Cyril of Alexandria’s Critique of “Jewish” Parental Sin

Original sin was one of the contentious issues that stood at the heart of the Catholic- Pelagian debate in the early 400’s. In recent years, patristic scholars have sought to uncover Cyril of Alexandria’s (376–444 CE ) position on this central Catholic teaching. This essay proposes that scholars have overlooked an important indicator of Cyril’s view on this matter, that is, his multi-paged critique of the theological doctrine of parental sin that appears in his Commentary to the Gospel of John (9:1–3). I will argue that just as the debate over parental sin played an explicit and central role in the Augustinian-Pelagian debates on original sin, so too the debate over parental sin could shed some light on Cyril’s attitude toward original sin

Church Fathers · Doctrine · Gospel · Judaism · Medieval history · Sociology · Theology · Biblical Studies and Interpretation · Byzantine Studies and History · Classics · Historical and Religious Studies of Rome · History · Philosophy · Religious studies · Religious Studies