The Doctrine of Total Depravity and the Mind
The doctrine of total depravity asserts that humanity's fall into sin has profoundly affected every aspect of human nature, including the mind. According to John Calvin, the mind of those affected by total depravity is "so thoroughly imbued with iniquity, that the whole presented nothing but what was to be condemned" [2]. This understanding is rooted in biblical teachings, such as Genesis 6:5 and 8:21, which describe the human heart as thoroughly corrupt.
Biblical Foundations
The biblical anchor for the doctrine of total depravity is found in passages that describe the extent of human sinfulness. For instance, Genesis 6:5 states that "every imagination of the thoughts of the heart" of humanity was "only evil continually" [2]. Similarly, Jeremiah 17:9 notes that "the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." These passages suggest that sin has permeated every aspect of human nature, including the mind.
Confessional Articulation
The Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion, an Anglican confession, articulates the doctrine of total depravity by stating that original sin is "the fault and corruption of the Nature of every man, that naturally is ingendered of the offspring of Adam; whereby man is very far gone from original righteousness, and is of his own nature inclined to evil" [8]. This confession underscores the pervasive nature of sin's impact on humanity.
Tradition Contrasts
Different Christian traditions have varying interpretations of total depravity and its implications for the human mind. Reformed theology, as represented by Charles Hodge, emphasizes that total depravity means that "the whole human race, by their apostasy from God, are totally depraved" [1]. In contrast, Eastern Orthodox thought, as seen in John of Damascus, focuses on the incarnation and the nature of Christ's union with humanity, without directly addressing total depravity in the same terms [3].
The Catholic tradition, through Thomas Aquinas, discusses the concept of "blindness of mind" as a privation of the principle of mental or intellectual sight, suggesting that while the natural light of reason remains, it can be hindered [5]. Lutheran and Nonconformist/Puritan perspectives also grapple with the implications of total depravity for human understanding and behavior [6, 7].
Implications for the Mind
The doctrine of total depravity has significant implications for understanding the human mind. According to Calvin, the corruption of the human mind is so profound that it renders human beings incapable of spiritual good without divine intervention [2]. In contrast, some Jewish traditions, such as that represented by Maimonides, emphasize the potential for human beings to direct their hearts and behaviors towards a singular goal, such as comprehending God, suggesting a more optimistic view of human capability [9].
Historical Development
The doctrine of total depravity has developed over time, influenced by various theological controversies and councils. The Reformed tradition's articulation of total depravity was sharpened during the Reformation and subsequent theological debates [1, 10]. The patristic era, represented by figures like Augustine, also contributed to the development of this doctrine by emphasizing the corrupting influence of sin on human nature [4].
The understanding of total depravity and its effects on the human mind continues to be a subject of theological debate across different Christian traditions. While some traditions emphasize the total corruption of human nature, others highlight the remaining capacities of the human mind or the potential for spiritual growth.
Sources
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 2, section 50: certain facts of experience. Second Argument from the Entire Sinfulness of Men. This universal depravity of men is no slight evil. The whole human race, by their apostasy from God, are totally depraved. By total depravity, is not meant that all men are equally wicked; nor that any man is as thoroughly corrupt as it is possible for a man to be; nor that men are destitute of all moral virtues. The Scriptures recognize the fact, which experience abundantly confirms, that men, to a greater or less degree, are honest in dealings, kind in their”
- CCEL (Reformed) “Calvin, Commentary on Genesis, Vol. 1 (Gen 1-23), section 10.14: indeed happen, that men will sometimes plunge themselves into sin, while yet something of a sound mind will remain; but Moses teaches us, that the mind of those, concerning whom he speaks, was so thoroughly imbued with iniquity, that the whole presented nothing but what was to be condemned. For the language he employs is very emphatical: it seemed enough to have said, that their heart was corrupt: but not content with this word, he expressly asserts, “every imagination of the thoughts of the heart;” and adds the word “only,” as i”
- CCEL (Eastern Orthodox) “John of Damascus, An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, section 52: ii. 9 . , that is to say in His flesh. And His divinely-inspired disciple, Dionysius, who had so deep a knowledge of things divine, said that the Godhead as a whole had fellowship with us in one of its own subsistences 2004 2004 Dion., De div. nom., ch. 2. . But we shall not be driven to hold that all the subsistences of the Holy Godhead, to wit the three, are made one in subsistence with all the subsistences of humanity. For in no other respect did the Father and the Holy Spirit take part in the incarnation of God the Wo”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 3: Augustine — On the Holy Trinity — [DE MENDACIO.] (part 15): the mind is more excellent than the body, so much the more heinous is the wickedness if that be corrupted. There, then, purity can be preserved, because there none but a voluntary corruption can have place. For assuredly if the ravisher assault the body, and there is no escaping him either by contrary force, or by any contrivance or lie, we must needs allow that purity cannot be violated by another's lust. Wherefore, since no man doubts that the mind is better than the body, to integrity of body we ought to prefer integri”
- theology (Catholic (Scholastic)) “Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Second Part of the Second Part (Secunda Secundae), Of the Vices Opposed to Knowledge and Understanding, Art. 1: Article: Whether blindness of mind is a sin? I answer that, Just as bodily blindness is the privation of the principle of bodily sight, so blindness of mind is the privation of the principle of mental or intellectual sight. Now this has a threefold principle. One is the light of natural reason, which light, since it pertains to the species of the rational soul, is never forfeit from the soul, and yet, at times, it is prevented from exercising its proper ac”
- Ecclesiastes (Lutheran) “Keil & Delitzsch on Ecclesiastes 12:8: "O vanity of vanities, saith Koheleth, all is vain." If we here look back to Ecc 12:7, that which is there said of the spirit can be no consolation. With right, Hofmann in his Schriftbeweis, I 490, says: "That it is the personal spirit of a man which returns to God; and that it returns to God without losing its consciousness, is an idea foreign to this proverb." Also, Psychol. p. 410, it is willingly conceded that the author wished here to express, first, only the fact, in itself comfortless, that the component parts of the human body return whence they c”
- Jude (Nonconformist/Puritan) “Matthew Henry on Jude 1:8: The apostle here exhibits a charge against deceivers who were now seducing the disciples of Christ from the profession and practice of his holy religion. He calls them filthy dreamers, forasmuch as delusion is a dream, and the beginning of, and inlet to, all manner of filthiness. Note, Sin is filthiness; it renders men odious and vile in the sight of the most holy God, and makes them (sooner or later, as penitent or as punished to extremity and without resource) vile in their own eyes, and in a while they become vile in the eyes of all about them. These filthy dreame”
- Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion (Anglican) “Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion (Anglican, 1571), Section 225: Original Sin standeth not in the following of Adam, (as the Pelagians do vainly talk;) but it is the fault and corruption of the Nature of every man, that naturally is ingendered of the offspring of Adam; whereby man is very far gone from original righteousness, and is of his own nature inclined to evil, so that the flesh lusteth always contrary to the spirit; and therefore in every person born into this world, it deserveth God's wrath and damnation. And this infection of nature doth remain, yea in them that are regenerated; where”
- Mishneh Torah (Maimonides) (Jewish (Rabbinic)) “Mishneh Torah (Maimonides), Mishneh Torah%2C Human Dispositions 3:2: A person should direct his heart and the totality of his behavior to one goal, 1 In Shemoneh Perakim , Chapter 5, the Rambam addresses himself to many of the concepts mentioned in this and the following halachah. He begins that chapter with the declaration: A person must control all the powers of his soul with [his] intellect... and concentrate on a single goal at all times: To comprehend God, blessed be He, to the extent that man can know Him.All of his activities: what he does, the way he rests, and what he says should lead”
- CCEL (Reformed) “John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, section 37: 209 CHAPTER 1. THROUGH THE FALL AND REVOLT OF ADAM, THE WHOLE HUMAN RACE MADE ACCURSED AND DEGENERATE. OF ORIGINAL SIN. I. How necessary the knowledge of ourselves is, its nature, the danger of mistake, its leading parts, sect. 1, 2, 3. II. The causes of Adam’s fearful fall, sect. 4. III. The effects of the fall extending to Adam’s posterity, and all the creatures, sect. 5, to the end of the Chapter, where the nature, propagation, and effect of original sin are considered. Sections. 1. The knowledge of ourselves most necessary. To ”