The Gravity of Sin Augustine, Luther and Barth on 'homo incurvatus in se' [Paperback]

Matt Jenson?argues?that the image of being 'curved in on oneself' is the best paradigm for understanding sin relationally, that it has sufficient explanatory breadth and depth to be of service to contemporary Christian theology.?He looks to Augustine as the Christian source for this image in his various references to humanity's turn to itself, though the threads of a relational account of sin are not drawn together with any systematic consequence until Martin Luther's description of 'homo incurvatus in se' in his commentary on Romans. Luther radicalizes Augustine's conception by applying this relational view of sin to the totus homo and by emphasizing its appearance, above all, in homo religiosus. The Western tradition of sin understood paradigmatically as pride has been recently called into question by feminist theologians. Daphne Hampson's critique of Luther on this front is considered and critiqued. Though she is right to call attention to the insufficiency of his and Augustine's myopic focus on pride, the question remains whether 'incurvatus in se' can operate paradigmatically as an umbrella concept covering a far wider range of sins. Karl Barth's extension of 'incurvatus in se' to apply more broadly to pride, sloth and falsehood suggests that incurvature can do just that.

Introduction

1. Augustine's inward turn: An ambiguous beginning

Love makes the city

The goodness of the garden

Participation and relationality

Civic foundations

What happened? The beginning of sin

Falsehood

Pride

Isolation

Falling into slavery

The call to humility

Augustine's ambiguous inwardness in The Trinity

A conclusion

2. Luther's radical and religious invurvature

Setting the task

Simus iustus et peccator

Fuel to the fire: The persistence of the fomes

Copernicux Redux

The logic of person and works

Totus homo? The postures of death and spirit

Incurvlãl