One of the general differences between Western and Eastern Christianity is in their view of 'Original Sin'. A while ago I came across this blog post that details how Augustine may have been wrong about OS because of a misreading of the Greek and Latin texts. This is the main basis for mainstream RC and Protestant views of OS, though it is not the only view acceptable to Catholics it is the dominant one.
I'd like to know your thoughts on this:
"Augustine took Paul’s phrase “ἐφ᾽ ᾧ πάντες ἥμαρτον” following the Vulgate “in quo omnes peccaverunt” to be “in whom [Adam] all sinned”.
(The Greek can be transliterated ef’ ho pantes hemarton.) Well, Augustine didn’t actually use the Vulgate, which was being translated during his lifetime, but the sometimes not very accurate Old Latin translations. But his Latin version seems to have been similar to the Vulgate here. Doug continues:
The Augustinian interpretation of Paul’s “ἐφ᾽ ᾧ πάντες ἥμαρτον” as meaning “in whom all sinned” makes it the most disastrous preposition in history. All modern translations agree that its proper meaning is “because.”
More precisely, “the most disastrous preposition” is ἐφ᾽ ef’, a contracted form of epi meaning “on”. The Greek phrase ἐφ᾽ ᾧ ef’ ho literally means “on which”, or possibly “on whom”, but is commonly used to mean “because”, or perhaps “in that”. The problem is that the Latin rendering of ἐφ᾽ ᾧ, in quo, is ambiguous between “in which” and “in whom” (I’m not sure if it can also mean simply “because” or “in that”), and Augustine understood it as meaning “in whom”, i.e. “in Adam”."
Augustine's mistake about original sin - Gentle WisdomGentle Wisdom
On the TV miniseries, Roots, by Alex Haley, new slave, Kunta Kinte, was chained up and whipped until he denounced his name and took the name "Toby." In the mean time, his new pious master was too busy studying the scriptures (bible) to be interrupted to talk to Kunta Kinte nor to intervene in his defense. (Don't bother me with goodness....I'm too busy trying to figure out how to be good).
I see that you are embroiled in the minutia and academia of the bible. In the mean time, today, there are homeless people roaming the streets. Christians are supposed to follow Christ, and it is a sin to be silent about the homeless problem.
Is it off topic to show that the distraction of the bible allows many to sin by ignoring Christ's path? How can we wonder about original sin while sinning and harming?
Perhaps "original sin" is about our capacity to sin? That is, if we can ignore our duties in the world, and bury ourselves in studies of the ancient bible (that don't really have much to do with the way we live our lives today), then we have sin, and that sin isn't about something that we acquired, but it is about the friction between us and the world around us.
The bible isn't just a history book (of what happened in the past), it is an instruction book, telling us how to live our lives today.
Please watch this youtube video on "original sin."