In this provocative new addition to the acclaimed series, Patricia Williams assays the doctrine of original sin with a scientific lens and, based on sociobiology, offers an alternative Christian account of human nature's foibles and future.

Focusing on the Genesis 2 and 3 account Williams shows how its "historical" interpretation in early Christianity not only misread the text but derived an idea of being human profoundly at odds with experience and contemporary science.

Williams's work, frank in its assessment of traditional misunderstandings, challenges theologians and all Christians to reassess the roots and branches of this linchpin doctrine.

Part One: The Demise of Adam and Eve
1. Science, Scripture, and Doctrine

Science and Scripture
Central Scriptural Doctrines
Central Theological Doctrines
Controversial Doctrines

2. Tests of Truth

The Interpreter and Canalization
The Coherence Test
The Correspondence Test
The Consilience Test

3. The Fall

The Early Church
Harold Bloom
A Gnostic Christian
Augustine

4. Original Sin

Calvin and Protestantism
The Canalization of Evil
Aquinas and Catholicism
Athanasius and Orthodoxy

5. The Demise of Adam and Eve

Coherence and Genesis 1-3
Correspondence and Genesis 1-9
Consilience in Science
The Demise of Adam and Eve

6. Scripture and Truth

Coherence and the Torah
Symbolic Truth in Genesis 2 and 3
Correspondence and the Gospels
The Authority of Scripture

Part Two: The Unification of Science and Christianity
7. The Theory of Evolution

Coherence and Natural Selection
Correspondence and Speciation
Consilience and Human Evolution
Canalization and Resistance

8. The Sociobiological Consilience

The Evolution of Altruism
Altruism's Legacy
Reciprocity
Human Sociality

9. Original Sin and Sociobiology

Freedom
Sin
Love
Punishment

10. The Problem of Evil

A Developing Universe
Locating Ourselves
Locating Evil
Solving the Problem

11. The Atonement

Four Difficulties
Jesus and Sin
Suffering and Death
Atonement Now
Conclusion
Glossary
References
Index