Sin has a lot of moving parts. It features seven ancient
figures, some of whom have instant name recognition (Jesus,
Paul, Augustine) and some of whom do not (Valentinus, Marcion,
Justin, Origen). Jesus and Paul were both Jews whose ideas about
sin related in positive and creative ways to the sacrificial
cult of Jerusalem’s temple. Marcion, Valentinus and Justin, all
gentiles, shaped subsequent centuries of Christian doctrine by
arguing about how to read Jewish scriptures (which by 300 CE
will become the ‘Old Testament’ for some churches), how to
identify the god of the Jewish Bible (is he the father of
Christ, or someone else?), how to understand evil, and, thus,
how to understand sin. Origen and Augustine, finally, were two
towering geniuses of the early church. Dealing with the same
scriptural and doctrinal points of principle, they each framed
huge, complex, and contrasting theologies. Not only do their
ideas of sin contrast dramatically: so too do their ideas about
the universe, about humanity, and about