Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-c47g7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T21:06:34.264Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

4 - Aquinas on Original Guilt

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 February 2020

Daniel W. Houck
Affiliation:
John Leland Center for Theological Studies
Get access

Summary

Chapter 4 discusses Thomas’s account of original guilt. Infants are guilty only in an analogical sense. A human being with the use of reason is guilty in the proper sense when she commits a sinful act of her own volition; an infant is guilty in an analogical sense when she fails to receive original justice by Adam’s volition. The infant is in a moral middle ground, between the state of mortal sin and sanctifying grace (Scriptum II, d. 35, q. 2, a. 2, ad 2). She has not turned away from God, yet she needs grace nonetheless. Thomas’s explanation of infant guilt developed. He initially compared the guilt of original sin to an inherited disease (Scriptum II, d. 30, q. 1, a. 2). He later abandons this analogy and compares the infant to a homicidal hand. I defend Thomas’s view that the infant’s will is positioned between mortal sin and sanctifying grace. But I criticize his view of analogical guilt, arguing that receiving the effect of another’s sinful act cannot increase one’s own guilt.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×