Publisher's Synopsis
Guilt and Sin are classical notions of theological anthropology. They serve as contrast-concepts related to notions of justification and atonement, which are central to protestant theology in particular. They are considered essential since they seem intrinsically linked to personal identity and responsible agency. But beginning with the era of enlightenment and, especially, since Nietzsche and Freud, such (allegedly) negative anthropology is subject to strong criticism, that recently resonates with criticism from within theology. In the context of recent discourses on cultural anthropology this criticism argues for a replacement of moral and agency-oriented concepts of guilt and sin with a phenomenology of shame. It is claimed that such a phenomenology might provide a psychologically and sociologically richer description of human existence, especially when applied to practices of shame in modern media. The essays of this volume critically and constructively continue this controversy.
