Paula Fredriksen, professor of comparative religion at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, has provided readers with a fascinating history of the idea of sin. In her latest book, Sin: The Early History of an Idea (Princeton University Press), Fredriksen (also the author of a study on Augustine's relationship to the Jewish faith) focuses on seven figures: Jesus and Paul (chap. 1); Justin Martyr, the Gnostic theologian Valentinus, and the eventual heretic Marcion (chap. 2); and Origen and Augustine (chap. 3). Together, these figures are meant to emphasize what Fredriksen takes, somewhat exaggeratedly, to be a significant degree of diversity within the early Christian community on the subject of sin.
Her choice of figures is interesting, but highly selective. For the beginnings of the Christian movement, Jesus and Paul are good choices, since about two-thirds of the appearances of "sin" and related words found in the New Testament come from the Gospels and Paul's letters. Many of the remainder appear in the Book of Hebrews, whose contribution is not taken into account. Fredriksen's second-century choices are curious. Including Valentinus and Marcion, whose views the early church rejected, exaggerates the diversity, which seems to be the author's point. Origen is a good choice for the third century and Augustine is an excellent choice for the late fourth/early fifth century.
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