View source for Philosophy:Ancestral sin

{{Short description|Doctrine that the sins of one's ancestors lead to the punishment of their descendants}}
'''Ancestral sin''', '''generational sin''', or '''ancestral fault''' ({{lang-grc-koi|προπατορικὴ ἁμαρτία}}; {{lang|grc|προπατορικὸν ἁμάρτημα}}; {{lang|grc|προγονικὴ ἁμαρτία}}), is the [[Philosophy:Doctrine|doctrine]] that individuals inherit the judgement for the [[Philosophy:Sin|sin]] of their ancestors.<ref name="Smith2014">{{cite web |last1=Smith |first1=Chuck |title=Generational Sin? |url=https://calvarychapel.com/posts/generational-sin |publisher=Calvary Chapel |access-date=29 April 2021 |language=English |date=17 February 2014}}</ref><ref name="Piper2015">{{cite web |author1=John Piper |title=Can My Life Be Plagued by Generational Sins, Hexes, or Curses? |url=https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/can-my-life-be-plagued-by-generational-sins-hexes-or-curses |publisher=Desiring God |access-date=29 April 2021 |language=English |date=3 November 2015}}</ref> It exists primarily as a concept in Mediterranean religions (e.g. in Christian [[Religion:Hamartiology|hamartiology]]); generational sin is referenced in the [[Religion:Bible|Bible]] in {{Bibleverse|Exodus|20:5|KJV}}.<ref name="Johnson2006"/><ref name="GhentChilderston1994">{{cite book |last1=Ghent |first1=Rick |last2=Childerston |first2=Jim |title=Purity & Passion |date=1994 |publisher=Moody Press |isbn=978-0-8024-7130-7 |page=100 |language=English}}</ref>

The classical scholar Martin West draws a distinction between an ancestral [[Unsolved:Curse|curse]] and an inherited [[Social:Guilt (law)|guilt]], [[Philosophy:Punishment|punishment]], adversity or [[Biology:Dysgenics|genetic corruption]].{{sfn|West|1999|p=33f|ps=: "Critics have often spoken of an inherited curse when what they mean is inherited guilt, or some kind of genetic corruption, or persistent but unexplained adversity."}}

== Background ==

The most detailed discussion of the concept is found in [[Biography:Proclus|Proclus]]'s ''De decem dubitationibus circa Providentiam'', a propaedeutic handbook for students at the Neoplatonic Academy in Athens. Proclus makes clear that the concept is of hallowed antiquity, and making sense of the apparent paradox is presented as a defense of [[Religion:Ancient Greek religion|ancient Greek religion]]. The main point made is that a city or a family is to be seen as a single living being ({{Lang|la|animal unum}}, {{Lang|grc-latn|zoion hen}}) more sacred than any individual human life.{{sfn|Gagné|2013|pp=23–25}}

The doctrine of ancestral fault is similarly presented as a tradition of immemorial antiquity in ancient Greek religion by [[Biography:Celsus|Celsus]] in his ''True Doctrine'', a polemic against Christianity. Celsus is quoted as attributing to  "a priest of Apollo or of Zeus" the saying that "the mills of the gods grind slowly, even to children's children, and to those who are born after them".{{sfn|Gagné|2013|p=60|ps=: "{{lang|grc|Ὀψὲ, φησι, θεῶν ἀλέουσι μύλοι, και Ἐς παίδων παῖδας τοί κεν μετόπισθη γένωνται.}}"}} The idea of divine justice taking the form of [[Social:Collective punishment|collective punishment]] is also ubiquitous in the [[Religion:Hebrew Bible|Hebrew Bible]], e.g. the Ten Plagues of Egypt, the destruction of Shechem, etc., and most notably the recurring punishments inflicted on the Israelites for lapsing from [[Religion:Yahweh|Yahwism]].{{sfn|Krašovec|1999|p=[https://books.google.com/books/?id=zOd5DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA113#v=onepage&q&f=false 113]|ps=. Explicitly in Isaiah 14:21, Exodus 20:5, Exodus 34:6–7, Jeremiah 32:18. Krašovec, Jože, ''Reward, punishment, and forgiveness: the thinking and beliefs of ancient Israel in the light of Greek and modern views''}}

== Teaching by religion ==
=== In Christianity ===
The [[Religion:Bible|Bible]] speaks of generational sin in {{Bibleverse|Exodus|20:5|KJV}}, which states that "the iniquities of the fathers are visited upon the sons and daughters — unto the third and fourth generation."<ref name="Johnson2006">{{cite book |last1=Johnson |first1=Selena |title=The Sin of Racism: How to be Set Free |date=2006 |publisher=Hamilton Books |isbn=978-0-7618-3509-7 |page=104 |language=English}}</ref> This concept implies that "unresolved issues get handed down from generation to generation", but that "Jesus is the bondage breaker ... [and] He is able to break the cycle of this curse, but only if we want Him to."

The formalized [[Religion:Early Christianity|Christian]] doctrine of [[Religion:Original sin|original sin]] is a direct extension of the concept of ancestral sin (imagined as inflicted on a number of succeeding generations), arguing that the sin of [[Religion:Adam and Eve|Adam and Eve]] is inflicted on all their descendants indefinitely, i.e. on the entire human race. 
It was first developed in the 2nd century by Irenaeus, the Bishop of Lyons, in his struggle against [[Philosophy:Gnosticism|Gnosticism]].{{sfn|ODCC|2005|p=Original sin}}{{full short|date=December 2019}} Irenaeus contrasted their doctrine with the view that the Fall was a step in the wrong direction by Adam, with whom, Irenaeus believed, his descendants had some solidarity or identity.<ref>J. N. D. Kelly ''Early Christian Doctrines'' (San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1978) p. 171, referred to in Daniel L. Akin, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=elzlVK5c3dQC&q=JND+Kelly&pg=PA432 A Theology for the Church]'', p. 433</ref>

==== Eastern Orthodoxy ====
Ancestral sin is the object of a Christian doctrine taught by the [[Religion:Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox Church]] as well as other Eastern Christians. Some identify it as "inclination towards sin, a heritage from the sin of our progenitors".<ref>[http://www.trueorthodoxy.info/spir_on_law_God_02.shtml The Nature of Sin] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080908005101/http://www.trueorthodoxy.info/spir_on_law_God_02.shtml |date=2008-09-08 }}; same text also at [http://www.orthodoxphotos.com/readings/law/sin.shtml The Nature of Sin]</ref> But most distinguish it from this tendency that remains even in baptized persons, since ancestral sin "is removed through [[Religion:Baptism|baptism]]".<ref>[http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/praxis/exo_thoughts.aspx St Nikodemos the Hagiorite: Exomologetarion]; cf. "Το βάπτισμα ... αποβάλλει την παλαιά φύση της αμαρτίας (το προπατορικό αμάρτημα)" ([http://www.apostoliki-diakonia.gr/GR_MAIN/catehism/theologia_zoi/themata.asp?contents=selides_katixisis/contents_TaIeraMistiria.asp&main=kat010&file=4.4.1.htm Ανδρέα Θεοδώρου: Απαντήσεις σε ερωτήματα δογματικά (εκδ. Αποστολικής Διακονίας, 1997), p. 156-161]).</ref>

Saint Gregory Palamas taught that, as a result of ancestral sin (called "[[Religion:Original sin|original sin]]" in the West), man's image was tarnished, disfigured, as a consequence of Adam's disobedience.<ref>[http://www.constantine-helen.org/Nature%20of%20God.htm A Discussion of the Orthodox Perception of the Nature of God] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090106015237/http://www.constantine-helen.org/Nature%20of%20God.htm |date=January 6, 2009 }}</ref>
The Greek theologian John Karmiris writes that "the sin of the first man, together with all of its consequences and penalties, is transferred by means of natural heredity to the entire human race. Since every human being is a descendant of the first man, 'no one of us is free from the spot of sin, even if he should manage to live a completely sinless day'. ... Original Sin not only constitutes 'an accident' of the soul; but its results, together with its penalties, are transplanted by natural heredity to the generations to come ... And thus, from the one historical event of the first sin of the first-born man, came the present situation of sin being imparted, together with all of the consequences thereof, to all natural descendants of Adam."<ref>[http://www.orthodoxresearchinstitute.org/articles/dogmatics/golubov_rags_of_mortality.htm Archpriest Alexander Golubov: Rags of Mortality: Original Sin and Human Nature]</ref>

==== Roman Catholicism ====
With regard to breaking generational curses, clergy of the [[Organization:Catholic Charismatic Renewal|Catholic Charismatic Renewal]] have developed prayers for healing.<ref>{{cite web |title=Prayer for Healing the Family Tree |url=https://scrc.org/convention/2013/downloads/2013_HealingFamilyInstructions.pdf |publisher=[[Organization:Catholic Charismatic Renewal|Southern California Renewal Communities]] |access-date=29 April 2021 |language=English |date=2013}}</ref> 

The ''[[Religion:Catechism of the Catholic Church|Catechism of the Catholic Church]]'', the Greek translation of which uses "{{Lang|grc|προπατορική αμαρτία}}" (literally, 'ancestral sin') where the [[Social:Latin|Latin]] text has "{{Lang|la|peccatum originale}}", states: "Original sin is called 'sin' only in an analogical sense: it is a sin 'contracted' and not 'committed' – a state and not an act. Although it is proper to each individual, original sin does not have the character of a personal fault in any of Adam's descendants."<ref>[https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P1C.HTM Catechism of the Catholic Church, 404–405]</ref> Eastern Orthodox teaching likewise says: "It can be said that while we have not inherited the guilt of Adam's personal sin, because his sin is also of a generic nature, and because the entire human race is possessed of an essential, ontological unity, we participate in it by virtue of our participation in the human race. 'The imparting of Original Sin by means of natural heredity should be understood in terms of the unity of the entire human nature, and of the {{Lang|grc-latn|homoousiotitos}}<ref>The correct word form is ''homoousiotes''; the quoted text erroneously uses its genitive form ''homoousiotetos'', and confusingly uses an 'i' instead of an 'e' in the penultimate syllable following a mixed [[Social:Romanization of Greek|Greek transliteration scheme]] with both modern and classical elements.</ref> of all men, who, connected by nature, constitute one mystic whole. Inasmuch as human nature is indeed unique and unbreakable, the imparting of sin from the first-born to the entire human race descended from him is rendered explicable: "Explicitly, as from the root, the sickness proceeded to the rest of the tree, Adam being the root who had suffered corruption" (Saint Cyril of Alexandria).{{'"}}<ref>[http://www.orthodoxresearchinstitute.org/articles/dogmatics/golubov_rags_of_mortality.htm Archpriest Alexander Golubov: Rags of Mortality: Original Sin and Human Nature] quoting John Karmiris, A Synopsis of the Dogmatic Theology of the Orthodox Catholic Church, trans. from the Greek by the Reverend George Dimopoulos (Scranton, Pa.: Christian Orthodox Edition, 1973), p. 36</ref>

===Judaism===
The [[Religion:Hebrew Bible|Hebrew Bible]] provides two passages of scripture regarding generational curses:<ref name="sacks">{{cite web |last1=Sacks |first1=Jonathan |title=To the Third and Fourth Generations (Ki Teitse 5775) |url=http://rabbisacks.org/to-the-third-and-fourth-generations-ki-tetzei-5775/ |website=Rabbi Sacks |accessdate=25 April 2020 |date=24 August 2015}}</ref>
{{quote|The Lord, the Lord, compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in loving-kindness and truth … Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation. |source=Exodus 34:7}}

{{quote|Parents are not to be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their parents; each will die for their own sin. |source=Deuteronomy 24:16}}

The Talmud rejects the idea that people can be justly punished for another person's sins and Judaism in general upholds the idea of individual responsibility. One interpretation is that, even though there is no moral guilt for descendants, they may be negatively impacted as a consequence of their forebear's actions.<ref name="sacks" />

===Hinduism===
Some holy writing in [[Religion:Hinduism|Hinduism]] states,<ref name="SECTION XVII">{{Cite web |title=SECTION XVII |url=https://sacred-texts.com/hin/m13/m13a017.htm#fr_170}}</ref>

: {{quote|The thin [[Biology:Bamboo|bamboo]] rod in the hand of the Brahmana is mightier than the [[Religion:Vajra|thunderbolt]] of [[Religion:Indra|Indra]]. The thunder scorches all existing objects upon which it falls. The Brahmana's rod (which symbolizes the Brahmana's might in the form of his curse) blasts even unborn generations. The might of the rod is derived from [[Religion:Shiva|Mahadeva]].|source=''Anushasana Parva''}}

Hinduism has family curses, elsewhere.<ref name="The Aitareya Brahmanam of the Rigveda, containing the earliest speculations of the Brahmans on the meaning of the sacrificial prayers, and on the origin, performance and sense of the rites of the Vedic religion.">{{Cite web |title=The Aitareya Brahmanam of the Rigveda, containing the earliest speculations of the Brahmans on the meaning of the sacrificial prayers, and on the origin, performance and sense of the rites of the Vedic religion. |year=1922|publisher=Bahadurganj, Allahabad Sudhindra Nath Vasu|url=https://archive.org/stream/aitareyabrahmana04hauguoft#page/320/mode/2up}}</ref>

===Japanese Shinto===
Family curses occur, in Japanese [[Philosophy:Shinto|Shinto]].<ref name="Family Curses in Modern and Ancient History">{{Cite web |title=Family Curses in Modern and Ancient History |date=8 August 2015|url=http://howtoremovecurse.com/family-curses/}}</ref>

===Greek mythology===
In [[Religion:Greek mythology|Greek mythology]], the Erinyes exacted family curses.<ref name="An Etruscan Cinerary Urn in the Kelsey Museum">{{Cite journal |last=Banducci |first=Laura |date=2007 |title=Family Curses in Modern and Ancient History |journal=Bulletin |volume=17 |url=https://quod.lib.umich.edu/b/bulletinfront/0054307.0017.106/--etruscan-cinerary-urn-in-the-kelsey-museum?g=bulletin;rgn=main;view=fulltext;xc=1}}</ref><ref name="Family Curses in Modern and Ancient History"/> Certain dynasties have had tragic occurrences happen upon them.

The House of Cadmus, who established and ruled over the city of Thebes, was one such house. After slaying the dragon and establishing Thebes upon the earth that the dragon terrorized, Ares cursed Cadmus and his descendants because of the dragon's sacredness to Ares. Similarly, after [[Biology:Hephaestus|Hephaestus]] discovered his wife, [[Religion:Aphrodite|Aphrodite]], having a sexual affair with Ares, he became enraged and vowed to avenge himself for Aphrodite's infidelity by cursing the lineage of any children that resulted from the affair. Aphrodite later bore a daughter, Harmonia, the wife of Cadmus, from Ares' seed.

Cadmus, annoyed at his accursed life and ill fate, remarked that if the gods were so enamoured of the life of a serpent, he might as well wish that life for himself. Immediately Cadmus began to grow scales and change into a serpent. Harmonia, after realizing the fate of her husband, begged the gods to let her share her husband's fate. Of the House of Cadmus, many had particularly tragic lives and deaths. For example, King [[Religion:Minos|Minos]] of Crete's wife fall madly in love with the Cretan Bull and bore the [[Unsolved:Minotaur|Minotaur]]. Minos would later be murdered by his daughters whilst bathing. Semele, the mother of [[Religion:Dionysus|Dionysus]] by [[Religion:Zeus|Zeus]], was turned into dust because she glanced upon Zeus's true godly form. King Laius of Thebes was killed by his son, Oedipus. Oedipus later (unknowingly) marries the queen, his own mother, and becomes king. After finding out he gouges his eyes and exiles himself from Thebes.

Another dynasty that was cursed and was subject to tragic occurrences was the House of Atreus (also known as the Atreides). The curse begins with Tantalus, a son of Zeus who enjoyed cordial relations with the gods. To test the omniscience of the gods, Tantalus decided to slay his son Pelops and feed him to the gods as a test of their omniscience. All of the gods, save Demeter, who was too concerned with the [[Religion:Persephone#Abduction myth|abduction of her daughter Persephone]] by [[Religion:Hades|Hades]], knew not to eat from Pelops's cooked corpse. After Demeter had eaten Pelops's shoulder, the gods banished Tantalus into [[Religion:Tartarus|Tartarus]] where he would spend eternity standing in a pool of water beneath a fruit-bearing tree with low branches. Whenever he would reach for a fruit, the branches would lift upward so as to remove his intended meal from his grasp. Whenever he would bend over to drink from the pool, the water would recedes into the earth before he could drink. The gods brought Pelops back to life, replacing the bone in his shoulder with a bit of ivory with the help of Hephaestus, thus marking the family forever afterwards.

Pelops would later marry Princess Hippodamia after winning a chariot race against her father, King Oenomaus. Pelops won the race by sabotaging of King Oenomaus’ chariot, with the help of the king's servant, Myrtilus. This resulted in King Oenomaus’s death. Later, the servant Myrtilus, who was in love with Hippodamia, was killed by Pelops because Pelops had promised Myrtilus the right to take Hippodamia's virginity in exchange for his help in sabotaging the king's chariot. As Myrtilus died, he cursed Pelops and his line, further adding to the curse on the House of Atreus.

King Atreus, the son of Pelops and the namesake of the Atreidies, would later be killed by his nephew, Aegisthus. Before his death, Atreus had two sons, King Agamemnon of [[History:Mycenae|Mycenae]] and King Menelaus of Sparta. King Menelaus's wife, Helen of Sparta, would leave him for Prince Paris of Troy, thus beginning the Trojan War. However, prior to their sailing off for the war, Agamemnon had angered the goddess [[Religion:Artemis|Artemis]] by killing one of her sacred deer. As Agamemnon prepared to sail to Troy to avenge his brother's shame, Artemis stilled the winds so that the Greek fleet could not sail. The seer Calchas told Agamemnon that if he wanted to appease Artemis and sail to [[History:Troy|Troy]], he would have to sacrifice the most precious thing in his possession. Agamemnon sent word home for his daughter Iphigenia to come to him so that he may sacrifice her, framing it to her that she was to be married to Achilles. Iphigenia, honored by her father's asking her to join him in the war, complied. Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter and went off to war.

Clytemnestra, the wife of Agamemnon and mother to Iphigenia, was so enraged by her husband's actions that when he returned victorious from Troy, she trapped him in a robe with no opening for his head whilst he was bathing and stabbed him to death as he thrashed about. [[Biography:Orestes|Orestes]], the son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, was torn between his duty toward avenging his father's death and his sparing his mother. However. after praying to Apollo for consultation, Apollo advised him to kill his mother. Orestes killed his mother and wandered the land, ridden with guilt. Because of the noble act of avenging his father's at the expense of his own soul and reluctance to kill his mother, Orestes was forgiven by the gods, thus ending the curse of the House of Atreus.

===Witchcraft===
The term ''[[Social:Witchcraft|witchcraft]]'' is not well-defined but, at least within factions{{Which|date=September 2022}}, the belief in family curses persists.<ref name="The Family Curse: What Modern Witches Need to Know">{{Cite web |date=February 18, 2016 |title=The Family Curse: What Modern Witches Need to Know |url=http://witchuniversity.com/2016/the-family-curse-what-modern-witches-need-to-know/}}</ref>

== Skeptical views ==
Modern skeptics deny that curses of any nature, including family curses, even exist,<ref name="Why Do People Believe in Curses?">{{Cite web |date= September 2019 |title=Why Do People Believe in Curses? |url= https://www.snopes.com/news/2019/09/05/why-do-people-believe-in-curses/}}</ref><ref name="Why do people believe in curses?">{{Cite web |date=August 30, 2019 |title=Why do people believe in curses? |url= https://theconversation.com/why-do-people-believe-in-curses-121385}}</ref> even if some fervently believe in them.<ref name="Science Is Proving That Tragic Curses Are Real">
{{Cite web |last=Mariani |first=Mike |date= November 19, 2015 |title=Science Is Proving That Tragic Curses Are Real |url= http://nautil.us/issue/30/identity/science-is-proving-that-tragic-curses-are-real}}
</ref>

Modern Western attitudes to personal individuality and to individual achievement do not always sit well with notions of inherited sin.<ref>
{{cite book
 | last1 = Kahler
 | first1 = Erich
 | year = 1956
 | title = Man The Measure: A New Approach To History
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=_iiNDwAAQBAJ
 | location = New York
 | publisher = Routledge
 | publication-date = 2019
 | page = 
 | isbn = 9780429709340
 | access-date = 4 June 2021
 | quote = The recurring theme of the great Greek tragedians [...] is ancestral sin [...]. Man is caught between the inescapable tribal duties and the dawning awareness of free, individual morality. And with this the great theme of Greek man is given; it was carried further by Greek philosophy – the struggle for assertion of human individuality [...].
}}
</ref>
Psychologists and philosophers tend to portray persistent human failings as part of [[Philosophy:Human nature|human nature]], rather than using "[[Religion:Original sin|original sin]]" metaphors.<ref>
Compare:
{{cite book
 | last1 = Boyce
 | first1 = James
 | title = Born Bad: Original Sin and the Making of the Western World
 | date = 23 July 2014
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=wi_ZAwAAQBAJ
 | location = Melbourne
 | publisher = Black Inc.
 | publication-date = 2014 
 | isbn = 9781922231642
 | access-date = 4 June 2021
 | quote = No theologian, from the sixth century to the present day, would say that there is evil in created human nature; that would be a slight on a loving God.
}}
</ref>

==Historical examples==
Nathaniel Hawthorne felt that his family was cursed because of the actions of two of his ancestors, John Hathorne and his father William. William Hathorne was a [[Social:Judge|judge]] who earned a reputation for cruelly persecuting [[Religion:Quakers|Quakers]], and who in 1662 ordered the public whipping of Ann Coleman. John Hathorne was one of the leading judges in the Salem witch trials. He is not known to have repented for his actions. So great were Nathaniel Hawthorne's feelings of guilt, he re-spelled his last name ''Hathorne'' to ''Hawthorne''.<ref name="The Life of Nathaniel Hawthorne">{{Cite web |last=Brooks  |first=Rebecca Beatrice |date=September 15, 2011 |title=The Life of Nathaniel Hawthorne |url=https://historyofmassachusetts.org/nathaniel-hawthorne/}}</ref>

===Famous examples===
[[File:JFK limousine.png|right|thumb|300px|John Fitzgerald Kennedy, with his wife, Jacqueline, and Texas Governor John Connally with his wife, Nellie, in the presidential limousine, minutes before Kennedy was assassinated. Some allege there may be a curse on the Kennedy family.<ref name="Kennedy curse">{{Cite web |last=Carroll |first=Robert |date=December 19, 2013 |title=Kennedy curse |url=http://skepdic.com/kennedycurse.html |access-date=2020-06-14 |website=skepdic.com}}</ref>]]
* The curse of the Alcmaeonidae
* The [[Unsolved:Curse of the Braganzas|Curse of the Braganzas]] (from John IV of Portugal to Louis Philip)
* The [[Unsolved:Curse of Tippecanoe|Curse of Tippecanoe]]; not quite a family curse, as it relates to occupational succession, not genetic, but deserves mention
* The [[Unsolved:Kennedy curse|Kennedy curse]] (from Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. to Maeve Kennedy McKean)
*The Dangbar Family
* The [[Social:Sedgwick family|Sedgwick family]]{{Relevance inline|discuss=I looked at the linked Sedgewick Family, and couldn't find a mention of a curse. What would that be?|date=September 2022}}
* The Von Erich family
* The family of Bruce Lee, also known as "The Curse of the Dragon" (Bruce Lee and Brandon Lee)
* The House of Grimaldi is said to have been cursed for their conquest of the Rock of Monaco, although stories differ as to how they were cursed.

==Family curses in fiction==
As he lies dying, in Shakespeare's ''Romeo and Juliet'' Mercutio says, "A plague o' both your houses", blaming both the Capulets and Montagues. As the play progresses, his words prove prophetic.<ref name="Why Does Mercutio Say A Plague O">{{Cite web |title=Why Does Mercutio Say "A Plague O' Both Your Houses"? |date=4 August 2015|url=https://www.reference.com/world-view/mercutio-say-plague-o-houses-530e7374cff70bdd}}</ref>

There is a family curse in ''The House of the Seven Gables''.<ref name="A house divided">{{Cite web |last=Smiley |first=Jane |title=A house divided |website=TheGuardian.com |date=13 May 2006 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/may/13/featuresreviews.guardianreview28}}</ref>

In [[Biography:Arthur Conan Doyle|Arthur Conan Doyle]]'s ''The Hound of the Baskervilles'', it was thought that the Baskerville family had a legendary family curse, of a giant black hound, "... a foul thing, a great, black beast, shaped like a hound, yet larger than any hound that ever mortal eye has rested upon."<ref name="The Hound of the Baskervilles">{{Cite web |title=The Hound of the Baskervilles |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/hound-baskervilles}}</ref><ref name="The Hound of the Baskervilles Sir Arthur Conan DOYLE (1859 - 1930)">{{Cite web |title=The Hound of the Baskervilles Sir Arthur Conan DOYLE (1859–1930) |url=https://librivox.org/the-hound-of-the-baskervilles-by-arthur-conan-doyle/}}</ref>

In the 2007 South Korean psychological-supernatural suspense horror film ''Someone Behind You'', a young woman named Ga-In (Yoon-Jin-seo) sees families and friends slaughtering and attacking one another and realizes that she is followed by an inexplicable curse causing those around her to get rid of her. Despite all of this she is constantly reminded by an eerie student never to trust her family, her friends, or even herself. Ga-In has hallucinations of those who would attempt to attack her, then sees a disturbing vision of a monstrous being warning her that the bloodshed will intensify. The film was also released in America retitled as ''Voices''.<ref name="Dreadcentral">{{Cite web |last=Barton |first=Steve |title=Voices (2009) |date=26 March 2009 |url=https://www.dreadcentral.com/reviews/10990/voices-2009/}}</ref>{{Relevance inline|discuss=Does this related to a family curse?|date=September 2022}}

==See also==
{{div col|colwidth=22em}}
* [[Religion:Apostolic succession|Apostolic succession]]
* [[Religion:Blood curse|Blood curse]]
* Christian views on sin
* [[Religion:Concupiscence|Concupiscence]]
* [[Religion:Curse of Ham|Curse of Ham]]
* [[Religion:Curse and mark of Cain|Curse and mark of Cain]]
* Curse of Turan
* Curse of the Atreides
* [[Social:Curse tablet|Curse tablet]]
* [[Unsolved:Demonic possession|Demonic possession]] 
* [[Biology:Evil eye|Evil eye]]
* [[Unsolved:Exorcism in Christianity|Exorcism in Christianity]]
* [[Physics:Flying Dutchman|Flying Dutchman]]
* [[Unsolved:Haunted doll|Haunted doll]]
* [[Religion:Hamartiology|Hamartiology]]
* Jinx
* [[Unsolved:Kindama|Kindama]]
* [[Unsolved:La Llorona|La Llorona]]
* Pele's Curse
* [[Religion:Sacrament|Sacrament]]s
* [[Religion:Sacramental|Sacramental]]s
* [[Religion:Sanctification|Sanctification]]
* ''The Scottish Play''
* Superman curse
* Theology of Søren Kierkegaard
* Tutankhamun's Curse
* Usog
* [[Unsolved:Wandering Jew|Wandering Jew]]
{{div col end}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |last=Gagné |first=Renaud |date=2013 |title=Ancestral Fault in Ancient Greece |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-03980-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fbn1AAAAQBAJ}}
* {{cite book |last1=Krašovec |first1=Jože. |title=Reward, punishment, and forgiveness : the thinking and beliefs of ancient Israel in the light of Greek and modern views |date=1999 |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden |isbn=9789004114432}}
* {{cite book |year=2005 |editor1-last=Cross |editor1-first=Frank L. |editor2-last=Livingstone |editor2-first=Elizabeth A. |title=Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church |location=Oxford |publisher=University Press |isbn=978-0-19-280290-3 |ref={{harvid|ODCC|2005}}}}
* {{cite book |last=West |first=Martin L. |date=1999 |pages=31–45 |chapter=Ancestral Curses |editor-last=Griffin |editor-first=Jasper |title=Sophocles Revisited. Essays presented to Sir Hugh Lloyd-Jones |publisher=Oxford University Press}}
{{refend}}

== External links ==
* [https://pccweb.ca/knoxglenarm/sermons/the-message-how-to-break-a-generational-curse/ How to Break a Generational Curse – Knox Presbyterian Church] (Presbyterian Church in Canada)
* [https://www.crosswindsinternational.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Breaking-Generational-Curses.pdf Prayers for Breaking Generational Curses – Crosswinds International Ministries] (Nondenominational Christianity)
* [https://edition.cnn.com/2018/03/15/us/kennedy-family-curse/index.html Inside the Kennedy family 'curse' – CNN]
* [https://www.mirror.co.uk/travel/news/inside-cursed-monaco-royal-family-22144360 Inside the 'cursed' Monaco Royal family – Mirror]
* [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2018/04/06/ted-kennedy-spoke-of-a-family-curse-after-chappaquiddick-he-had-good-reason/ Ted Kennedy spoke of a family curse after Chappaquiddick. He had good reason. – The Washington Post]

[[Category:Ancient Greek religion]]
[[Category:Neoplatonism]]
[[Category:Christian terminology]]

{{Sourceattribution|Ancestral sin}}