This is a hugely exciting and much-needed work that brushes the dust off of classical Protestant theology to engage with central questions facing the Humanities today. Deftly exploring contemporary caricatures of Martin Luthers theological legacy, Torrance demonstrates striking affinities between Luthers theology of sin and contemporary critical theory. At the heart of the book is a persuasive case for the power of a theological horizon for moving beyond the impasse between the hermeneutics of suspicion and the possibility of a more hopeful, postcritical' vision of the world. This is must-read theology for anyone concerned either with the theological legacy of the Protestant Reformation or with the relationship between theology and 21st century intellectual life. * Simeon Zahl, University of Cambridge, UK * Torrances book is brilliant, illuminating and innovative. He brings together two things that might seem to have little to say to each other: Luthers unfashionable doctrine of sin and contemporary critical theory, to find they have surprising points of convergence that shed light on the value of both. Yet he skilfully shows how Luthers horizons are more hopeful and optimistic and offer rich resources not just for scholarship but for life in our complex world. * Graham Tomlin, Centre for Cultural Witness, UK * The effort to offer a non-moralistic, genuinely theological account of sin is part of the ongoing desiderata of Christian theology and practice. How will we understand salvation if we do not take sin into account? What are we saved from? Our culture, including all too often contemporary Christianity, gladly but superficially portrays sin as a moralistic, individual affair. Torrances book is a significant contribution toward articulating a Christian, indeed Protestant teaching about sin for our own time, in conversation with critical theory, which exposes for us, notably, the noetic dimensions of sin. In close conversation with Luther, who was much less interested in actual sin(s) or in the metaphysics of sin than in sin as the state of fallen humanity, Torrance helpfully considers sin not prior to or independently from grace itself: how we are saved indeed ought to determine Christian theological discourses concerning what we are saved from. Sin may still be a necessary theological category, one that does not have to lead to a joyless, shame- and guilt-inducing religiosity. There is much to learn and consider from this remarkable book! * Christophe Chalamet, University of Geneva, Switzerland * Sin might seem like a theological idea whose day had long since passed, but in Torrance's new book, we see both that pathology remains a vital question for contemporary society and that naming and engaging with pathology precisely as sin opens pathways to wholeness otherwise inaccessible. This book does what theological writing should do: it draws from the time-honored theological tradition while engaging squarely with the challenges of the present. Torrance brings out from his storeroom new treasures as well as old. Luther suddenly appears as he is: contemporary and urgently relevant. * Matthew Croasmun, Yale Divinity School, USA *
