Catholicism vs. Orthodoxy on Original Sin

Comments by Jason on Andrew's post-"More on the 1672 Synod of Jerusalem". The Filioque clause and differences between the Catholic and Orthodox views on Original Sin

Here are my thoughts on the issues. I am inclined to take the filioque clause to be a genuine dispute rather than just a semantic one. The readings of the two are obviously fundamentally different. However, I also take the two views of Original Sin (OS hereafter) that you alluded to in your earlier post as a genuine dispute not merely a semantic one. Here is why.

Saying that a "thing” such a stain, virus, or whatever metaphor one chooses to talk about OS, seems to be asserting that there is a substance that has existential status (i.e. that something exists). That is to say, Adam's action in Eden tainted human nature with a “thing” called Sin. Now, that is a very different claim than saying that humans lack holiness. That is a denial of the existence of a given substance or thing. The former claim presupposes the existence of two categories, namely, sinfulness and holiness, where the latter claim does not. Thus, logically speaking, they are NOT definitionally equivalent.

I am sure some of us recall when St. Augustine made a similar point in his Confessions when criticizing the Manichaeans’ views about evil. They treated evil as “Evil”, a thing that is a real substance. That EVIL and GOOD are two equal but opposing substances. Augustine contra the Manichaeans' said that evil has NO real subsistence. Rather we should define evil as the negation (or deviation from) of God’s perfect holiness. This is a claim of the existence of only one category, holiness. Hence, if the Papists and some Protestants, view Sin as having real subsistence, then that is a very different claim than the Orthodox’s claim that Sin is the negation (deviation) of God’s perfect holiness.

Many Christians regardless of theological persuasion talk of “Sin” as some kind of substance; so does Scripture. Perhaps these are just examples of taking the metaphors too seriously. However, it is endemic in sermon talk among Evangelicals and Catholics. Unfortunately, using metaphoric language to explain difficult theological doctrines often confuses rather than clarifies these issues. Therefore, I am inclined to think the two views of OS are conceptually if not fundamentally distinct (if we take the metaphors seriously).