SIN: AN EVOLVING THEOLOGICAL CONCEPT. A HISTORICO-THEOLOGICAL APPRAISAL OF THE UNDERSTANDING OF SIN IN THE PASTORAL CONSTITUTION OF THE SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL
Abstract
The primary focus of this study is to examine in depth the notion of sin as explicated in the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World and to evaluate the contemporary pertinence of that teaching. The Constitution incorporated a noteworthy appreciation of radical evil, sin, although not in a fully developed or consistently integrated fashion. It reflects a retrieval of biblical perspectives and a sensitivity to human experience not consistently featured in the manualist tradition. In relation to the post-Tridentine teaching, the Pastoral Constitution came to place sin in a different orientation, to describe it differently and to address it from a different attitude. The Constitution locates considerations of sin within the context often described as the historical realization of God's purpose or design. The optimism of this message is tempered by a sensitivity to the structures and orders of human society where evil and sin effectively and persistently prey upon human vulnerabilities. The document further implies that if a person adverts to the divine purpose which he is violating through complicity in evil, human sin is realized. Hence sin might be described as a person's rejection of the the God Who encounters him in his historical existence in the world. The recognition of sin incorporates an interpretation made in the light of discerning faith. The official teaching regarding sin had been most systematically developed and articulated at the Council of Trent. That teaching provided the impetus and basic content for the subsequent moral manuals in their presentations on sin. In Chapter One, I trace the understanding of sin incorporated in the conciliar documents and in the writings of certain prominent theologians identified with the occasion, formulation and implementation of that teaching. Prominent among these are Martin Luther, Girolamo Seripando and Herman Busembaum. . . . (Author's abstract exceeds stipulated maximum length. Discontinued here with permission of school.) UMI
Recommended Citation
NELSON, ANDREW LINDSAY, "SIN: AN EVOLVING THEOLOGICAL CONCEPT. A HISTORICO-THEOLOGICAL APPRAISAL OF THE UNDERSTANDING OF SIN IN THE PASTORAL CONSTITUTION OF THE SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL" (1981). Dissertations (1962 - 2010) Access via Proquest Digital Dissertations. AAI8211441.
https://epublications.marquette.edu/dissertations/AAI8211441