Strand: Christian Ethics – Personal and Social (CEL7-8E2)
Levels 7 and 8
As free agents of thought and action, when humans participate in sinfulness and moral evil, humanity is diminished. Being made in the image of God calls for the continual conversion of persons and cultural structures informed by the Gospel. Other religions and worldviews also provide direction for human life choices.
Interpret the concept of sin and redemption from the Christian perspective and explore another tradition for its understandings.
Elaborations
From a Catholic Christian perspective, sinfulness is an alienation or estrangement from God. Sin is ultimately a failure to respond to God’s great love. All sin is rooted in personal choices. Sin can be either personal or social in its effects. Personal sin is something freely chosen and done by free and accountable persons while social sin is an evil that somehow creeps into entire organizations, structures, communities, or societies as a result of human choices, actions, inactions, and attitudes, doing harm to individuals as well as whole communities. Self-centred personal choices can have a damaging effect on a person’s relationships with God, others and the environment. The Christian way of life should be characterized by ongoing conversion away from sinfulness and selfcentredness and toward acceptance of God’s loving offer of friendship [Ekstrom, R. (Ed.). (1995). A new concise Catholic dictionary. Mystic, Conn.: Twenty-Third: p. 231].
See Learning Lites: Sin, Redemption and Evil
More Information
See Learning Lites: Sin, Redemption and Evil