In Adam'S Fall - A Meditation On The Christian Doctrine Of Original Sin

Few doctrines of Christian teaching are more controversial than original sin. For how is it possible to affirm the universality of sin without losing sight of the distinct ways in which individuals are both responsible for and suffer the consequences of sinful behavior?

In considering the Christian doctrine of original sin, McFarland challenges many prevailing views about it. He shows us that traditional Christian convictions regarding humanity's congentital sinfulness neither undermine the moral accountability of sin's perpetrators nor dampen concern for its victims. Responding to both historic and contemporary criticism of the doctrine, In Adam's Fall reveals how the concept of original sin is not only theologically defensible, but stimulating and productive for a life of faith.

Drawing on both the classical formulations of Augustine and the Christology of Maximus the Confessor. McFarland proposes a radical reconstruction of the doctrine of original sin one that not only challenges contemporary Western visions of human autonomy but emphasizes the integrity of each individual called by God to a unique and irreplaceable destiny. Engagingly written and infused with scholarly sophistication. In Adam's Fall offers refreshingly original insghts into the contemporary relevance of a doctrine of Christian teaching that has inspired fierce debate for over 1,500 years.

Ian A. McFarland is Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at Emory University's Candler School of Theology. McFarland studied theology at Union Theological Seminary in New York, the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, and Yale University. He is the author of Difference and Identity: A Theological Anthropology (2001) and The Divine Image: Envisioning the Invisible God (2005).