What is original sin?

Original sin is the doctrine that, because of the fall, all human beings begin life in a condition of estrangement from God and disordered desire; traditions differ on whether this includes inherited guilt.

Do all Christians read Genesis as literal history?

No; while some hold to a historical Adam and a literal fall, many theologians read the narrative as conveying a theological truth about the human condition that does not depend on it being a chronicle of a single past event.

Original Sin and the Fall

The doctrine of the fall holds that humanity turned from God at its origin, and original sin describes the resulting universal condition of sinfulness affecting all people.

Definition

The doctrine of humanity's primal turning from God and the universal sinful condition that follows.

Scope

This topic examines the narrative of the fall in Genesis, the Pauline reading of sin entering through Adam, Augustine's formulation of original sin and its transmission, the Eastern emphasis on inherited mortality rather than inherited guilt, the Reformation accounts of total depravity, and modern reinterpretations in light of evolution and historical criticism. The presentation is descriptive, surveying the positions and their arguments with comparative notes between traditions.

Core questions

What is the fall, and how is the Genesis narrative interpreted?
How is original sin transmitted, and does it include guilt?
How do Eastern and Western accounts of inherited sin differ?
Can the doctrine be reconciled with human evolution?

Key theories

Augustinian original sin: Augustine's account that Adam's sin corrupted human nature and is transmitted to all descendants as both a disordered condition (concupiscence) and inherited guilt, leaving the will unable to turn to God without grace.
Original sin without inherited guilt: The Eastern Christian and some modern view that what is inherited from the fall is mortality and a weakened, disordered nature rather than personal guilt, which attaches only to actual sins.

History

The doctrine developed from Paul's Adam-Christ parallel and crystallized in Augustine's controversy with Pelagius, who denied inherited sin and stressed free will; the Council of Carthage (418) sided with Augustine. The East retained a milder account. The Reformers intensified the doctrine, while the Enlightenment, biblical criticism, and Darwinian evolution prompted extensive modern reinterpretation of a historical fall.

Debates

Inherited guilt versus inherited corruption: Whether descendants of Adam inherit guilt for his sin (Augustinian and Reformed) or only a weakened and mortal nature predisposing them to sin (Eastern and some modern accounts).
The fall and evolution: Whether a historical fall from an original state of innocence can be reconciled with evolutionary accounts of human origins, prompting non-historical or developmental reinterpretations.

Key figures

Augustine of Hippo
Pelagius
F. R. Tennant
Ian McFarland

Seminal works

augustineCity
tennant1903
mcfarland2010

Frequently asked questions

What is original sin?: Original sin is the doctrine that, because of the fall, all human beings begin life in a condition of estrangement from God and disordered desire; traditions differ on whether this includes inherited guilt.
Do all Christians read Genesis as literal history?: No; while some hold to a historical Adam and a literal fall, many theologians read the narrative as conveying a theological truth about the human condition that does not depend on it being a chronicle of a single past event.