On the Concept of Sin in the Theology of Liberation and Josiah Royce's The Problem of Christianity: Towards a Theo-Philosophical Ethics

Abstract

This essay proposes that theology and philosophy are not mutually exclusive or at odds with one another methodologically, but in fact that religious categories are useful in philosophical analyses, and particularly when it comes to ethics. In this essay, I examine the theological concept of sin as it is expressed in Latin American Liberation Theology (over and against the more traditional understanding of sin in Western Christianity) as the domination of the Other and the oppression of the poor through geo-political systems of power. I explore the responses to this notion from the Magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church, as well as my own critiques in terms of theoretical integrity with particular regard to claims of universalism. The essay then proceeds into a synthesis of these criticisms through the work of Josiah Royce on Community and Loyalty in