Aquinas Original Sin and the Challenge of Evolution

Is original sin compatible with evolution? Many today believe the answer is ''No''. Engaging Aquinas''s revolutionary account of the doctrine Daniel W. Houck argues that there is not necessarily a conflict between this Christian teaching and mainstream biology. He draws on neglected texts outside the Summa Theologiae to show that Aquinas focused on humanity''s loss of friendship with God - not the corruption of nature (or personal guilt). Aquinas''s account is theologically attractive in its own right. Houck proposes moreover a new Thomist view of original sin that is consonant with evolution. This account is developed in dialogue with biblical scholarship on Jewish hamartiology and salient modern thinkers (including Kant Schleiermacher Barth and Schoonenberg) and it is systematically connected to debates over nature grace the desire for God and justification. In addition the book canvasses a number of neglected premodern approaches to original sin including those of Anselm Abelard and Lombard.