Getting to the Root of our Problem

Is the fundamental problem of human sin a problem of pride or a lack of self-esteem?

Say someone is rampantly sexually active, immoral, using people and tossing them away like a sneezed-in Kleenex. Is that person operating out of an essentially prideful and arrogance self-assertion? Is the sexual exploitation an arrogant extension and self-aggrandizing? Or is that person essentially operating out of fear, hiding, brokenness? Is that person running and hiding because they are afraid of dealing with the real "them?"

What if we changed the sin to an eating disorder? Or alcohol addiction? Does gender have anything to do with how we might answer these questions differently?

These are the questions probed in the book that I'm about half-way through called Sin, Pride, and Self-Acceptance by Terry D. Cooper. He traces the theological and psychological development of the centrality of pride as the fundamental human flaw through Augustine and Niebuhr, with an occasional nod towards Freud. It's not often that you see Freud and Augustine on the same side of a debate, so take a moment to savor that one.

He then discusses feminist theologian critiques of the "pride is the root of all sin" tradition (which I just finished reading)--which is really thoughtful in engaging the issues of how socially-constructed gender roles affect the root-source of our sin issues. These theologians argue that women's sin is basically the sin of deference, not pride. Women have traditionally allowed themselves to be subsumed by fear, to lose themselves in relationships rather than find themselves in relationships.

Terry then launches into a fairly charitable Christian critique of the humanistic psychological tradition that developed in the 19th and 20th centuries. This critique said that lack of love for self, quite the opposite of pride, was the root of all evil. Pride is simply a mask for hurt. Acting out in sin is caused by the wounds we receive throughout our lives. What we need to do is peel back the layers of hurt and embrace our inner-child. The "natural self" is then freed up, actualized, and we are able to serve and love and bless others rather than exploit them.

I think in the end, Terry will bring both of these threads together and argue that they're really just two sides of the same coin. But I haven't gotten that far yet.

In the mean time, if you're interested in thinking about why we sin, what we need to actualy repent of--and how to call others to do the same--this is definitely a book worth cracking open.