SKU: 1359411
Original Grace An Experiment in Restoration Thinking
In Original Grace, Adam S. Miller proposes an experiment in Restoration thinking: What if instead of implicitly affirming the traditional logic of original sin, we, as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, emphasized the deeper reality of God’s original grace? What if we broke entirely with the belief that suffering can sometimes be deserved and claimed that suffering can never be deserved? In exploring these questions, Miller draws on scriptures and the truths of the Restoration to reframe Christianity’s traditional thinking about grace, justice, and sin. He outlines the logic of original sin versus that of original grace and generates fresh insights into how the doctrine of grace relates to justice, creation, forgiveness, and more. As we embrace the reality of God’s original grace and refuse the logic of original sin, we achieve a deeper understanding of our relationship with Christ and the meaning of his atonement. Christ suffers with us in order to heal our wounds and redeem our suffering. He rescues us from sin by empowering us to exercise our agency and accept God’s original offer of grace. He fills us with his pure love by teaching us how to respond to all suffering the same way God does: with even more grace. Indeed, as Miller suggests, the very substance of salvation has always been a grace-filled partnership with Christ.
Adam S. Miller is a professor of philosophy at Collin College in McKinney, Texas. He earned a BA in comparative literature from Brigham Young University and an MA and PhD in philosophy from Villanova University. He is the author of more than a dozen books, including
Letters to a Young Mormon,
Original Grace, and (co-authored with Rosalynde Welch)
Seven Gospels and Seven Visions. He and his wife, Gwen, have three children.
