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Is Sin Just a Story We Tell?

The concept of sin has shaped centuries of religious thought, moral behaviour, and cultural identity, especially within Christianity. 
But is sin an eternal truth or a theological invention? A closer look at its origins and interpretations suggests that sin may be less about divine law and more about human storytelling.

St. Augustine’s doctrine of original sin, developed in the late 4th century, remains foundational to Christian theology. In Confessions (c. 397), Augustine reflects, “I was bound not with the iron of another, but with my own iron will.” His belief that all humans inherit a sinful nature from Adam became central to Church doctrine. 

Yet, as scholar Elaine Pagels argues in Adam, Eve, and the Serpent (1988), Augustine’s view was shaped not only by scripture but by his personal struggles and the Church’s growing need for moral authority: “Augustine’s theory of original sin was not derived from scripture alone but shaped by his personal struggles and the political needs of the Church.”

Judaism offers a contrasting view. Sin in the Hebrew Bible is not inherited but chosen. Jon D. Levenson, in Creation and the Persistence of Evil (1988), writes, “The Hebrew Bible does not teach that human beings are born guilty.” Instead, wrongdoing is framed as a breach of covenant, not a flaw in human nature.

Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche took the critique further. In On the Genealogy of Morals (1887), he claimed that sin was a tool invented by religious elites to control others: “The concepts of guilt and sin were invented by priestly castes to subjugate the strong.” 

Nietzsche saw Christian morality as a system that glorified weakness and suppressed human vitality.

Modern theologians have reimagined sin in more existential terms. Paul Tillich, in The Shaking of the Foundations (1948), described sin as “separation”—from self, others, and the divine. 
This reframing moves away from moral failure and toward a deeper understanding of alienation and disconnection.

As Karen Armstrong notes in The Case for God (2009), “Religious doctrines are not static; they evolve in response to the needs and understandings of their time.” Sin, then, may be less a divine decree and more a reflection of human fears, ethics, and power structures.
So is sin just a story we tell? Perhaps. But it’s a story that continues to shape how we see ourselves—and how we imagine redemption.