argue that the notion of immediate imputation continues to provide a coherent and biblically defensible explanation for the just imposition of inherited corruption. Faring somewhat better than other proposals, it deserves reconsideration in contemporary reconstructions of the doctrine, especially in those which might self‐consciously seek to identify with the Protestant confessional tradition.     

Entropy,the Fall,and Tillich: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Original Sin

The focus of this paper is to present a bridge between the theological notion of original sin and the scientific concept of entropy. Physics has firmly established that the universe is moving towards increasing entropy, whereby the cosmos is in a state of decay and growing disorder. At the same time, traditional theology has perceived that the world is in a state of chaos, resulting from the sin of Adam and Eve. While these notions have a number of significant similarities, the causal explanation for both theories poses a problem for any correlation between the two. Theology has struggled to explain how human action produced entropic phenomena without enacting anachronistic explanations that discount scientific data. This paper intends to close the gap by positing the principle of entropy as an existential dynamic of the Fall, thus reasserting the universality of original sin and evading the narrowness of anthropocentrism. Paul Tillich's interpretation of the Fall provides important insights that can affirm the corrosion of the world from a scientific and a theological perspective, potentially bringing these two disciplines into a position for a more fruitful dialogue.     

Brian S. Powers: Full Darkness: Original Sin,Moral Injury,and Wartime Violence

Journal of Religion and Health -