The Pharmacology of Sin

This episode is the first in what I hope will be a series in which I present and critique *Being and Nothingness: An Essay on Phenomenological Ontology* by Jean-Paul Sartre, published in French in 1943. In writing these episodes, I hope to join a venerable tradition in philosophy in which a critique is not so much a negative review but rather a thoughtful interpretation which uses its source as a jumping-off point for a new philosophical position.

On February 25th of this year, Airman Aaron Bushnell of the United States Air Force lit himself on fire outside of the Israeli embassy in Washington D.C. Prior to his self-immolation, he posted a message on Facebook: Many of us like to ask ourselves, "What would I do if I was alive during slavery? Or the Jim Crow South? Or apartheid? What would I do if my country was committing genocide?" The answer is, you're doing it right now.

Today we'll be tracing the influence of dualistic cosmologies on the development of religious thought. In examining these historical narratives, we'll see how ancient beliefs influence modern religious thought. From there, we'll pivot to an examination of the concept of mind as it is understood in both historical and modern contexts. Challenging the Cartesian notion of isolated, atomic _egos_, we'll explore how the mind extends beyond the physical confines of the brain into the symbolic order of human interaction and language, mirroring the cosmic battles depicted in myths like the War in Heaven and positing a reevaluation of how ancient wisdom informs modern understanding. Transcript available at asatanistreadsthebible.com

The word “sin” drips with centuries of religious baggage, conjuring images of fire and brimstone preachers and penitent souls begging for redemption. But what lies beneath the surface of this concept? In this episode, we’ll embark on a journey through the history and philosophy of sin, tracing its etymological origins, its central role in Christian thought, and its surprising resonances with ideas from Greek philosophy, Lacanian psychoanalysis, and the religious traditions of India. We’ll explore sin’s paradoxical nature as both a stain on the human condition and a path to transformation and transcendence—the pharmacology of sin. Transcript with citations available at asatanistreadsthebible.com

Within some cleft of history emerged the fallenness of humanity. Transcript with citations available at asatanistreadsthebible.com

Transcript with citations available at asatanistreadsthebible.com

Transcript available at asatanistreadsthebible.com

Transcript with citations available at asatanistreadsthebible.com