Original Sin in Augustine's Confessions

L.M. Read is author of The Intelligent Citizens Guide to the Postal
Problem.

This book is an able exposition of Augustine’s doctrine of original sin as the negative side of the central Pauline doctrine of grace mediated to mankind through Christ. Augustine’s Confessions is the appropriate vehicle to disclose the existential vitality of the sin / grace doctrine.

Rigby develops his exposition in the context of careful and detailed argument directed against the position of Athenase Sage as expressed in “two lengthy and influential articles” in 1967 and 1969. Rigby and Sage agree on the nature of Augustine’s mature doctrine of sin / grace. However, Sage develops the somewhat unorthodox view that Augustine arrived at his mature doctrine of original sin only in his controversy with Pelagius and that at the time of the Confessions he believed that in our infancy and childhood we are in a significant sense “innocent,” inheriting from Adam a corrupt body but not a corrupt soul. Rigby argues vigorously that Augustine’s doctrine of original sin is not a deduction from the doctrine of grace evoked by controversy, but rather a genuine reflection of his conversion experience of sin / grace which is adequately expressed in his Confessions.

Insofar as Rigby intends a clear and correct exposition of Augustine’s doctrine of original sin as expressed in the Confessions, he seems to be very successful. We may still regret, however, that the author did not open up the Augustinian answer to the existential issue of sin / grace to further questioning. For example, what would the author say concerning Martin Buber’s setting of grace in the context of an I-Thou relation? If Pelagian emphases exalt man-kind and put our relationship to God under human management and, hence, reduce the I-Thou to I-It, so does the Augustinian strong doctrine of original sin / grace / predestination base humankind and put our relationship to God under exclusive divine management and, hence, reduce the I-Thou again to I-It.

Or, to take another example, we could explore the possibility of applying Augustine’s “humble spirit” more broadly. The Platonic tradition to which Augustine was attracted presupposes that the ultimate truth is to be found within us; hence, attaining truth is like recollecting. Augustine holds that we cannot find God within our memory because we are prevented by the bandage of original sin which we have inherited from Adam. What is needed, therefore, is a humble spirit which recognizes its inability to discover God, and which is open to the gift of reconciliation through the work of Christ. Pride prevents the Platonist from surrendering his eternal ideas; in his pride he is unwilling to recognize that he does not already possess the truth. However, is there a theological pride which mirrors philosophical pride? Does the doctrine of original sin, combined with the doctrine that the Church holds the sacramental keys which release mankind from the bondage of original sin, not lead the Bishop of Hippo into greater temptations to pride than the youthful teacher of Platonic philosophy?