Not the Way It's Supposed to Be
A Breviary of Sin Cornelius Plantinga, Jr. Finally a book about sin that refuses to limit itself to abstract formulations of theological terms. Finally a book about sin that surfaces then inner recesses of the heart to demonstrate in concrete terms the reality of the sinfulness behind all our thoughts, words and deeds. The most helpful aspect of this book, I believe, is the way he fleshes out his definition of sin as a disruption of shalom . When a boy steals a radio for instance, there is a sense in which the boy has broken God's law, and there's a sense in which that act reveals his pride and selfishness. Plantinga's work shows that his act as well demonstrates the fact that the boy considered his desire for that radio as more imporant than the shalom of his classroom. Sin is what vandalizes the shalom of the world. It seeks to disrupt and introduce chaos into the created order. From the initial sin of Adam and Eve to the ways we continue to sin individually, cor...