Bound to sin : abuse, Holocaust, and the Christian doctrine of sin / Alistair McFadyen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

McFadyen, Alistair I.

Series:

Cambridge studies in Christian doctrine ; 6.

Cambridge studies in Christian doctrine ; 6

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Sin.

Child sexual abuse--Religious aspects--Church of England.

Child sexual abuse.

Holocaust (Christian theology).

Physical Description:

xiii, 255 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, U.K. ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2000.

Summary:

This book tests the explanatory and descriptive power of the doctrine of sin in relation to two concrete situations: sexual abuse of children and the holocaust. Taking seriously the explanatory power of secular discourses for analysing and regulating therapeutic action in relation to such situations, the book asks whether the theological language of sin can offer further illumination by speaking of God and the world together. Through its discussion of abuse and the holocaust, an engagement with Augustine, original sin and feminism, a fresh and sometimes surprising perspective is offered, both on the theology of sin and on the pathologies under consideration. The understanding of sin that emerges is centred on joyful worship of the trinitarian God. This essay is more systematic and more theological than most practical, pastoral or applied theology and more practical and concrete than most systematic or constructive theology. It is a genuinely concrete, systematic theology.

Contents:

Part I Drawing into Conversation

1 The loss of God: pragmatic atheism and the language of sin 3

2 Speaking morally? The case of original sin 14

3 Testing, testing: theology in concrete conversation 43

Part II Concrete Pathologies

4 Bound by silence: sexual abuse of children 57

5 What was the problem? 'The Final Solution' and the binding of reason 80

Part III Testing the Inheritence

6 Willing 107

7 Power and participation: feminist theologies of sin 131

8 Augustine's will 167

9 A question of standards: trinity, joy, worship and idolatry 200

10 Concrete idolatries 227.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

ISBN:

0521432863

0521438683

OCLC:

42882756