On the Virgin Conception and Original Sin

Anselm's 'De Conceptu Virginali et de Originali Peccato' — the metaphysics of original sin

Tradition: Early scholasticism / Anselmian theology / Latin patristic-medieval Augustinianism

Anselm's 'De Conceptu Virginali' — original sin as inherited privation of original justice, transmitted through generation

Composed during Anselm's archiepiscopal exile from England c. 1099-1100 (Anselm had been forced into exile from Canterbury by his disputes with King William II Rufus, then returned briefly under Henry I before a second exile 1103-1106), 'De Conceptu Virginali et de Originali Peccato' continues the soteriological argument of 'Cur Deus Homo' (1098). 'Cur Deus Homo' had argued for the necessity of the Incarnation as the only adequate satisfaction for human sin; 'De Conceptu Virginali' answers the natural follow-up question: how could Christ be conceived of the Virgin without himself contracting original sin? The treatise's twenty-eight chapters develop the Augustinian doctrine of original sin in a more systematic form than Augustine himself had achieved. Original sin is the privation of original justice (the rectitudo voluntatis — rightness of the will — bequeathed to Adam in his pre-fallen state) transmitted to all descendants through generation. The privation is not a positive evil substance (against any Manichaean implication) but a real defect of justice that ought to be in human nature. Christ avoids contracting original sin not because his flesh is different in substance from ordinary human flesh, but because his conception by the Virgin (rather than by ordinary generation from a fallen father) does not transmit the privation in the way ordinary generation does. The treatise was a major source for the high-medieval scholastic doctrine of original sin (Aquinas's treatment in Summa Theologiae I-II q. 81-83 directly engages it); it shaped the Catholic doctrine of original sin in its definitive medieval-scholastic form.