Sin: A History » (New Edition)

Gary A. Anderson is professor of Old Testament/Hebrew Bible in the Department of Theology at the University of Notre Dame.

In this sensitive, imaginative, and original work, Gary A. Anderson shows how changing conceptions of sin and forgiveness lay at the very heart of the biblical tradition. Spanning nearly two thousand years, the book brilliantly demonstrates how sin, once conceived of as a physical burden, becomes, over time, eclipsed by economic metaphors. These changing notions profoundly shaped both Jewish and Christian practices, provided a spur for the Protestant Reformation, and created a legacy that endures until today.

Commonweal

“Wonderful and surprising . . . a significant contribution both to scriptural interpretation and to theology proper, and an object lesson in how to do both well. . . . [Anderson] brings the traditions he interprets alive and shows how Christianity and Judaism each provides a thread in a single figural fabric.”--Commonweal

Pt. 1 Introducing the problem

Ch. 1 What Is a Sin? 3

Ch. 2 A Burden to Be Borne 15

Ch. 3 A Debt to Be Repaid 27

Pt. 2 Making payment on one's debt

Ch. 4 Redemption and the Satisfaction of Debts 43

Ch. 5 Ancient Creditors, Bound Laborers, and the Sanctity of the Land 55

Ch. 6 Lengthening the Term of Debt 75

Ch. 7 Loans and the Rabbinic Sages 95

Ch. 8 Early Christian Thinking on the Atonement 111

Pt. 3 Balancing debts with virtue

Ch. 9 Redeem Your Sins with Alms 135

Ch. 10 Salvation by Works? 152

Ch. 11 A Treasury in Heaven 164

Ch. 12 Why God Became Man 189

Notes 203

General Index 237

Index of Ancient Sources 244