A Comperative Study: Original Sin on The View Between Augustine and Neo-Plaonism

Abstract

The doctrine of Original Sin has been debated for centuries among the Theologians include
Augustine. The Understanding of doctrine original sin as a theological term started from the
teaching of Augustine around 5century B.C. Augustine‗s understanding regarding original sin
derived from his problem and his question concerning the life of Adam and Eve, and
particularly in his youth experiences of adultery. He believed that all men involved in
Adam‘s first sin and original sin was transmitted through the parents to their children.
Augustine learned Manichaeism, however, he did not satisfied and then he went to learned
Neo-Platonism and deeply impressed to him both for his Neo-Platonism and the Christian
life. In Neo-Platonism, Augustine respect and received the Plotinus views. For NeoPlatonism, the root of sin is discovered in the very nature of the soul and in relation to the
body as self- isolation. Before it enters the body, the soul has a prior existence. When the
souls fall and that is how it comes to be in the body. But the point is that the soul has an
unruly and evil nature in its irrational parts even before it enters the body so that it in one
sense the cause of evil is present even in the soul preexistence state. Neo-Platonist believed
that original sin is transmitted from one to another, Neo-Platonism underscored this notion by
suggesting that in addition to such a transmission of evil, human souls would reappear via
transmigration, bringing to the new body their earlier errors and judgments of value.
Therefore, this study is to analyze and to compare Augustine‘s view as a theologian of the
original sin with the Neo-Platonism concept.