Translation of Le péché originel dans la tradition patristique et théologique.

Includes bibliographical references.

Sacred Scripture -- From the Beginning to Saint Augustine -- The Pre-Irenaean Tradition -- Saint Irenaeus -- Tertullian -- The Alexandrians -- Origenism under Fire -- The Cappadocians -- Greek Fathers of the Fourth Century -- Ambrose and Augustine -- The Condemnation of Pelagianism -- Part Two -- The Augustinian Tradition -- From the Fathers to the Middle Ages -- Saint Anselm and his Followers -- Saint Thomas Aquinas -- The Council of Trent -- The Fate of Infants who die Unbaptized -- The Voluntary of Original Sin -- Part Three -- The Modern Conscience -- Kant and Radical Evil -- The Legacy of Kant and Spinoza -- The Interpretation of Genesis -- Transformism and Theology -- Theological Research -- A Working Hypothesis

In 1950 the encyclical Humani Generis reopened discussion in moderate terms on the question of transformation and the origin of man. In this book Fr. Rondet, a specialist in the field of Augustinian studies and the theology of original sin, tries to set down the basis of a theological hypothesis which, although it seems to be daring, is probably the best exposition the best exposition of the problem to have appeared so far. He treats of Origen and Augustine, but also of Spinoza, Kant and Hegel, Kierkegaard and Schleiermacher; and the chapter on theological research of recent times he discusses the opinions of Williams and Seeberg, Barth, Ricoeur and Teilhard de Chardin. The chapter on the fate of children who die unbaptized covers the thought of Augustine and Aquinas, and includes comment on such recent writing on the subject as that of Hermann Schell. Fr. Rondet's own working hypothesis with regard to original sin – that Adam is synonymous with mankind – is outlined in the final chapter.