The Origin of Sin: Greece and Rome, Early Judaism and Christianity

Hardback

Main Details

Title The Origin of Sin: Greece and Rome, Early Judaism and Christianity
Authors and Contributors      By (author) David Konstan
Physical Properties
Format:Hardback
Pages:216
Dimensions(mm): Height 234,Width 156
Category/GenreEthics and moral philosophy
Christianity
Ancient religions and mythologies
ISBN/Barcode 9781350278585
ClassificationsDewey:241.3
Audience
Professional & Vocational

Publishing Details

Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint Bloomsbury Academic
Publication Date 10 February 2022
Publication Country United Kingdom

Description

Where did the idea of sin arise from? In this meticulously argued book, David Konstan takes a close look at classical Greek and Roman texts, as well as the Bible and early Judaic and Christian writings, and argues that the fundamental idea of "sin" arose in the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, although this original meaning was obscured in later Jewish and Christian interpretations. Through close philological examination of the words for "sin," in particular the Hebrew hata' and the Greek hamartia, he traces their uses over the centuries in four chapters, and concludes that the common modern definition of sin as a violation of divine law indeed has antecedents in classical Greco-Roman conceptions, but acquired a wholly different sense in the Hebrew Bible and New Testament.

Author Biography

David Konstan is Professor of Classics at New York University, USA. Among his books are Friendship in the Classical World (1997), Pity Transformed (2001), The Emotions of the Ancient Greeks (2006), Before Forgiveness: The Origins of a Moral Idea (2010) and In the Orbit of Love: Affection in Ancient Greece and Rome (2018). He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and an Honorary Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.

Reviews

[A] book that should be read by anyone who is interested in Judaism and, above all, in ancient Christianity ... [An] essential book for the history of religions. * Myrtia (Bloomsbury translation) *