christopherjhlee

Neal Plantinga draws heavily from the Augustinian and Calvinistic streams of the Christian tradition to help contemporary readers see in our own world what previous generations called "sin". It becomes clear a few pages in that Plantinga is not out to simply point fingers or to condemn; rather, he is attempting to convey a way of thinking and feeling that has been almost entirely lost in modern (more 'therapeutic') forms of thought. Like his literary hero CS Lewis, Plantinga's attention to meanings embedded in colloquialisms allows him to demonstrate how foreign the concept of sin has become to many people - including many Christians. So this book is a sustained attempt to winsomely reinstate the content behind one single word: sin. Plantinga's refusal to subvert the sense that something is wrong with me and the world brings to light a tender courage that is perhaps the virtuous corollary to a traditional harmatology. Amazingly, the book is not depressing to read nor does it engender an overly dark assessment of one's surroundings. In fact, the book climaxes with a lucid explanation of how our doctrine of sin qualifies what we say about grace. This book is not only robust theology but also masterful prose. The book itself performs a truth that Plantinga nowhere directly states - that the doctrine of sin increases our enjoyment of the world, God, and one another.

2022-11-14 16:53