6th–13th centuries

Medieval Anthropology: Boethius, Gregory the Great, Eriugena, Anselm and Original Righteousness as a Supernatural Gift

In the Consolation of Philosophy (524/25) Boethius reconciled God's foreknowledge with free will: God sees all that exists as present, so His eternal knowledge does not contradict freedom. Gregory the Great, through whom the Middle Ages understood Augustine, saw sin as weakness and sickness rather than guilt: humanity lost not freedom but the goodness of the will. Eriugena taught that human substance lies in the idea of humanity in the Creator's mind, and that the corruptible body and the division of the sexes are part of fallen creation. Anselm understood original sin as "natural" sin: every child is an individualization of Adam's common nature; true freedom for him is the will's self-orientation toward righteousness, not a freedom of indifference. According to Berkhof, the view gradually prevailed in Catholicism that original righteousness is a supernatural gift and original sin is its absence.