Stripped and wounded: The medieval background of Roman Catholic views on the effects of the fall in (post)-Tridentine theology

The Canons of the Synod of Dordt seem to offer a very pessimistic assessment of what human beings are morally capable of apart from divine grace. Often, this
is identified with ‘total depravity’. In contrast, Roman Catholic theology has the
tendency to downplay the effects of the fall. Original sin is said to constitute only the loss of the extra, supernatural gifts of original justice and a return to a purely natural state. In this paper, I argue that this view, which became dominant only during the Council of Trent and was attributed to Thomas Aquinas, has in fact its roots in the theology of Duns Scotus. I present a reading of Thomas Aquinas, which integrates the Aristotelian and the Augustinian views on the notion of ‘human nature’. For Augustine, ‘human nature’ is a historical-empirical term, describing human existence before the fall. Aristotle, on the other hand, uses ‘human nature’ as a metaphysical concept, which indicates what something should be in order to qualify as human. Aquinas combines both with the help of the notion of a ‘state of human nature’ (status humanae naturae), which differs before and after the fall. In his way, Aquinas can do justice to Augustine’s idea that human beings are intrinsically affected by original sin, while keeping their human nature as such. It seems that this Thomist view on original sin is not incompatible with the Canons of Dordt.