original sin
Enable an AI agent to identify, compare and interpret formulations of original sin while preserving their theological context and distinguishing attributed doctrine from claims about particular people.
Research draft, second pass
A second pass drafted this model: the structure a model of this thing needs, and what is known about it in the world. The line under this one says how the second half was obtained - researched against sources, or recalled without web access, in which case nothing here was read anywhere and every claim is a lead to verify. Unreviewed either way.
recalled by Codex without web access - no source was read
Researched by: Codex
Purpose and description
Enable an AI agent to identify, compare and interpret formulations of original sin while preserving their theological context and distinguishing attributed doctrine from claims about particular people.
Original sin is a Christian doctrine that relates humanity's inherited condition of sinfulness or estrangement from God to the primordial human fall associated with Adam, with traditions differing over inherited guilt, corruption, mortality, and the freedom to respond to grace.
It can be Classify a passage as addressing an originating sin, an inherited condition, personal sin or an ambiguous combination.; Compare formulations by the consequences they affirm and their accounts of human participation.; Trace a doctrinal claim to a source and distinguish the source's wording from later interpretation.; Explain a formulation's implications for freedom, responsibility and remedy within its stated tradition.; Flag unsupported equivalences between original sin, ancestral sin, biological inheritance and individual wrongdoing.; Generate targeted research questions where a formulation leaves transmission, authority or exceptions unclear..
Distinguishing features
A formulation concerns an originating or inherited human predicament, rather than only an individual's voluntary wrongdoing.
Its connection to Adam or the Fall must be recorded explicitly, including whether that connection is historical, representative, symbolic or otherwise interpreted.
It specifies which consequences are inherited; inherited guilt, damaged capacities and mortality must not be treated as interchangeable claims.
It can be distinguished from a general claim that humans often behave badly by identifying its theological account of why the condition exists.
Its proposed remedy addresses an underlying condition or relation to God, rather than only forgiveness for a particular action.
Scope
+ Definitions distinguishing original sin as an originating transgression from original sin as a resulting human condition
+ Accounts of humanity's relation to Adam, the Fall and inherited sinfulness
+ Tradition-specific distinctions among guilt, corruption, mortality and deprivation of original righteousness
+ Claims about the condition's scope, persistence and relation to personal responsibility
+ Doctrinal connections to grace, baptism, salvation and human freedom
+ Sources, interpretive history and authority of particular formulations
- Sin in general and classifications of personally committed sins
- The complete narrative, symbolism or historical interpretation of the Fall
- Comprehensive models of salvation, baptism, grace or predestination
- Biological inheritance and empirical theories of human evolution
- Judgments about a named person's guilt, worth or spiritual standing
- Non-Christian accounts of human suffering or moral failure treated as equivalent without evidence
Characteristics
- Formulation and tradition
- Named formulation linked to its community, author, document and relevant period Prevents a position held in one setting from being presented as a universal Christian definition.
- Sense of original
- Originating transgression; resulting condition; both explicitly distinguished; unspecified Separates the act said to originate the predicament from the condition attributed to subsequent humanity.
- Constituent consequences
- Source-defined selection of guilt, corruption, disordered desire, mortality, deprivation, alienation or other consequences Makes substantive differences visible without collapsing them into the single word sin.
- Account of human participation
- Generation or descent; representation; solidarity; imitation; mixed account; disputed; unspecified Records how a formulation connects an originating event or figure to people who did not personally perform the act.
- Relation to personal culpability
- Inherited culpability affirmed; culpability distinguished from inherited condition; culpability denied; disputed; unspecified Keeps claims about inherited conditions separate from claims about responsibility for chosen acts.
- Doctrinal standing
- Authoritative teaching; confessional commitment; theological proposal; disputed interpretation; rejected position; undetermined, relative to a named community and date Supports appropriate attribution and establishes how much authority an agent may assign to a formulation.
- Remedy and residual effects
- Named remedy linked separately to each consequence it is said to remove, transform or leave unresolved Avoids assuming that remission, healing and elimination of every consequence mean the same thing.
Where this came from
wikidata · CC0 1.0
Drafted structure
Bundle to layer to finding to question, as the second pass will find it: 5 bundles · 9 layers · 15 findings · 23 questions.
Original act and inherited condition Identifies what a formulation calls original sin and which human predicament it describes.
The same term can refer to an originating act or its alleged consequences, and those senses require separate treatment.
Originating sense
Records the formulation's use of Adam, the Fall and an initial transgression.
Referent of original
Establish whether the term identifies an act, a condition or a deliberately connected pair.
- Does this source define original sin as an originating transgression, a resulting condition or both? definition
- What role does Adam or the Fall play in that definition, and how does the source interpret that role? boundary
Content of the condition
Separates the consequences that a formulation includes under original sin.
Consequence profile
Record affirmed consequences individually and preserve distinctions between guilt, deprivation, corruption and mortality.
- Which consequences constitute original sin here, and which are described only as effects of it? definition
- Does the formulation distinguish inherited guilt from inherited damage, disordered desire or mortality? boundary
Participation and responsibility Captures how the condition extends to humanity and how it relates to personal agency.
A model must explain the claimed connection between an originating sin and people who did not personally commit it.
Transmission and scope
Records the account of shared participation and its stated limits.
Human participation account
Identify how people are said to participate in the condition without translating theological language into an unsupported biological mechanism.
- How does the source explain participation through descent, representation, solidarity, imitation or another relation? definition
- Who is included in the condition, and what exceptions or qualifications does the source explicitly recognize? boundary
Agency and culpability
Separates inherited condition, capacity for action and responsibility for chosen wrongdoing.
Condition versus personal fault
Record whether and how an inherited predicament entails culpability or limits moral and spiritual capacities.
- Does being subject to original sin entail personal culpability in this formulation, and on what stated grounds? definition
- Which capacities for good action, faith or response to grace are said to remain, be impaired or require restoration? boundary
Grace, remedy and persistence Maps what is said to address original sin and what remains afterward.
The condition cannot be interpreted adequately without distinguishing its proposed remedy from continuing effects.
Remedial relations
Connects the condition's components to the roles attributed to Christ, grace, faith and baptism.
Remedy by consequence
Match each claimed remedy to the specific component of original sin it addresses.
- What roles does this formulation assign to Christ, grace, faith and baptism in addressing original sin? definition
- Does the source describe the remedy as forgiveness, remission, healing, restored righteousness or another change? boundary
Remaining effects and practice
Distinguishes continuing consequences from doctrinal and pastoral implications.
Post-remedy condition
Record remaining effects and the practices explicitly justified by the formulation.
- Which effects are said to persist after the remedy, and are those effects themselves still called sin? definition
- What implications for infant baptism, instruction or pastoral care does the source explicitly draw? action
Witnesses, authority and disagreement Locates formulations in their textual, historical and communal settings.
Original sin requires attributed interpretation; neither a scriptural passage nor one theological account establishes every tradition's position.
Text and interpretation
Distinguishes cited textual witnesses from the doctrinal conclusions drawn from them.
Interpretive support
Record the sources used to support a formulation and the interpretive steps connecting them to it.
- Which passages, theological writings or doctrinal documents does the formulation cite, and which have been directly examined? provenance
- Which claims are explicit in those sources, and which depend on translation choices or later interpretation? provenance
Confessional boundaries
Records community-specific standing and substantive disagreements between formulations.
Authority and equivalence
Identify who endorses a formulation and whether neighbouring terminology represents the same doctrine.
- Which community gives this formulation authority, through what document or institution, and during which period? provenance
- When a source uses ancestral sin or another neighbouring term, which claims establish equivalence or a substantive difference? boundary
Evidence and external alignment What the world already says about this thing, gathered so the model can be checked against it.
A model that cannot be lined up against existing standards, identifiers and practice cannot be adopted by anyone who already uses them.
Reported evidence
Findings from the breadth pass, kept separate from the structural claims.
Check these first
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- The sense described is a Christian theological doctrine, not an academic discipline or a figurative use of the expression.
- Inherited guilt, culpability, corruption, and mortality require careful comparison using each tradition's own terminology.
- This is a recall-based account; no sources were consulted, and the named confessional texts should be checked before formal publication.
- Which of these check these first hold for the sense of original sin this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Kinds and varieties
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Roman Catholic account of inherited deprivation of original holiness and justice
- Eastern Orthodox accounts of ancestral sin emphasizing inherited mortality and corruption
- Lutheran accounts emphasizing inherited sinfulness and inability to attain righteousness without grace
- Reformed accounts emphasizing inherited corruption and Adam's representative role
- Wesleyan accounts of inherited depravity understood alongside prevenient grace
- Which of these kinds and varieties hold for the sense of original sin this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Standards and regulation
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Council of Trent, Decree on Original Sin: an authoritative Roman Catholic doctrinal formulation
- Augsburg Confession, Article II: a foundational Lutheran confession concerning original sin
- Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter VI: a doctrinal formulation used by churches in the Reformed tradition
- Which of these standards and regulation hold for the sense of original sin this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Real-world use
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Explaining the universality of human sin and the need for salvation
- Informing teachings about baptism, including infant baptism
- Structuring theological debates about grace, free will, and moral responsibility
- Informing Christian interpretations of Adam's relationship to Christ
- Which of these real-world use hold for the sense of original sin this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Failure modes and hazards
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Treating inherited original sin as a personally committed act
- Presenting one denomination's formulation as the belief of all Christians
- Equating inherited corruption with the claim that every person is as wicked as possible
- Using the doctrine to justify shame, coercion, or denial of human dignity
- Presenting a theological account of inheritance as an established genetic mechanism
- Which of these failure modes and hazards hold for the sense of original sin this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Regional variation
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Latin Western Christianity developed influential formulations concerning inherited guilt and deprivation, although Catholic and Protestant accounts differ.
- Eastern Orthodox traditions commonly emphasize ancestral sin, mortality, and corruption; their formulations should not be reduced to a single uniform alternative.
- Contemporary differences follow denominational and theological affiliations more reliably than national borders.
- Which of these regional variation hold for the sense of original sin this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- The Fall - The Fall is the primordial transgression or rupture; original sin concerns the resulting condition of subsequent humanity.
- Actual sin - Actual sin concerns a person's sinful acts or omissions; original sin concerns an inherited condition.
- Concupiscence - Concupiscence is disordered desire or inclination; traditions differ over whether it constitutes original sin or remains as its consequence.
- Total depravity - Total depravity describes the extent of sin's effects on human faculties in certain Protestant traditions; it is not synonymous with every account of original sin.
- Immaculate Conception - The Immaculate Conception is the Catholic doctrine that Mary was preserved from original sin from her conception.
- Which of these neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart hold for the sense of original sin this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
What the second pass must settle
- Does the registry intend original sin to cover both the originating transgression and the inherited condition, or primarily the latter?
- Which primary sources should anchor representative formulations, and how should disagreement within a tradition be represented?
- In the sources selected for this model, when does ancestral sin name an equivalent concept and when does it mark a substantive doctrinal difference?
- Which formulations affirm inherited culpability, and how do their own terms distinguish it from personal fault?
- How do the selected formulations interpret Adam and transmission in relation to contemporary accounts of human origins?