Reflections on the pathological in the human condition are a significant part of contemporary discourse, but outside of the theology guild the debate almost never references the category of sin. Within contemporary theology, by contrast, hamartiology is enjoying something of a renaissance, yet few theologians are enthusiastically embracing Martin Luther's insights into the doctrine of sin. Indeed Luther is often seen as a particularly extreme, and therefore particularly malignant, version of the Augustinian tradition, whose theological hegemony so many theologians want to challenge. The primary thesis of this project is that Luther in fact offers powerful resources for reflecting on sin and the pathological more broadly, and that a retrieval, translation and reconstruction of his ideas is thus an important task for theology today. Yet there remain conceptual and theological challenges in deploying Luther's thought, and in addressing these questions this project also proposes a secondary thesis: that dialogue between theology and critical theory can be a highly generative approach to hamartiological impasses. Critical theory represents a dominant theoretical perspective that structures much work in the humanities and underpins a significant proportion of contemporary politics, especially on the Left. It is often seen as inimical to theology, yet in this thesis I treat it as a discourse about human pathology that is particularly alive to issues of self deception, delusion and the hidden quality of the pathological. Seen in such a light, I argue, it actually provides a powerful parallel diagnosis of the human condition, which can be mutually enlightening for a doctrine of sin. Dialogue between theology and critical theory, therefore, not only provides important points of contact between theology and a major contemporary stream of discourse, but can also be illuminating for theological debates.

The thesis falls structurally into two parts. The first, (chapters 1 and 2) provides the intellectual and doctrinal foundations for the constructive work of the second part. Chapter 1 is introductory, offering a brief survey of current trends in hamartiology, and outlining the key interlocutors and methodology of the thesis. Chapter 2 then gives an overview of Luther's hamartiology, drawn primarily from a key text, the 1532 Enarratio Psalmi 51. Having done this theological groundwork, I then proceed to the constructive work of the thesis, which takes the form of three dialogues between Luther's theology and sources from critical theory. Each is structured around a particular hamartiological problem. Chapter 3 addresses the challenge of producing hopeful hermeneutics under the noetic effects of sin. Chapter 4 interrogates questions surrounding the relationship of individual volition and structural pathologies. Chapter 5 thinks about the ways that a doctrine of sin interacts with experiences of human shame. In each case, concepts drawn from critical theory provide helpful hermeneutical lenses, both for moving the hamartiological debate in more generative directions, and also for enabling more productive readings of Luther. The relationship works in both directions, however, as Luther proves to have helpful resources for critical theory. In and through these dialogues with a major current intellectual trend, Luther is revealed as a nuanced and insightful theologian, whose reflections on sin prove to have significant explanatory and pastoral power.