Stricken by Sin, Cured by Christ

Agency, Necessity, and Culpability in Augustinian Theology

Jesse Couenhoven

The first thorough study to relate Augustine's doctrines of original sin and prevenient grace to his views about freedom and human responsibility
Makes use of texts that have largely been overlooked in modern scholarship

Stricken by Sin, Cured by Christ

Agency, Necessity, and Culpability in Augustinian Theology

Jesse Couenhoven

Description

According to Augustine's doctrine of original sin, Adam's progeny share a collective guilt which, like an infection, spreads through wayward sexual desires, passing from parent to child. But is it fair to blame sinners if they inherit evil like a disease? In Stricken by Sin, Cured by Christ Jesse Couenhoven clarifies the logic and illogic of Augustine's controversial views about human agency. The first half of the book examines why Augustine believed we are trapped by evil, and why only Christ can save us. Couenhoven examines overlooked texts Augustine wrote at the culmination of his career and offers a novel reading of his views about whether we control our personal identities, what we should be held culpable for, and whether freedom is compatible with necessity. The second half of the book develops a philosophically and scientifically astute theory of responsibility that makes it possible to retrieve some of Augustine's most divisive claims.

Couenhoven makes a case for the surprising thesis that a carefully formulated doctrine of original sin is profoundly humane. The claim that sin is original takes seriously our dependence on one another for essential aspects of character and personality, our ownership of cognitive and volitional states that are not simply products of voluntary choices, and our status as personal agents of evil. Attending to these aspects of our lives challenges the idea that each individual's moral and spiritual standing is up to her or him, and drives us to ponder not only the nature of our responsibility and the shape of the freedom we seek, but also the need for grace we all share.

Stricken by Sin, Cured by Christ

Agency, Necessity, and Culpability in Augustinian Theology

Jesse Couenhoven

Contents
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Introduction
Reaping What We Did Not Sow: Original Sin and Responsibility
I. The Scandal of Original Sin
II. On Responsibility
III. Chapter Overview
Part I: Augustinian Doctrines
Chapter 1: Peccatum Originale
Chapter 2: The Explanatory Power of Original Sin
Chapter 3: Sickness, Sin, and Augustine's Compatibilism
Part II: Ownership and Inheritance
Chapter 4: An Augustinian Conception of Responsibility
Chapter 5: Augustinian Compatibilism
Chapter 6: Responsibility without Freedom
Chapter 7: Responsibility Under Necessity
References

Stricken by Sin, Cured by Christ

Agency, Necessity, and Culpability in Augustinian Theology

Jesse Couenhoven

Author Information

Jesse Couenhoven is Associate Professor of Moral Theology in the Humanities Department at Villanova University.

Stricken by Sin, Cured by Christ

Agency, Necessity, and Culpability in Augustinian Theology

Jesse Couenhoven

Reviews and Awards

"[B]oth Couenhoven's careful interpretative work and bold constructive work distinguish this book as a model for further engagements with Augustine's thought." --Anglican Theological Review

"Couenhoven offers a significant and provocative contribution to moral philosophy and a needed corrective in Augustinian studies to discussions of original sin. In this, his book traverses the domains of historical scholarship and contemporary moral debates, and should be read both by experts interested in the latter as well as by theologians attempting to balance accounts of human agency with the depth and pervasiveness of sin." --Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

"Students of Augustine's thought will find this a helpful introduction to the complexity of his doctrine as it relates to original sin. Constructive theologians will marvel at its informed, careful, and constructive use of historical sources. Recommended." --CHOICE

"Couenhoven's careful analysis of Augustine's final response to the ablest of the Pelagian writers, Julian of Eclanum, makes those ancient writers participants in the modern analysis and understanding of human freedom and responsibility. The presentation adapts Augustine's vocabulary and arguments so that his perspective becomes intelligible to readers in a radically different cultural context." --J. Patout Burns, Jr. Malloy Professor of Catholic Studies, emeritus, Vanderbilt Divinity School

"Couenhoven's argument is calm and careful, unapologetic but not blustery, acknowledging the several worthwhile concerns about Augustine's doctrine of original sin, while yet insisting that those concerns do not outweigh that doctrine's singular virtue of being true, and that it does not legitimate moralistic blame, but funds gracious compassion. A truly impressive achievement, combining philosophical acuity, historical learning, and theological profundity in equal parts, occasionally leavened with a wry sense of humor. We have been waiting for this book for some time, and it proves to have been worth the wait." --Charles Mathews, Carolyn M. Barbour Professor of Religious Studies, University of Virginia

"The project of this book is to defend a version of Augustinian compatibilism, based on Augustine's later work. The book does not defend this view as a whole, but selects the more plausible parts and mounts a surprisingly effective reply to the usual objections, connecting this reply to contemporary philosophical treatments of related questions. It is well-written, and a sensitive and nuanced treatment of the texts." --John Hare, Noah Porter Professor of Philosophical Theology, Yale Divinity School

"Students of Augustine's thought will find this a helpful introduction to the complexity of his doctrine as it relates to original sin. Constructive theologians will marvel at its informed, careful, and constructive use of historical sources." -A.W. Klink, Duke University, CHOICE

"Augustine's doctrine of original sin has been widely accepted by traditionallyminded Christians, but is undeniably problematic. Why should subsequent generations suffer the consequences of sin for what the first people did? Jesse Couenhoven tackles this thorny issue and the book is a must read for anyone working on these questions." --Journal of Reformed Theology