The Augustine doctrine of the Original Sin became a central (if not a core belief) to western religious thought. Augustine believed that God condemned humanity to eternal damnation because of Adam and Eve sin. What is this guilty issue all about, then? They perpetuated their “sin”, passing it to their descendants, by the sexual act. For Augustine, the sexual act was therefore polluted by “concupiscence”.

In his own words: “Banished (from Paradise) after his sin, Adam bound his offspring also with the penalty of death and damnation, that offspring which by sinning he had corrupted in himself, as in a root; so that whatever progeny was born (through carnal concupiscence by which a fitting retribution was bestowed upon him) from himself and his spouse – who was the cause of his sin and the companion of his damnation – would drag through the ages the burden of Original Sin, by which it would itself be dragged through manifold errors and sorrows, down to that final and never-ending torment with the rebel angels… So the matter stood; the damned lump of humanity was lying prostate, no, was wallowing in evil, it was falling headlong from one wickedness to another; and joined to the faction of the angels who has sinned, it was paying the most righteous penalty of its impious treason.”

Sorry for the long quote, but I think it’s important to realise that before Augustine, neither Jews, nor Greek Orthodox Christians saw the Original Sin under such catastrophic point of view. Not even Muslims, later, would adopt such dark dogma. And, as we all know, Augustine would become the founder of Western spirit.

I understand that on the early times Christianity has been very positive for women, but by the time of Augustine, a misogynist point of view was already spreading… and I won’t even quote Jerome and Tertullian on this issue….

And as a final comment, Augustine was puzzled why God would have created females. Women’s function seemed to be only the childbearing process that passed the Original Sin to the next generation… much like a venereal disease. I don’t think West system of thought ever recovered from this….