Let’s talk about sin

It is impossible to live the Christian life, to follow Christ, without talking about sin. To the extent that the church forgets to discuss sin–to define it, explore its intricacies, to unpack the devastation it does in our hearts–to that extent, the church fails in one of its most essential tasks, making disciples.

It’s difficult to image why there is such a silence about sin. It’s not as though there is nothing bad happening in the world. Far from it. It’s not as though the Christian church neglected to provide a substantial body of writing, reflection, practice, and counsel on the matter. The Bible itself contains explorations of the sin–what it is and how it is part of the life of Christians and those who are not Christians.

Emerging from that we have the reflections of the Fathers of the Church–their thoughts about sin, self, and Christ issuing from the…