Original sin and personhood in Adam and Eve An exegetical-psychological approach to revealed anthropology in Gen 3:8-13
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Abstract
This article aims to analyze the effects of the original sin, based on the exegetical analysis of Genesis 3 and on its psychological interpretation, using the psychopathological model of objective relationships. The results are based on revealed anthropology, according to which the original sin causes a natural wound in the human person as within the corporeal, psychic and spiritual unity. The original sin, thus, influences also the psyche and personality of Adam and Eve. After the sin, the behaviors of escape from the proper responsibilities, as well as projections on the other (God) as being persecutory, appear. Such behaviors, using the psychological key, are considered to be expressions of defense mechanisms, caused by subconscious perception of personal weakness and the predominance of concupiscence. Such characteristics can be contextualized in the psychopathological area of the narcissistic personality structure. According to Genesis 3, after the original sin, in man become present the shame, the fear of God, the refusal to admit the personal guilt, the accusation of the other for the choice for the sin committed and the incapacity to ask for divine forgiveness. God, through the salvation history, manifests His love and His care for man. The exit from the Garden of Eden helps the narcissistic man to become aware of his exact reality, to recognize his own limits and his sin and, in the end, to start a walk of conversion and begin to receive God’s gratuitous salvation.
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