Structural Sin and the Death of Institutions

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A01=Susannah Cornwall
Abolition
Abuse
Author_Susannah Cornwall
Category=QRAM1
Category=QRM
Christian institutional critique
Christian theology
Church
Doctrine
Ecclesiology
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
Failure
Forgiveness
Harm
Hope
institutional accountability
Institutions
Organisation
penal abolitionism
political theology
Power
power dynamics religion
practical theology
Redemption
Reform
Responsibility
Resurrection
Sin
Structure
theological ethics

Product details

  • ISBN 9781032914619
  • Weight: 660g
  • Dimensions: 156 x 234mm
  • Publication Date: 14 Oct 2025
  • Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
  • Publication City/Country: GB
  • Product Form: Hardback
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Structural Sin and the Death of Institutions explores how Christian understandings of sin map onto institutional failures. It argues that institutions frequently create conditions in which individuals are disempowered and disposed to sin, and that uncritical appeals to redemption, reconciliation and restoration perpetuate harm. The book engages the turn to despair, abolition and termination in recent theologies, and builds on work by those working in other fields including the penal abolitionist movement. It offers an account of sins common to many institutions, including secrecy, exceptionalism, and the over-privileging of institutional reputation, and argues that Christian accounts of forgiveness of sin should not gloss over damage but appropriately remember the past. The volume will appeal to readers interested in Christian doctrines of sin and ecclesiology, including scholars of theological ethics, practical theology, and political theology, and to those asking how far their own continued association with flawed institutions is an unacceptable moral compromise.

Susannah Cornwall is Professor of Constructive Theologies at the University of Exeter, UK.

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