Reader's Guide to Schleiermacher's Christian Faith

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Second Part of the System of Doctrine: Explication of the Facts of the Religious Self-Consciousness, as they are determined by the Antithesis of Sin and Grace

First Aspect of the Antithesis: Explication of the Consciousness of Sin

Second Section: The Constitution of the World in Relation to Sin

§75 Once sin is present in man, he finds also in the world, as his sphere, persistent causes of hindrance to his life, i.e. evils. This section, accordingly, will deal with the doctrine of evil.

§76 All evil is to be regarded as the punishment of sin, but only social evil as directly such, and natural evil as only indirectly.

§77 The dependence of evil upon sin, however, can be empirically established only as we consider a communal life in its entirety; on no account must the evils affecting the individual be referred to his sin as their cause.

Postscript to this Doctrine

§78 The consciousness of the connexion does not demand a passive endurance of evil on account of sin; nor does it entail an endeavor either to bring about evil because of sin, or on the other hand to do away with evil in itself.

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