Christian Anthropology: The Human Person in Catholic Thought - Freedom, Sin, and the Wounded Will

Session 4: Freedom, Sin, and the Wounded Will

Human freedom is real but not unlimited, and the doctrine of Original Sin explains why our freedom is structurally damaged. Drawing on Augustine and Aquinas, this session explores the will's orientation toward the good and its tendency toward disordered loves. The session asks: what does it mean to be free, and how does grace restore what sin has broken?

Reading: Augustine, Confessions I.1 and VIII.5–12; CCC §§385–421; Alasdair MacIntyre, Dependent Rational Animals ch. 1–2

Instructor: Dr. Aloysius Ventham

Philosopher and meta-ethicist. Program Director of the Villa Steiner Academy. Works on moral reasoning, judgment, and responsibility; teaches philosophy and ethics in Salzburg and Vienna.