Guilt Concepts in Reformed Doctrines on Original Sin

What is it about?

This article examines the guilt concepts which underlie Reformed doctrines on original sin. It asks whether these guilt concepts are intelligible. Four criteria are applied: biblically justification, rational plausibility, fairness and non-harmfulness. The study identifies a variety of guilt concepts used in reformed doctrines on original sin, most of which are problematic in terms of the criteria applied. It finds that the notion of actual guilt is perfectly able to keep original sin doctrine together and suggests that traditional original sin doctrines must be purged from harmful or unintelligible guilt concepts such as racial guilt and collective devolved guilt.

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