Sin and Repentance in Progressive Christianity

The latest e-bulletin published by the Center for Progressive Christianity is concerned with the concepts/realities of sin and repentance in progressive, liberal Christian circles. Those of us Christians who adhere to a more open and inclusive theological understanding of Christian scripture and tradition have tended to either downplay or outrightly ignore sin and repentance. Sin is often denounced as an outdated, negative notion that is a product of tribal thinking and those in power attempting to control the religious masses through fear and divinely sanctioned legalistic judgment. However, is it possible for progressive Christians to retain sin by re-conceptualizing its function and presence in Christian theology? I'd like to think so.

In my progressive Christian denomination, Unity, we generally begin this reinterpretation through an etymological examination of "sin." "Hamartia" in Greek is the New Testament and Septuagint rendering of "sin," which is an archery term meaning "to miss the mark." As a metaphysically oriented tradition where consciousness is primary, Unity tends to understand sin as not so much an ontological condition in which we exist as humans, but rather actions in thought, word, and deed where we aren't in line or harmonious with the Christ presence within ourselves. That is, we sin when we aren't in conscious awareness of the imago dei of our being. in which we were originally created. The Fall happens in our consciousness, when we start believing in our separation from God, each other, and all creation. And repentance is the process by which we re-align our consciousness with God within and further express Christ's work through our actions of love, equality, and justice.

However, there are a few important aspects to the notions of sin and repentance that I think Unity has missed or at least that haven't been prominent in Unity writings and conversation. Sin not only is actions we do through our thinking, speaking, and acting but can also be thought of in the more traditional Christian idea of the limitations (a bad word in Unity circles, by the way) or boundaries of our existence as human, finite creatures living in a relative, dualistic physical realm. That is, the fact of the matter is that we, as humans, tend to make mistakes, do things to others or ourselves that we regret, and generally fail to always be in harmony with the Christ within. This isn't to say that we can't be, we simply tend to not be. The tendency to "miss the mark" could be said to be a tendency that can be cured through prayer, meditation, and spiritual social action in the process of redemption or being re-born into a new existence in Christ (living out our Christ nature in the world), but it nonetheless is a reality present in our individual and social lives as part of the problems of the human condition.

My favorite statement about sin comes from Dr. Rosemary Radford Reuther, a contemporary Roman Catholic feminist theologian and one of the professors I studied under at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. She states, "What is appropriately called sin belongs to a more specific sphere of human freedom where we have the possibility of either enhancing life or stifling it. It is the realm where competitive hate abounds, and also passive acquiescence to needless victimization . . . the misuse of freedom to exploit other humans and the earth and thus to violate the basic relations that sustain life. Sin lies in the distortion of relationship, the absolutizing of the rights of life and power on one side of a relation against the other parts with which it is, in fact, interdependent." (TCPC) What I love about this description of sin is that relationship is at the center of attention. Sin is, at its core, the distortion of healthy, mutual, loving relationship among humans, with nature, and with God. Unity has the metaphysical understanding down pat, but we could certainly inject the relational component to our conception of sin. Sin is about the misuse of our free will to promote greed, hatred, enmity, ignorance, falsehood, victimization, etc. in the context of being the relational beings that we are as humans.

So, as Lent begins, let's remember the essential, basic meaning of sin and repentence, which is about healing ourselves, mending brokenness in our relationships, and cultivating the love Christ so it abounds in our lives.

To read more about sin and repentance in progressive Christianity visit the Center for Progressive Christianity and Unity.org this Lenten season.