A History of Sin: How Evil Changes, But Never Goes Away

by John Portmann

In A History of Sin , John Portmann argues that especially since 9/11, the reality of sin has made a strong comeback, and he believes that even liberal Christians, who have downplayed the notion of sin, have to take the fact of personal evildoing seriously. Starting in the present, Portmann then loops back into the past to outline the key moments in the history of sin from the ancient Greeks and Israelites through Jesus and Paul to Augustine and Dante and on up to the present.

A History of Sin reveals how some kinds of sin, such as usury, have faded or undergone radical transformation, and how other activities, such as slavery, polygamy, gender inequality, etc., have come to be regarded as sinful. In this highly readable volume, Portmann examines how our changing understanding of sin impacts today's society.

Genres: Religion, Nonfiction

264 pages, Hardcover

First published July 25, 2007

Reviews

[Carlos · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book posed several interesting question which Portmann was partially able to answer. To start, even though Portmann is unapologetic about his Catholic viewpoint on his study of sin, the points and analysis he makes are incredibly interesting and can be followed quite completely by an even atheist reader as myself.
The first part of the book dealing with the history of the confessionary and the acceptance of sin was extremely interesting and extremely well written. Similarly his discussion of the notions of the increasingly irrelevance of sin in the modern world is quite enlightening.
I also thoroughly enjoyed his discussion of the silliness of keeping masturbation as a sin in this day and age. His unapologetic criticism of the follies of some of the policies of the Catholic Church is quite refreshing and serves to help non-religious leaders endure some of the other theologically heavy arguments.
The one problem I had with the book was the second half where he discusses modern “sins”. Although I enjoyed the thought that he gave to new psycho-social problems in our society, I had problems with his insistent on calling these problems “sins”.
Overall, however, I felt Portmann was able to more than competently expound on the history and progression of the concept of sin as it entails to society and believers as well as non-believers.

[Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had been doing a "study" of sin for a class I'm enrolled in. Therefore, I had to read it quickly and in a more disconnected way than I usually do.

That said, this is the first book I read (not that I am a scholar!) that discusses what acts might or might not be sins, as opposed to what is the concept or definition of sin. That is, it put some "stuff" into the structure. Also, what made the discussion thoughtful and thought-provoking is that the author argues that some acts previously classified sinful --- for example, masturbation, at least in Roman Catholicism --- should no longer be so classified. At the same time, he argues that there are peculiarly modern species of sin --- for example, harm to the environment, sexual harassment, spousal/child abuse, fulfilling one's potential (in the sense of working oneself up to the status of diva), etc.

[Peter · Rating 2 out of 5]

"god conditioned us..." "god gave us rules" , "religion is making a terrific comeback" , nonsense, I was hoping for some actual professor type insights , not preacher garbage, still have seen some good stuff inbetween the "conditioning" ..