There is a group on Facebook that discusses the books and ideas of Fr. Richard Rohr. It is not a group sponsored by Rohr or the Center for Action and Contemplation, but just a place where those interested in his insights and ideas can converse. There was a post today that caught my eye because I don't agree with the Augustinian understanding (official church teaching) of original sin. I accepted all of it when I was a kid, and was well into adulthood before I really began dissenting from the many christian and Catholic teachings that don't make sense to me, such as atonement theology, transubstantiation, and original sin (among others). This was the lead comment in the FB group today. Thoughts?
Several years ago, i attended a church that was doing an infant dedication, and the pastor offered an interesting suggestion.
He asked his creative arts department to design "onesies" for the babies, with the following printed on the front:
Dιɾƚყ Rσƚƚҽɳ Sιɳɳҽɾ
And on the back:
𝗣𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗠𝗲 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗼𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗹
What do you think of this idea?
If YOU were the Creative Arts Director...
What would you have printed on the front/back?!
[Note: most in the audience that day cheered loudly, while I became a little sick to my stomach. They likely hadn't read Immortal Diamond, or anything else by Father Richard... and they need to]
I would guess that pastor's church wasn't a Catholic church. Even apart from putting "dirty rotten sinner"(!) on a baby's clothing, I don't think we have a ceremony called "infant dedication". Maybe that is done in denominations that don't baptize until later in the child's (or adult's) life?
ReplyDeleteI also don't think we Catholics consider infants to be "dirty rotten sinners". We think they have the stain of original sin (which is not the same as an actual, personal sin); and the waters of baptism wash away that stain.
FWIW, we don't think young children commit sins until they reach the age of reason - typically thought to be around the age of seven. Speaking as a parent: that age isn't a bad proxy for children understanding right from wrong (and choosing to do the wrong anyway).
I’m quite sure it was a Protestant church, most likely evangelical. Our eldest grandson was dedicated in his maternal grandmother’s church in Florida - an African American church. I have heard of infant dedications previously. Not everyone who is part of the Richard Rohr discussion group on FB is Catholic. But most Catholics have relatives and friends who aren’t Catholic so are invited to infant dedications. In my Jewish neighborhood we have gone to bris ceremonies for boys and naming ceremonies for girls but no infant dedications.
DeleteUnfortunately the teaching on original sin does imply that we are born sinners.
I had to look up what a “onesie” was. AI says it is a one-piece garment.
ReplyDeleteIn this case with dirty rotten sinner on the front and preach me the gospel on the back the onesie tells me more about the people surrounding the child than about the child.
By implication they seem to regard themselves and others such as this little child as dirty rotten sinners in need of preaching the gospel. What is the Good News? Is it that we are all dirty rotten sinners that have been redeemed?
I don’t think self-loathing and certainly loathing of others is very desirable.
Such thinking is difficult to square with the biblical doctrine that we are all made in the image and likeness of God. Is God a dirty rotten sinner?
It is difficult to square with the Catholic Doctrine of the fundamental dignity and equality of all human beings. Surely that does mean that everyone is a dirty rotten sinner!
It is also difficult to square with the summary of the whole law as consisting of love of God and love of neighbor as oneself. Does that really mean that we love them and ourselves as dirty rotten sinners?
In announcing the Kingdom of God, Jesus called us to repent. But the Greek word is METANOIA, literally to go beyond our present ways of thinking. These are the first words of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark as he begins to preach the God News.
What METANOIA means differs greatly for the individuals that Jesus met.
For Peter and Andrew, James and John it meant transforming their lives as fishermen into being the company of Jesus.
For the people in the synagogue, it meant the experiencing the authority of Jesus teaching.
For Peter’s mother-in-law it meant healing from an illness that kept her from serving the family.
The Good News transforms people in very different ways. What they were before matters very little. Also, what they become differs greatly from person to person.
I agree with Jim that this story likely comes from a Protestant environment and does not represent official Catholic thinking on the issue of sin. However, Protestant thinking on the issue of sin has had a warping influence on American Catholic thinking at the popular level.
Historically I think Lutheran and Calvinist theology has given Protestant theology a much more negative attitude toward man than Augustine ever had. And we have to remember that most Orthodox do not regard Augustine as a saint much less a Church Father because of his views on original sin. Some recent Catholic theology as attempted to rethink human nature more in terms of Orthodox theology which emphasizes the elevation of all humanity and all creation through the incarnation and our relationship to the glorified humanity of Christ, and the giving of the Holy Spirit. One finds little of that in contemporary Evangelical theology. I think we American Catholics have hesitated to become more like the Orthodox largely because of our national Protestant heritage.
Jack, thanks - that is a brilliant exposition.
DeleteI' recently started a book on what it means to be made in the image of God. I've had to temporarily set it aside to finish a biography of Calvin Coolidge that is due back pretty soon at the library.
I would actually doubt that the proposed wording on the onesie alludes to catholic theology or to Augustine.. Many Protestants have no idea who he was nor do they know anything about his influence on the development of Christian theology. I was a bit surprised when I first realized that.
ReplyDeleteI suspect that Jack is right - the whole idea reflects a Calvinist mindset. But it could reflect catholic theology as well- that human beings are born with sin on their souls and must be baptized in order to gain heaven. Jim, you have repeated this idea more than once, saying that “ well, the church teaches ….that the only SURE way to gain access heaven is Christian baptism using the trinitarian formula “ so you had better convince your kids to get their kids baptized. .
Examples of onesies for Jack . Onesies are the most important articles of apparel in an infant’s wardrobe.
https://www.shutterstock.com/search/baby-wearing-onesie?dd_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F
"well, the church teaches ….that the only SURE way to gain access heaven is Christian baptism using the trinitarian formula "
DeleteRight, I know what you're referring to. This is from paragraph 1257 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
"The Lord himself affirms that Baptism is necessary for salvation. [Cf. Jn 3:5] He also commands his disciples to proclaim the Gospel to all nations and to baptize them. [ Cf. Mt 28:19-20; cf. Council of Trent (1547) DS 1618; LG 14; AG 5.] Baptism is necessary for salvation for those to whom the Gospel has been proclaimed and who have had the possibility of asking for this sacrament. [Mk 16:16.] The Church does not know of any means other than Baptism that assures entry into eternal beatitude..."
No that doesn't sound like a Catholics Baptism. Who in their right mind puts that on a baby's garment!
ReplyDeleteThe evangelical church that my husband grew up in did have a dedication ceremony if the parents wanted i
Usually parents dress a baby in a white garment of some kind for Baptism. Some of the church ladies made little white bibs in case the parents didn't have anything white for the child. My mom made my baptismal dress out of the same cloth that her wedding dress was made of. My grandma made a white gown (a lot longer than the baby!) for our sons. It was used by all our granddaughters too. They tried my little dress on them, but apparently I was a smaller baby, it didn't fit them..
About original sin, I think it is a place holder for something we can't explain. That is the fact that humans frequently choose to do bad things. As one of our pastors put it in his homilies, "man's propensity for evil". That propensity is on display, all the time.
I think of Baptism as the first sacrament of initiation, a celebration of being in the family of God. I don't worry too much about what the theologians say about original sin, they're trying to explain a mystery that is inexplicable in the end..
Katherine-“ they're trying to explain a mystery that is inexplicable in the end”
DeleteWhich is the fundamental flaw in theology . It tries to explain that which cannot be truly understood by limited human minds.
The problem is that too many accept these teachings uncritically. Blindly, as we young Catholics were taught back in the day. We were expected to believe all, accept all that the church teaches, with “ docility “. I did when I was young, even as the doubts grew. I wanted the feeling of community. But eventually community was not enough. My spiritual journey will continue until I die, but without answers, without certainty. Religion fascinates me, but the only thing I can say that I believe without question is that there is a creator of this universe. Most people refer to this.creator as God. So I do too.
How much harm has been done by doctrine and dogma over the years? How many were persecuted, tortured and killed for
“heresy”? How much harm is done by the type of thinking that leads to having a onesie worn by a baby that says Dirty Rotten Sinner’ ?
My Wesleyan, Amish, and Baptist in-laws have infant dedication. Even the ones who think humans are rotten to the core would not sanction that horrible onesie.
ReplyDeleteInfant dedication welcomes new life and reminds the congregation that they all play a part in setting a good example and bringing the child into the Church. Failure to join the Church among the Amish is seen as a failing of the family and community.
At our nephew's dedication, the Wesleyan minister said that a Christian example can come from many sources, including family members from other denominations.
It was not much different from a Catholic baptism in which parents and godparents vow to raise the child in the faith.
I'd like to offer a few brief thoughts about original sin.
ReplyDeleteThe first point is: it is not the same as a sin. As the CCC puts it (#404), "It is "contracted", not "committed"". It "does not have the character of a personal fault in any of Adam's descendants" (405). These observations of what original sin is not (i.e. it is not sin per se) help us to understand, not only what original sin is, but what sin is - and that they are not the same.
An interesting aspect of the doctrine of original sin that I think is seldom mentioned is that, according to the Adam and Eve myth, sin was not originally bound up with humanity. There was a time prior to original sin. During that time, humans lived in a state of original holiness and original justice (399, 400, 404).
That there was once a time of original holiness and origianal justice may help explain our innate sense that life 'doesn't have to be this way' - that the sinfulness and evil in the world is not something simply to be accepted, much less to be cooperated with.
The notions of original holiness and original justice help us to see that sin, although we may consider it intrinsic to humanity, is not so - sin only came after humanity. Because sin is not intrinsic to humanity, it is possible for us to imagine living without sin - that it may be possible, somehow (and that is only with God's help) to live some day win a holy and justified way.
The doctrine of original sin also presupposes a profound connectedness among humans - the "unity of the human race" (CCC 404). The church does not have a precise explanation for how this is so - how it is we are all bound together, such that original sin is disseminated to each of us. But surely we all sense it is true; and the notion permeates our best ideas. It is why solidarity makes sense to us; it is why is seems so self-damning, in one of the myth-stories, when Cain asks God, "am I my brother's keeper?""