Human Nature in Its Fourfold State
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{{Short description|Book by Thomas Boston}}
Human Nature in its Fourfold State is a 1720 book by Scottish Presbyterian theologian and philosopher Thomas Boston. It was extremely popular and influential in 18th century Scotland.{{cite book |last1=Yeager |first1=Jonathan |title=Enlightened Evangelicalism: The Life and Thought of John Erskine |date=2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=72 |isbn=978-0-19-977315-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mAJpAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA72 |access-date=15 May 2022}}
Theory on human nature
Boston organizes human nature into four aspects: Primitive Integrity, Entire Depravity, Begun Recovery, and Consummate Happiness or Misery. They correspond to Augustine of Hippo's four own figured states: able to sin (posse peccare), not able not to sin (non posse non peccare), able not to sin (posse non peccare), unable to sin (non posse peccare).https://www.monergism.com/human-nature-its-fourfold-state-ebook Mhttps://hopecollege.com/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2014/11/Human-Nature-in-its-Fourfold-State.pdf HC
Impact
Sinclair Ferguson notes that "the book became virtually synonymous with the evangelical tradition in Scotland and could be found in many homes along with a family Bible, the Shorter Catechism, and a copy of John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress."{{cite book |last1=Ferguson |first1=Sinclair |author1-link=Sinclair Ferguson |title=The Whole Christ: Legalism, Antinomianism, and Gospel Assurance—Why the Marrow Controversy Still Matters |date=2016 |publisher=Crossway |page=29}} Philip Ryken notes that it was "the most frequently published Scottish book of the eighteenth century, going through nearly 60 editions by 1800 and over one hundred editions in all."{{cite web |last1=Ryken |first1=Philip |author1-link=Philip Ryken |title=Thomas Boston (1676-1732) as Preacher of the Fourfold State |url=https://ora.ox.ac.uk/catalog/uuid:21b2a81f-a044-46df-8216-87c977b1c9bb/download_file?file_format=application%2Fpdf&safe_filename=602327138.pdf |access-date=15 May 2022 |page=iv }}{{Dead link|date=August 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}