Alan Jacobs: An Original Defense of Sin
by Marcia Z. Nelson, Religion BookLine -- Publishers Weekly, 2/13/2008
Scholar and author Alan Jacobs, who teachers literature at Wheaton College in suburban Chicago, traces the point and counterpoint of the cultural argument over a controversial theological doctrine in Original Sin: A Cultural History (see starred review below). Jacobs tours Western literature and culture to show how the idea of original sin has affected our institutions.
RBL: Why a book about original sin?
Jacobs: Some years ago I was doing some research for an essay about Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and I was re-reading his philosophical novel called Émile, which is about education. I stumbled across a sermon by John Wesley on the education of children. He said children are natural atheists, their inclinations are vile. Those two pieces of writing were written about the same time, and you couldn't have had two more dramatically different ideas. And it was all based on the fact that John Wesley believes in original sin and Rousseau doesn't. There are cultural consequences to how we think about our fellow human beings.
RBL: In St. Augustine's argument for original sin, a corollary is that infants who die unbaptized are eternally condemned. Can we accept original sin without that repugnant clause?
Jacobs: Augustine thought that consistency required that. He didn't think that God could be merciful to people except through the sacraments. It's baptism that pulls the kids out of the fire. I don't think it is necessary for God to be merciful only through the sacraments. I don't see any way that you could call God just if he was in the business of damning infants.
RBL: You conclude that original sin can be viewed comically. Explain more.
Jacobs: A lot of the resistance people have to the idea of original sin is that it's an insult to their dignity. But we also do silly things, foolish things. Nothing is more helpful to our own self-understanding than an ability to laugh at ourselves.
RBL: Your style in this book, which has so many references, is very readable, and you chose not to do footnotes. Why?
Jacobs: The only way this book was going to be what I wanted it to be was to have a narrative flow. Nothing interrupts a narrative flow more than footnotes.
RBL: What's next?
Jacobs: I'm just in the beginning stages of writing a book about trees. The book is going to be called The Gospel of the Trees. It's part of my participation in the group called the Project on Lived Theology at the University of Virginia. I tell my students the whole Christian story is about trees. There are a few trees in the beginning, Jesus is crucified on a tree, in the Book of Revelation there's a Tree of Life. It's just trees.
