David Bentley Hart on 'Original sin' Part 1

David Bentley Hart on 'Original sin' Part 1

From Gospel Conversations podcast by Tony Golsby-Smith

September 4, 2025 · 29 min

About this episode

The episode discusses the concept of original sin with David Bentley Hart, focusing on its implications and interpretations.

“Original sin” is - apparently - one of the bedrock doctrines of Christianity. But what exactly does it mean? This is how I began this discussion with David. Our main focus was Romans 5 and in particular verse 12 - the main ‘proof text’ for the doctrine of original sin. But before we got down into the details of that verse - we started with the big picture. What does ‘original sin’ mean? And in particular in what ways has it veered off into a rather dark and guilt-ridden picture of the human condition? This discussion is so important that I decided to split the discussion in two. This one is the first half and covers the big picture. The next one will dive down into the radically different translation that David has offered of this verse - a translation that shifts the game significantly. Frankly most Christians have no real ‘theory’ of sin and instead just rely on murky ideas that make them susceptible to manipulation and fears. This talk really clears the ground of this murkiness. David lays out two competing ideas of ‘original sin’ - and we discuss how the 'dark’ view prevailed to become the dominant - but wrong - view. A couple of points that we mention in this discussion…

People in this episode

Guest: David Bentley Hart

Topics covered

  • original sin
  • Christian doctrine
  • human condition
  • theology
  • interpretation of scripture

Keywords

  • Romans 5
  • verse 12
  • dark view of sin
  • guilt-ridden picture
  • Thomas Hardy poems

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: The Man He Killed, The Going

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