Sin: A History

by Gary A. Anderson

Publisher:

Yale University Press

, 2009

Overview

What is sin? Is it simply wrongdoing? Why do its effects linger over time? In this sensitive, imaginative, and original work, Gary Anderson shows how changing conceptions of sin and forgiveness lay at the very heart of the biblical tradition. Spanning nearly two thousand years, the book brilliantly demonstrates how sin, once conceived of as a physical burden, becomes, over time, eclipsed by economic metaphors. Transformed from a weight that an individual carried, sin becomes a debt that must be repaid in order to be redeemed in God’s eyes.

Anderson shows how this ancient Jewish revolution in thought shaped the way the Christian church understood the death and resurrection of Jesus and eventually led to the development of various penitential disciplines, deeds of charity, and even papal indulgences. In so doing it reveals how these changing notions of sin provided a spur for the Protestant Reformation.

Broad in scope while still exceptionally attentive to detail, this ambitious and profound book unveils one of the most seismic shifts that occurred in religious belief and practice, deepening our understanding of one of the most fundamental aspects of human experience.

Key Features

• Shows how changing conceptions of sin and forgiveness lay at the very heart.
• Demonstrates how sin, once conceived of as a physical burden, becomes, over time.
• Shows how this ancient Jewish revolution, shaped the way the Christian church understood.

Praise for Sin

In addition to the valuable textual studies that make it a great resource for biblical students, Sin: A History appeals to a broader audience in the way it shows the relation of a particular understanding of sin to the meaning we give to associated concepts, such as atonement, penance, punishment, forgiveness, virtue and God.

—Richard M. Gula, America

Gary Anderson argues in Sin: A History that debt and payment belong to the deep grammar of sin and salvation in the Bible: an utterly basic scriptural element in Jewish and Christian liturgy, devotion, and tradition. If he’s right, then several strands of recent theology are out of touch with Scripture.

—Bruce D. Marshall, First Things

Product Details

• Title: Sin: A History
• Author: Gary A. Anderson
• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Print Publication Date: 2009
• Logos Release Date: 2023
• Pages: 272
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
• Subject: Sin
• ISBNs: 9780300149890, 0300149891
• Resource ID: LLS:SINAHISTORY
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-01-23T19:38:23Z

About Gary A. Anderson

Gary A. Anderson (PhD, Harvard University) is Hesburgh Professor of Catholic Theology at the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Indiana, and is a past president of the Catholic Biblical Association. He is the author or editor of more than ten books, including the award winners Sin: A History and Charity: The Place of the Poor in the Biblical Tradition. Anderson has also written for The Christian Century, First Things, Commonweal, and America.