Originally Posted by
Choux
"The view that sex was an evil was prevalent in Augustine's time. Plotinus, a neo-Platonist that Augustine praises in his Confessions,[39] taught that only through disdain for fleshly desire could one reach the ultimate state of mankind.[40] Augustine, likewise, had served as a "Hearer" for the Manicheans for about nine years,[41] and they also taught that the original sin was carnal knowledge.[42]
In his pre-Pelagian writings, Augustine taught that *Original Sin was transmitted by concupiscence* (roughly, lust), making humanity a massa damnata (mass of perdition, condemned crowd) and much enfeebling, though not destroying, the freedom of the will. In the struggle against Pelagianism, the principles of Augustine's teaching were confirmed by many councils, especially the Second Council of Orange (529). Anselm of Canterbury established the definition that was followed by the great Schoolmen, namely that Original Sin is the "privation of the righteousness which every man ought to possess", thus separating it from concupiscence, with which Augustine's disciples had often defined it, as later did Luther and Calvin, who instead of seeing concupiscence, like Augustine, as a vehicle of transmission of Original Sin actually equated the two, a doctrine condemned in 1567 by Pope Pius V.[31]
Augustine's formulation of the doctrine of original sin has substantially influenced both Catholic and Reformed (that is, Calvinist) theology. His understanding of sin and grace was developed against that of Pelagius.[43] Expositions on the topics are found in his works On Original Sin, On the Predestination of the Saints, On the Gift of Perseverance and On Nature and Grace."
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So, read his pre-Pelagian writings to see that he believed Original Sin was transferred to the next generation by male ejaculation. Should be interesting!!
