Essays in Philosophy of Religion (Jostarhaye Falsafeh Din)

Augustine's Solution to the Problem of Original Sin on the Basis of Faith and Grace Principles

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Zahra Mahmoud Kelayeh 1
Reza Akbarian 2
Mohammad Sa’idi Mehr 3
reza akbari 4

1 PhD student in philosophy at Tarbiat Modares University

2 Professor of Philosophy, Tarbiat Modares University

3 Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, Tarbiat Modares University

4 Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy and Theology, Imam Sadegh University

Abstract
It can be said that Augustine's cardinal problem in his whole intellectual life was finding an answer to the crucial question that what had made attaining happiness for human being so difficult or even impossible. Augustine's answer was sin. Having this answer in mind, he attempted to find a solution for achieving happiness and truth by using two fundamental principles: faith and grace. However, his solution could nothave been successful because of his belief in the original sin doctrine. According to Augustine, faith and grace are connected to human beings' free will, but this free will is affected by the original sin and, thus, prefers evil to good. If this is so, then how human beings can receive faith or grace which require voluntarily preferring good to evil? It seems that there is much vagueness in Augustine's solution. Authors of this paper seek to explain this vagueness using descriptive and analytic methods

Keywords

Augustine
intellect
free will
faith
grace
Essays in Philosophy of Religion (Jostarhaye Falsafeh Din)
Volume 2, Issue 1 - Serial Number 3
January 2013
Pages 87-104

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