What We Have Become as Sinners
Marguerite Shuster
William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
Grand Rapids, Michigan / Cambridge, U.K.
© 2004 Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
All rights reserved
Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
2140 Oak Industrial Drive N.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan 49505 /
P.O. Box 163, Cambridge CB3 9PU U.K.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Shuster, Marguerite.
The Fall and sin: what we have become as sinners / Marguerite Shuster.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8028-0994-4 (pbk.: alk. paper)
1. Fall of man. 2. Sin. I. Title.
BT710.S53 2004
233′.14 — dc21
2003060240
Who loved righteousness and hungered for it
1. Introduction: Primal History Viewed as Covenantal
God’s Covenant Relationship with Humankind
Excursus: Primal History, Time, and Space
The Ongoing Status of the Covenant of Works
“On Doing What We Can”—A Sermon
The Fall and Human Freedom and Responsibility
The Fall and the Idea of Tragedy
The Significance of the Insignificant
The Fall as Pride and Unbelief
Objections to Understanding the Fall as Pride and Unbelief
Roman Catholicism and the Donum Superadditum
Humankind’s Attitude toward God
Excursus: Clothing, Modesty, and Nudity in Art
God’s Attitude toward Humankind
5. The Divine Purpose and Moral Evil
Degrees of Sin and of Culpability
Original Sin as Radical Depravity
The Biblical Basis of the Doctrine of Original Sin
“I’d Rather Do It Myself”—A Sermon
appendix 1: Physical Death as Existential Reality
Death, the Funeral, and the Grave
appendix 2: Biblical Vocabulary Relating to Sin
Somehow it seems fitting to be inscribing this preface to a volume on the Fall and sin on Christmas Eve, anticipating the coming of the One who delivers us from their fatal effects and whose final victory we await with longing. True, at the close of the fateful year 2001, the minds of many citizens of the United States are fixed more on their offended innocence in the face of terrorist attacks, than on the overwhelming guilt that marks them as members of a universally fallen humankind. Yet apart from the Fall and the pervasiveness ...
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About The Fall and Sin: What We Have Become as SinnersThe devastating evils of recent history have brought about renewed interest in the Christian doctrine of sin. This volume explores with fresh insight and great seriousness the contemporary plausibility, meaning, and relevance of the biblical understanding of the Fall and its effects. Marguerite Shuster argues that certain aspects of the traditional doctrine of the Fall, including the belief that it took place in time and space, cannot simply be set aside without serious consequences for our doctrine of God and our understanding of human identity, dignity, and responsibility. She explores the nature and extent of sin and examines such problematic issues as “degrees” of sin and culpability. Despite the seriousness with which Shuster treats these topics, her discussion is not despairing but instead points to the redemption that God has accomplished in Christ. Filled with contemporary allusions and completed with model sermons on the Fall and sin, this volume is one of the best available studies of this key Christian doctrine. |
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