How My High Anthropology Keeps My Low Anthropology in Check

Original blessing always comes before original sin

Photo by Spring Fed Images on Unsplash

I’ve been geeking out about theological concepts such as original sin and total depravity lately. (You know, fun stuff to chat about at the dinner table or make small talk over at the next PTA meeting.)

These are theological concepts that point to the universal messed-upedness of the human species. They make up a “low anthropology” by claiming that we all (yes, ALL — not just those we don’t like) live with the embedded human propensity to muck things up.

I used to recoil from these things. In fact, when our daughter was first born, my wife and I adamantly refused to have her baptized¹ because we thought the notion of original sin — the idea that our beautiful newborn baby was ‘messed up’ at a core level — to be utterly offensive. How could a loving and perfect God create something flawed, disappointing, and self-destructive — especially a creation as pure and innocent as a newborn child?

Well, thanks to studying more in-depth theology this last year or so, I’ve experienced much healing around the shadow side of the human heart. Healthy theology assigns meaning to these aspects of the human condition that are undeniably true.