Augustine's Pear and Eve's Apple: The Problem of Original Sin

Original sin is a complex theological. Augustine's pear parable addresses the root in a spiritual context. Augustine contends that in striving for the holy, one may attempt to make oneself as God. All sins which may be committed are perversions of a virtue which maybe found pure--in God. Augustine says "Ambition seeks nothing but honours and glory, whereas you alone are worthy of honour above all things, and your glory endures for ever" (2.6.13). Augustine is …

…they question. It is this question which deprived us of the Garden of Eden and the presence of God. To know God one cannot question God and act with the authority taken in the Garden of Eden. One must relinquish the authority back to God. The apple (or pear) must be cast back; then one can be with and of and in God. Citation Augustine. The Confessions. Trans. Philip Burton. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2001.