Bound to Sin: Abuse, Holocaust and the Christian Doctrine of Sin

271 Pages·2000·0.94 MB·English

by  Alistair McFadyen

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Bound to Sin
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.
Alistair McFadyen is Senior Lecturer in Theology at the
University of Leeds. Author of The Call to Personhood (Cambridge,
1990) and a number of journal articles, he is a former Samaritan
counsellor and member of the Leeds Ritual Abuse Study Group.
He is currently a member of the Church of England’s Doctrine
Commission, and Secretary to the Society for the Study of
Theology.

Cambridge Studies in Christian Doctrine
Edited by
ProfessorColin Gunton,King’s College London
ProfessorDanielW.Hardy,University of Cambridge
Cambridge Studies in Christian Doctrineis an important series
which aims to engage critically with the traditional doctrines of
Christianity, and at the same time to locate and make sense of
them within a secular context. Without losing sight of the
authority of scripture and the traditions of the Church, the books
in this series will subject pertinent dogmas and credal statements
to careful scrutiny, analysing them in light of the insights of both
church and society, and will thereby practise theology in the
fullest sense of the word.
Titles published in the series
1. Self and Salvation: Being Transformed
1. David F. Ford
2. Realist Christian Theology in a Postmodern Age
2.Sue Patterson
3. Trinity and Truth
3.Bruce D. Marshall
4. Theology, Music and Time
3.Jeremy S. Begbie
5. The Bible, Theology, and Faith: A Study of Abraham and Jesus
4.R. W. L. Moberly
6. Bound to Sin: Abuse, Holocaust and the Christian Doctrine
ofSin
4.Alistair McFadyen
Forthcoming titles in the series
Church, World and the Christian Life: Practical–Prophetic
Ecclesiology
Nicholas M.Healy
Church, Narrativity and Transcendence
Robert Jenson
A Political Theology of Nature
Peter Scott
Remythologizing Theology: Divine Action and Authorship
Kevin J.Vanhoozer

Bound to Sin
Abuse, Holocaust and the
Christian Doctrine of Sin
Alistair McFadyen
University of Leeds
         
The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom
  
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK
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©Cambridge University Press 2004
First published in printed format 2000
ISBN 0-511-03737-6 eBook (Adobe Reader)
ISBN 0-521-43286-3 hardback
ISBN 0-521-43868-3 paperback
In joy:
To Catherine, with whom I have found so much;
And to George and Tom, Helen and Catriona, who deserve and
give us so much;
And to Mike, a different Helen, Kim and Steve, who offered so
much;
And to Peter, David and Dan, who helped me weave together so
much;
And to Haddon, who has taught me so much about sin (who
first suggested I write this book, and who might enjoy the ambigu-
ities of having a book on sin dedicated to him).