Original Sin: A Cultural History (Hardcover)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: more hateful than vipers, hoc malum, one trespass, More Hateful, The Wicked, New Lanark (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. In this brilliant account, Wheaton College literature professor Jacobs (The Narnian) traces the idea of original sin from the Bible to the present day. The doctrine has inspired fierce debate for the last two millennia. In every generation, it seems, someone defends the doctrine, pointing to all manner of evidence that people are (as Jacobs, in one of his rare stylistic lapses, too cutely puts it) bad to the bone. Their opponents in turn ridicule the notion, noting the unfettered greatness of human potential. Thus Augustine tangles with Julian of Eclanum, and John Wesley clashes with Rousseau. It is a compliment to Jacobs that in his hands these abstruse theological disputes are utterly engrossing. Jacobs makes clear that he has a dog in this fight—he thinks original sin is the most persuasive explanation of the world he lives in (though he dissents, irenically and charitably, from some classic Christian formulations, such as Augustine's view on infant damnation). Jacobs hazards some quirky and intriguing ideas, such as the notion that the kind of kinship created by a universal doctrine of original sin is perhaps as good a basis as any for a brotherhood and sisterhood of humanity, in which no one lords it over anyone else. This book is truly sui generis. (May)
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Review

"With extraordinary erudition and just enough lightness of touch to leaven the lump, Alan Jacobs traces the tangled ways that we have tried to think about human cussedness. -- Frederick Buechner, author of Secrets in the Dark

A brilliantly illuminating, deeply thought-provoking intellectual journey. -- Booklist

A deep pool of wisdom . . . an expression of what’s wrong with all of us. Jacobs’ prose often sings . . . Careful when you open this book--it could keep you up at nights. -- Christianity Today

A strangely entertaining cultural survey . . . -- The Wall Street Journal

Jacobs’s discussion is terrifically worthwhile for exposing how the idea of "evil," as enunciated iwthin the doctrine, undergoes permutations and translations over time -- BN.com

Replete with examples drawn from a number of different cultural expressions, including literature, film, and philosophy, [Original Sin] is intended to introduce a broad genearl audience to the complexity of explaining how human beings act evilly toward one another. -- Library Journal

Splendid...a book endeavoring to help us say and do something about the sin which so easily ensares. . . Strikingly, Jacobs argues that the ‘confraternity’ of humanity is best grounded not in our being made in the image of God but in our being made sinful in Adam. -- Books & Culture

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: HarperOne (April 29, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060783400
• ISBN-13: 978-0060783402
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #603,320 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars an act of intellectual courage, June 2, 2008

By	Mennonite Medievalist (Bellefonte, PA USA) - See all my reviews

Three out of the five blurbs on the back cover of Original Sin manage to import some wariness over the book's content into their glowing recommendation of the book's execution. Ron Hansen acknowledges that the "even-tempered" Jacobs gives "even the most disagreeable voices their say." Publishers Weekly gives the "brilliant" book a starred review but manages to damn its subject despite this high praise: "In [Jacobs's] hands these abstruse theological disputes are utterly engrossing." And, my favourite comments, given pride of place as the first lines of the top review, are Alan Wolfe's "I do not believe in original sin. I do believe in Alan Jacobs." These reviewers, particularly the latter two, seem to be saying: any book by Alan Jacobs is worth buying, but that Jacobs's latest book is on original sin is perhaps unfortunate. The top of the back cover seems to agree, trumpeting: "How the World's Most Repugnant Idea Became the Cornerstone of Our Self-Understanding." HarperOne seems to have decided on the marketing ploy: Buy Alan Jacobs, If You Can See Past What He Writes About! Or, If You Hold Your Nose, It'll Be Good For You! We're not entirely sure why you would want to buy (or write) a book about original sin from its inception (St. Paul? Augustine? Further back?) throughout its tendentious and chequered history (the Kabbala, Pascal, John Wesley, Richard Dawkins, etc.) to its current unpopularity, but if you must, it's fortunate that you'll buy a book written by Alan Jacobs, so brilliant and humane a writer that he practically disproves his own thesis.

To be fair, Jacobs's own foreword introduces his topic by acknowledging its near-universal vilification. The East has never seen anthropology in these terms, and the West, since the Enlightenment, has attempted to mount a vigorous moral refutation of this particular aspect of its own moral foundation. But Jacobs is not writing merely to enjoy his own prose. He believes that the notion of original sin is useful for us to consider, now, probably one of the reasons that he wrote the book. One of its consistent tactics is provide a biographical context into which we can fit the sometimes repugnant-sounding theorists of human wretchedness, so that when we get to what Augustine of Hippo and Jonathan Edwards actually say, we can hear them, with an ear even for how we might transfer useful insights to our present situation without being immediately impeded by a moral gag reflex. This is a courageous thing to do: to dignify by historiography, and in some cases to stand up for, ideas which everyone seems to think are unpleasant. If you happen to think this book's subject unpleasant, then its author, publisher, and reviewers agree that you are its intended audience.

Jacobs has become an excellent writer, cultural critic. Barring some unforeseen change of circumstance, I plan to read every book he writes from here on out. His style is clear. He says smart things simply. This is not a book written for scholars, but tremendous scholarly weight must lie behind generalisations like (to pick one almost at random): "This sense of the Christian life as a drama arose early in the history of the faith, and the conviction of being infected, afflicted, by the inherited curse of sin was its motive engine." A history covering this much time must inevitably resort to such generalizations often, but they are often startling or counterintuitive, generated by the reading that he has done but does not force you to do (even, in the case of the Jansenists and others, warns you against). He has an eye for the telling, even the humourous, example or anecdote: my favourite is the one about the Scotsman who missed the voices in his head after they had fallen silent. Jacobs is charitable, even-tempered; he interprets authors with more clarity, precision, and compassion than they warrant or could have mustered of themselves. Buy the book, yes, because Alan Jacobs wrote it.

But buy it also because, if you can manage to hold your nose, it just might be good for you.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Our Two Heads, March 29, 2009

By	C. Patrick ('Bama) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I'll preface by saying that I'm not a Christian (and I'm betting by reading the other 5 customer comments that I'm the only one of my ilk to've so far submitted a review).

This is a fantastic overview of the "our intrinsic wickedness" - whether you view it as something bred by natural selection or inborn by rebellion against God. I blew through it in a one day of nursing a cold, and at the end found myself (more thoroughly) unconvinced of Rousseau, et al's assertion of the intrinsic goodness/purely situational behavior of mankind. Jacobs consistently brings up and then answers intriguing lines of thought, and does so in a style both entertaining and enlightening.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Crooked deep down., September 16, 2008

By	Jeremy Abel (Lawrence County, IN) - See all my reviews

What makes this book unique is that it is a "cultural history" of original sin, not a work of theology (though, obviously, it does engage with some theological work, particularly Augustine's). It is "an exemplary history - so-called not because it embodies excellence that other historians would do well to imitate, but because it makes its case through examples. ... [It] emphasizes narratives about people, people who engage in a serious and thoughtful way with the idea of original sin - whether by embracing it, rejecting it, or wrestling with the possibility of it" (p.xviii).

It is a engaging book. It doesn't answer all the questions I have about original sin as a doctrine but it's hardly fair to criticize it for that since that is not its purpose. What makes it so useful is its examination of how the doctrine has influenced literature, philosophy, politics - in short, how it has influenced Western culture.