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BOOK REVIEWS Original Sin: Two Major Trends in Contemporary Roman Catholic Reinterpretation . By G. VANDERVELDE. Amsterdam, Rodopi N. V., 1975. Pp. 350. Vendervelde, a member of the Reformed Church, wrote this richly rewarding book initially as a doctoral dissertation under the supervision of Professor G. C. Berkouwer at the Free University in Amsterdam. What we have here is an in-depth study of two main currents in the contemporary Catholic reinterpretations of original sin, specifically original sin as it is in men and women of historical time rather than Adam. In a long introduction the author outlines the background of the present flood of theological literature that has come from Catholic theologians on this subject since the early 1960's. He surveys the history of the doctrine from the patristic period. And he makes special note that in the post-tridentine Catholic world original sin has been generally understood in a negative sense, that is, as a privation of sanctifying grace inherited through generation by all the descendants of Adam and Eve. This negative understanding of original sin is different from that of Augustine, who associated original sin and concupiscence closely and understood this sin as an active rebellion against God. In recent decades there are aspects of our culture and the Church's stance toward it that have called the traditional view into question . The modern scientific understanding of man within an evolutionary framework stands in contrast to the pre-modern static understanding of human origins. For example, evolution calls into question monogenism and the perfections traditionally ascribed to Adam and Eve before the fall. Moreover, new views on Scripture and its literary forms call into question the realistic interpretations of the first chapters of Genesis that were traditional for Catholic theologians. John XXIII's call for reinterpretations of Catholic doctrines that preserve their substance but modify their expression to make them understandable to people of our time has had particular significance for original sin. From the enormous amount of literature that has emerged on this topic, Vandervelde studies thoroughly the reinterpretations of original sin as man's situation by some theologians (Piet Schoonenberg, Karl Rahner, and Karl-Heinz Weger) and as personal sin by others (Alfred Vanneste and Urs Baumann). He evaluates these interpretations in the course of his book, and in the epilogue he sums up the problems associated with these views and suggests a possible perspective on this doctrine. We will indicate central points in the successive 48fl BOOK REVIEWS 488 parts of his book and then develop a bit further the perspective he suggests. Among the situationists there is a real community of thought, even though the differences are significant. Schoonenberg, the pioneer here in reinterpreting original sin, makes use in part of Rahner's anthropology; and Weger is largely a follower of Rahner. Schoonenberg attempts to replace the notion of heredity in the doctrine of original sin with that of situation. He finds that Scripture affirms both human solidarity in sin (for example, in the "sin of the world") and personal responsibility, although it does not sufficiently work out the distinction between communal sin and personal sin. Schoonenberg adopts the notion of situation as central for the purpose of relating the sin of one person to that of others without the implication of guilt. The situationists' reinterpretation of original sin depends upon an underlying anthropology and a specific manner of relating nature and grace. This anthropology explains man by the coexistence of socio-historical situation and personal freedom, and their interaction. Rahner specifies that what constitutes man's nature is self-transcendence toward an absolute horizon. This transcendence occurs, however, within spatio-temporal dimensions. Man expresses or objectifies his transcendence within these dimensions; and this context involves factors, some of which are alienating, that man must appropriate freely in the process of his self-transcendence. Situation for all three theologians is an Existential that intrinsically determines man, while it is distinct from the core of the person, namely, his freedom. There never was, however, a natura pura, for God wants all men to be saved, a desire that has as its effect in men what Rahner calls the supernatural existential. This constitutes all history...

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