other origin. Why should we consider this question of origin when the fact would seem so patent that our only real concern is to give an answer? What we want to say in this first chapter is that the question of sin’s origin, in itself, is peculiar and suggests a problematic all its own. If we grant that an issue cannot be resolved unless it is rightly set forth, that certainly holds in the situation of man’s sin. In our asking of this question we presuppose that sin is one of those phenomena that