Can Christian sin-talk be retrieved within the public sphere? In this contribution to ecotheology, Ernst M. Conradie argues that, amid ecological destruction, discourse on sin can contribute to a multidisciplinary depth diagnosis of what has gone wrong in the world. He confronts some major obstacles related to the plausibility of sin-talk in conversation with evolutionary biology, the cognitive sciences, and animal ethology. He defends an Augustinian insistence that social evil, rather than natural evil, is our primary predicament. If the root cause of social evil is sin, then a Christian confession of sin may yet yield good news for the whole earth.

Ernst M. Conradie is senior professor in the Department of Religion and Theology at University of the Western Cape

Introduction: Sin and Social Diagnostics
1. Penultimate Perspectives on the Roots of Environmental Destruction in Africa
2. Where Have Things Gone Awry in Evolutionary History?
3. How is the Story of What Went Wrong in the World to be Told?
4. Obstacles Thwarting a Retrieval of a Christian Notion of Sin
5. Posse Non Peccare?
Conclusion: Engaging in Social Diagnostics