Guilt, Original Sin, and Expiation: From Christ to Freud

Shadia B. Drury
Canada Research Chair, Social Justice

17 September 2003

In this lecture, Shadia Drury examined the concepts of original sin, guilt, and expiation that are at the heart of the Passion of Christ. She argued that the concept of original sin creates a burden of guilt that is psychologically unhealthy and deleterious to the moral life. And despite all his efforts to alleviate the burden of guilt, Drury thinks that Freud fails. Instead, he provides the Christian conceptions of guilt, original sin, and expiation, with a historical, psychological, and pseudo-scientific justification.

Shadia B. Drury is the Canada Research Chair in Social Justice at the University of Regina where she is Professor in the Departments of Political Science and Philosophy. Her most recent books are Leo Strauss and the American Right (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1997), Alexandre Kojève: The Roots of Postmodern Politics (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1994) and Terror and Civilization: Christianity, Politics, and the Western Psyche (St. Martin’s Press, 2003).

Shadia Drury’s Website