One of the hallmarks of Lent is also something we rarely talk about in progressive Christian circles: Sin.

We don’t talk about it because we don’t know what to make of it, really.  Is it just making a mistake?  Is it breaking one or more of the Ten Commandments?  Is sin the same as evil?

Since sin, confession, and forgiveness are all tied together, it is helpful to our faith formation to at least consider what to do with the concept of sin.

As with most things in our approach to faith, there is no fixed definition that one must accept.  In light of that, I offer here some of the ways that various theologians have defined this word which I have found helpful:

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Herschel:  “Sin is the refusal of humans to become fully who we are.”

Reinhold Niebuhr (20th century, UCC theologian, social ethicist & activist):  “Sin is the unwillingness of people to acknowledge their creatureliness and dependence upon God and their efforts to make their own lives independent and secure.”

Gustavo Gutierrez (contemporary liberation theologian—Peruvian; Roman Catholic):  “Sin is denial of love.”

Langdon Gilkey (20th century, Protestant theologian):  “Sin may be defined as an ultimate religious devotion to a finite interest.”

Duncan Littlefair (20th-century Unitarian minister):  “Sin is anything that interferes with the evolutionary process toward a greater, nobler, more joyous humanity.”

Angela West (British theologian, contemporary):  “Sin is about compulsive repetition, about never being able to do a new thing to reach a new place.” 

Valerie Saiving Goldstein (Feminist theologian):  “Sin is a dependency on others for one’s self-definition; tolerance at the expense of standards of excellence; an inability to respect the boundaries of privacy…in short, underdevelopment or negation of self.”

Rosemary Radford Reuther (contemporary, Roman Catholic, feminist theologian): “Sin is the realm where competitive hate abounds, and also passive acquiescence to needless victimization…the misuse of freedom to exploit other humans and the earth and thus to violate the basic relations that sustain life.”  

Carter Heyward (contemporary Episcopal priest, theologian):  “It is exceedingly dangerous for us to allow any structure of sin and evil to go unchecked in the society, because in the end, we ourselves, will be the victims. Those forces in the world (which, in the advanced capitalist quarters of the earth, take the impersonal shape of militarism and multinational interests, flying under the guise of ‘free enterprise’ and ‘Christian blessing’) are bound to act against women’s liberation, racial equality, gay/lesbian rights, the demands of the poor, all revolutionary movements, and the integrity of the earth itself.”

Matthew Fox:  “Sin is that which destroys and devours.  It is being swallowed whole by events or feelings or circumstances…becoming an addict or a slave to that which does not beautify us.”

Sin is, of course, both personal and collective.  Confession and forgiveness are as well.  That is why, however we define sin, the transformation that happens by confessing sin can help us both personally and socially.

See you in church,

–Rev. Dominic