This research aims to identify the guilt concepts used in Reformed doctrines on the origin and transmission of sin and to evaluate them in light of the criteria of biblical authenticity, rational plausibility, fairgrounds of culpability, and the principle of causing non-harm. The results show that the Reformed tradition predominantly employs the notions of original guilt, inherited guilt, collective ‘species’ guilt (realism), ‘devolved’ collective guilt (federalism), and actual guilt. Actual guilt is the only guilt concept that satisfies all of the stated criteria, as it preserves the link between human agency and human accountability. The question that flows from this observation is: Can Reformed original sin doctrines be purged from harmful guilt concepts without subverting the essence of the doctrine? The article suggests that the notion of actual guilt is perfectly capable of carrying the basic message of the original sin doctrines, provided that we keep the personal and collective dimensions of actual guilt together and that we refrain from espousing comprehensive causal-explanatory theories on the transmission of sin.

中文翻译：

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原罪改革教义中的罪恶观念

这项研究旨在确定改革宗关于罪的起源和传播的教义中使用的罪恶概念，并根据圣经的真实性、合理的合理性、有罪的公平理由和不造成伤害的原则来评估它们。结果表明，改革宗传统主要采用原始内疚、遗传内疚、集体“物种”内疚（现实主义）、“移交”集体内疚（联邦主义）和实际内疚等概念。实际内疚是唯一满足所有规定标准的内疚概念，因为它保留了人类能动性和人类责任之间的联系。从这一观察中得出的问题是：改革宗原罪教义是否可以在不颠覆教义本质的情况下从有害的罪恶观念中清除？这篇文章表明，如果我们将实际有罪的个人和集体维度放在一起，并且我们不支持关于传播的全面因果解释理论，那么实际有罪的概念完全能够传达原罪教义的基本信息的罪恶。