African Christians put emphasis on creation and deliverance from hardship, while European Christians put emphasis on sin and salvation. These differences show up in death rituals and funerals. The early Church suffered political persecution. Freedom from slavery saw redemption as the main form of freedom. The early Medieval Church (4th-11th centuries) was more concerned about freedom from the power of the devil after Augustine had emphasized the concept of original sin. The early Scholastic theologians like Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109) put less emphasis on the ransom from the devil. Adam had disobeyed and dishonored God. Christ has saved us by being the second Adam, the so-called satisfaction theory. Order and honor were more important. The Third world today sees redemption as something else. Christian redemption is the same reality, but there are different interpretations of what it means to be redeemed.
original sin
David is a sinner (Ps 51:3-51:5)
“I know my transgressions.
My sin is ever before me.
Against you,
You alone,
Have I sinned against.
I have done what is evil in your sight.
Thus you are justified
In your sentence.
You are blameless when you pass judgment.
Indeed,
I was born guilty.
I was a sinner
When my mother conceived me.”
David knew that he had sinned. His transgression was in front of him. He knew that he had done evil in the sight of God. He recognized that the sin was against God alone, as he did not see the human implications of his sin. This was evil in the sight of God. Thus God was justified and blameless in passing judgment on him. Then David hid behind the fact that he was born guilty. He was a sinner from his conception. Somehow he was throwing his sinfulness back to his mother and sex in general. Perhaps he was alluding to the human condition to be prone to sin or something akin to human original sin.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 