Indifference in communities: Toward the new paradigm of sin

What is sin? St. Augustine, Martin Luther, Karl Barth, and Reinhold Niebuhr's doctrines of sin define sin as pride in which humans exalt themselves to control God and others. Their traditional views require humans to repent their inordinate self-love and to depend completely upon God's grace for redemption. However, these views are criticized for understanding sin from the perspective of prideful people while failing to consider the standpoint of people who are in need of pride.; Dorothee Sölle, Judith Plaskow, Wendy Farley, and Susan Nelson's doctrines of sin understand sin from the standpoint of victims who are assaulted by others' sin or evil social systems. Their contemporary views describe sin as self-abnegation in which humans allow evil to subjugate themselves and deny their possibility to resist it. Theses views suggest that humans affirm their selfhood which God created as good. However these views have a tendency to diminish human responsibility for evil by overlooking the fact that humans voluntarily commit actual sins.; Self-love and self-negation cannot be sins in themselves because they can be both sin and virtue depending on where one stands in relationships with others. Sin is indifference to difference which causes the disruption of mutual relationships between God and humans and among humans. Difference is the essential element that is required for reciprocal relationships. Humans experience difference when they value transcendent dignity and unique characteristics of subjects of their relationships. Sin is indifference which severs the possibility of relationships by disregarding difference.; Christian koinonia is the action necessary for redemption from the sin of indifference. Koinonia refers to mutual fellowship in which humans strive for the well-being of one another through giving and receiving material and spiritual possessions. Koinonia is best exemplified in trinitarian relationships. The three divine persons interrelate with one another through their distinctiveness and invite humans to their koinonia. The essential element of koinonia is the divine love which originates from the Father, is revealed in the Son, and works through the Holy Spirit. Humans are called to take part in this love so that they can dwell in and identify themselves with their beloved objects.