Attempts to Reconcile Polygenism with Original Sin

[buffalo]

Oh wow, I was going to read the article but it is extremely long and the abstract does not give a clear view of what the author’s basic theory is.

I personally believe common ancestry from a single ancestral couple who committed the Original Sin is easily reconciled with genetic evidence showing a lack of such a severe bottleneck in the history of our species. However this subject is extremely difficult to discuss without breaking forum rules.

The bottleneck has many assumptions. Who knows the genetic diversity Adam and Eve had at the beginning.

 

[buffalo]

We all agree that all true men are descended from the first human couple that we call by the Biblical names Adam and Eve and that Original Sin is passed down through natural propagation from these two original parents. The question is whether biological polygenism is really incompatible with that doctrine.

So there would be among us persons without original sin?

 

[buffalo]

Dogmas

1. 
   *]The Divine Work of Creation
   
   The Doctrine of Revelation Regarding Man or "Christian Anthropology"
   *] The first man was created by God. (De fide.)
   *] The whole human race stems from one single human pair. (Sent. certa.)
   *] Man consists of two essential parts–a material body and a spiritual soul. (De fide.)
   *] The rational soul is per se the essential form of the body. (De fide.)
   *] Every human being possesses an individual soul. (De fide.)
   *] Every individual soul was immediately created out of nothing by God. (Sent. Certa.)
   *] A creature has the capacity to receive supernatural gifts. (Sent. communis.)
   *] The Supernatural presupposes Nature. (Sent communis.)
   *] God has conferred on man a supernatural Destiny. (De fide.)
   *] Our first parents, before the Fall, were endowed with sanctifying grace. (De fide.)
   *] The donum rectitudinis or integritatis in the narrower sense, i.e., the freedom from irregular desire. (Sent. fidei proxima.)
   *] The donum immortalitatis, i.e.,bodily immortality. (De fide.)
   *] The donum impassibilitatis, i.e., the freedom from suffering. (Sent. communis.)
   *] The donum scientiae, i.e., a knowledge of natural and supernatural truths infused by God. (Sent. communis.)
   *] Adam received sanctifying grace not merely for himself, but for all his posterity. (Sent. certa.)
   *] Our first parents in paradise sinned grievously through transgression of the Divine probationary commandment. (De fide.)
   *] Through the sin our first parents lost sanctifying grace and provoked the anger and the indignation of God. (De fide.)
   *] Our first parents became subject to death and to the dominion of the Devil. (De fide.) D788.
   *] Adam’s sin is transmitted to his posterity, not by imitation, but by descent. (De fide.)
   *] Original Sin consists in the deprivation of grace caused by the free act of sin committed by the head of the race. (Sent. communis.)
   *] Original sin is transmitted by natural generation. (De fide.)
   *] In the state of original sin man is deprived of sanctifying grace and all that this implies, as well as of the preternatural gifts of integrity. (De fide in regard to Sanctifying Grace and the Donum Immortalitatus. D788 et seq.)

 

[Sultan_Of_Swing]

I came across this article recently, which attempts to reconcile the doctrine of Original Sin with the evolutionary theory of polygenism:

www3.nd.edu/~afreddos/papers/kemp-monogenism.pdf

Is anyone on here familiar with this article? Is the theory posited in this article one Catholics are permitted to subscribe to, in light of what Pope Pius XII said about polygenism in Humani Generis?

Thank you in advance for your (name removed by moderator)ut.

Great article. I had similar thoughts and have read similar ideas such as this. This is the best explanation I have found thus far, however, which addresses the main issues of such a proposition.

I see no conflict between this view and what Pope Pius XII has said. Fr Longnecker, the Patheos blogger, also subscribes to this view, I believe.