The Sin in the Aetiological Concept of Johann Christian August Heinroth (1773–1843).

Abstract

Throughout his work Johann Christian August Heinroth regarded sin to be the cause of mental illness. The present two-part paper investigates what exactly Heinroth understood by sin. Based on a thorough analysis of his own texts, this study shows that on the one hand Heinroth referred to sin in a Christian-Protestant sense. On the other, however, a moral-ethical code of conduct was also involved. Thus, Heinroth did not regard sin as a singular event, but rather as a life conducted in a wrong way for years or even decades, by which he meant a steady striving towards earthly, bodily satisfaction.