Customer Reviews

Original Sin: A Cultural History

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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.

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.

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.

This book provides a clearly developed overview of the cultural development of the doctrine of original sin. I found it quick reading and enjoyed Prof. Jacobs' prose style and narrative voice. A good book to read for anyone interested in a clear understanding of this key Christian Doctrine. Deacon Warren Hecht

"Through Adam's fall, we sinned all"? If you don't buy into the doctrine of original sin, then, as Ricky Ricardo, you've "got a lot of 'splainin' to do" regarding the consistent propensity of men and women to do the wrong thing. In this lively and thought-provoking work, Jacobs traces the development of the idea of original sin and how it has permeated our culture. He discusses everything from the debate between St. Augustine (the "prime mover" in the formal development of the doctrine) and Pelagius (who thought mankind could be like Christ... and ought to be, or else) to the recurring cultural motif of angels and devils sitting on a character's shoulders and pulling him or her in different moral directions. (Just today, I saw a Fleischer POPEYE cartoon with that ever-popular scene.) The author wears his learning lightly and makes what could have been a weary read easy to digest. I wish, however, that he had grappled more with the post-modern notion that reality is "socially constructed" and that individuals are manipulated into behaving in certain ways. He does do a good job connecting modern findings in psychology and genetics to the notion of human nature as fundamentally askew in some sense, but the book really could have used one additional chapter.

I purchased this after checking it out of the library because it is truly a book that needs to be reviewed and reread. Having grown up with the notion of original sin--a mainstay of Catholicism--I have frequently harbored concerns about the view of humanity that this presents. Are we all, in fact, tainted by a primal weakness inherited from our first parents and thus in need of redemption? This book is a work of scholarship that addresses the evil that men do and examines the possible explanations: are we, in fact, inclined to sin because of the sin of our parents? Or are we, as some teach, basically good and made evil by circumstances? Does the fault lie in the stars, or in ourselves? This book examines the responses that derive from the various answers to these questions, and makes a convincing case for our essential inclination to evil--whether it's due to some parental flaw that passes on like a case of pre-natal HIV, or whether it's "in our genes." Thought provoking and well worth discussing.

The apostle Paul, writing in Romans 7, says, "I do not understand my own actions, for I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate." Whereas, unlike Paul, we do not have divine inspiration, we do have different categories for assessing this terrible struggle within us. We seem bound to do the very injustice that we so passionately hate. Why is this? Is it because of my inherent sinfulness against a holy God, my inherited evolutionary past or my cultural shaping? Could it be all three?

Alan Jacobs writes as well as any other evangelical writing today. Scratch that. Alan Jacobs writes as well as any other American writing today. Somewhat known in evangelical circles for his engaging biography of C.S. Lewis The Narnian: The Life and Imagination of C. S. Lewis that made right many of A.N. Wilson's wrongs, I will best remember him for writing A Theology Of Reading: The Hermeneutics Of Love. The latter should serve as basic spiritual formation literature for any aspiring Christian intellectual.

When one reads Jacobs, the constant question, "Should I be enjoy this type of literature?" will come to mind. Reading about original sin, hermeneutics, truth telling and other topics he has engaged should be informative, but should the enjoyment value compete with a good novel? Jacobs lucid, flowing prose makes such a combination possible.

The content of this book shows the development of the doctrine, but also shows the fallen humanity that makes it a pertinent doctrine in every generation. One finishes the book knowing that not only was this doctrine practical for understanding a north African bishops internal and theological fight against his former sexually promiscuous lifestyle, which seems abnormal to our late modern minds, but also to show that its relevant for understanding everything from the Reformation to evolutionary biology. Agree or disagree with the doctrine, but after reading Jacobs you cannot go on pretending that one can understand Western civilization apart from it.

Who would have thought that a book on original sin would be so delightful? Jacobs makes a case for the unpopular doctrine by exploring the history surrounding its inception and development. Original Sin is filled with stories and personalities - from ancient Greece to modern cinema (Hellboy, for example!). One could almost imagine this book as a documentary, in which the stories and snapshots flow together.

"Pelagianism is a creed for heroes, but Augustine's emphasis on original sin and the consequent absolute dependence of every one of us on the grace of God gives hope to the waverer, the backslider, the slacker, the putz, the schlemiel. We're all in the same boat..." (54)

Alan Jacob's cultural history of original sin is a huge bucket of rational cold water on the heads of moral relativists. Their comforting concept that original sin is nonsense is demonstrably shown to be nonsense. This is an important book coming at a time when many think that by simply changing words they can change the underlying facts.

Book was easy to read, though his claim to be an unbiased historical survey is questionable. His bias is very clear.