Grace And Sin :: essays research papers

Grace In order to completely understand the theology of grace you have to take a look at Augustine, Aquinas, Luther, Rahner, Segundo, and Boff, and how they understood what grace was. Their theories on grace have some valid points and yet they also have some invalid points. Augustine took a personal approach to grace and he believed in the massa damnata, which basically means that on the whole people are damned. He said before the original sin, you had a choice to be good or evil. Also, Augustine said that there is a double predestination, which means only some people are chosen before they are born if they are going to go to heaven. I don’t agree with this because it is basically saying that there is no salvation for all people. Aquinas thought that grace was added to nature and it elevates nature. He wrote the Summa, which demonstrates the beatific vision. The beatific vision is when the mind is unified to God. Aquinas’ theology is dualistic which displays natural and supernatural as separate entities. I don’t believe in his beatific vision because I believe that God allows us to make our own choices out of free will so our mind cannot be unified with Him. Unless I am wrong, this is saying God knows what is going to happen before it happens. If this is the case why do we have suffering; because God gave us free will. Luther viewed grace through his own view of himself as a sinner. He was so obsessed that he confessed his sins seven times a day. He said that grace is a favor of God and it heals a person’s sinfulness. He said that Jesus’ word was a vehicle of grace and that grace cannot be merited. I think his views on grace are not very good only because he views God as an active member and humans as a passive one. In order to be truly graced I believe that both parties need to be active and involved. Rahner believes that grace is intrinsic to nature and he also believes in Anonymous Christianity. This theory is that every person on this Earth is a Christian even if you do not know it. I don’t agree with this theory because, once again God gives everyone free will and this allows people to believe the way they want to. Boff says grace is a relationship with the trinity. I agree with this because it consists of showing love and devotion to all three persons of our one God. He also said that liberation is the key to grace. I some what agree with