UNDERSTANDING SINFUL SOCIAL STRUCTURES
‘What Can You Do?’ Understanding Sinful Social Structures By Daniel K. Finn September 20, 2018 " This insight (of Benedict XVI) is extended here in the claim that sinful social structures are sinful in the same way that original sin is sinful. Both influence our moral agency, and they do so in similar ways. No one is morally responsible for sins committed by an ancestor. The principal insight of the doctrine of original sin is that, whatever our efforts at virtue, we are sinners. There are eight things we might note about original sin, presented here with little defense due to the constraints of space. All are analogously true of sinful social structures. “ Finn claims that 1) original sin has its effect through both one’s environment and one’s personal disposition, 2) we are already disordered when we reach an age of moral responsibility, 3) original sin is an inclination to evil, 4) original sin’s influence on our choices occurs through ...