Biblical teachings frame human nature as inherently flawed.

Zen teaching reframes the spiritual path as turning toward one's lived experience, including fear and shame.

Shifting focus away from original sin can transform one's inner experience.

My church’s youth ministry organization was called Awana, which stands for “Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed.” It is, I maintain, the least catchy slogan ever devised for children. The phrase comes from 2 Timothy 2:15 (King James Version): “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed.”

Awana began in 1950 in Chicago as a Bible memorization program for kids. The boys were called Pals. The girls were called Chums, which made us sound far more cheerful and ready to lend a hand than we actually were. I wore a gray uniform and a vest where badges for memorization achievement accumulated in neat rows.

Every Wednesday evening, I would climb the church stairs to the loft, where the ceiling narrowed and the air thinned, and then line up with the other gray Chums and wait to recite. A leader held the handbook open and listened for precision.

One of the verses I memorized for points, one that has stayed with me, was from Isaiah 64:6.

“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are as filthy rags;and we all do fade as a leaf;and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.”

It was bracing language for an 8-year-old. Not only was I unclean, but even my best attempt at goodness was filthy. I recited it clearly. I did not falter. I sat down, having publicly agreed that, at base, I was compromised.

The doctrine behind this language, what became known as original sin, was shaped most influentially by Augustine of Hippo.........

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