Includes bibliographical references (pages 137-146) and index

1. Original sin as taught in Holy Scripture -- Universal sinfulness -- Natural sinfulness -- Inherited sinfulness -- Adamic sinfulness -- 2. Original sin as Adamic event -- The Eden story and palaeo-anthropology -- The Eden story and biblical inter-textuality -- The Eden story and literary discernment -- The Eden story and theological reflection

3. Discerning Paul's mind on Adam's role -- Looser interpretations of Romans 5 -- Tighter interpretations of Romans 5 -- Untying the knot? A new interpretation -- 4. Original sin as a key to human experience -- Misery and royal descent -- Shared inheritance and individual decision -- Necessity and responsibility

5. Original sin as propagated and broken -- No refuge in unreason -- Traditional metaphors -- Second thoughts -- A gate of hope

The twentieth century has witnessed suffering and human cruelty on a scale never before imagined. Yet, paradoxically, the doctrine of original sin has undergone neglect in recent years. In this sophisticated treatment of the biblical evidence for original sin, Henri Blocher offers a robust study that interacts with the best scientific, literary, and theological thinking on the subject. Building his argument on a detailed analysis of the scriptural evidence for original sin, especially looking at key texts in Genesis and Romans, Blocher shows, with due consideration to current intellectual objections to the doctrine, that while the nature of original sin is certainly a mystery, only belief in it makes sense of evil and wrongdoing