“Hearts of Flesh”: Structural Sin and Social Salvation: Presidential Address

Our convention's theme calls us to counter privatized conceptions of salvation, since we are redeemed as a people. 1 Today violent forms of nationalism, radical individualism, and meritocratic myths threaten the "ever wider we" God envisions. 2 In the face of this structural evil, salvation in Christ reunites us with God and one another.The whole person and the entire human race are involved in the salvific economy of the gospel. 3 Early in his papacy, discussing the social nature of salvation, Pope Francis described how God enters the dynamic of our "complex web of relationships," for no one is saved alone. 4 It is his understanding of structural sin, which ensnares us through this same web and which we are called to resist and dismantle, that focuses my reflections this morning.I begin by highlighting the "multivalent" character of Francis's account of structural sin, including his attention to apathy as a key feature that strengthens the durability of structural forms of injustice.Next, I address ways in which our theological discourse is not always well poised to address apathy, nor the subtle, deceptive, and diffuse operations of structural sin more broadly.Finally I suggest ways in which we might broaden a theological response to Francis's multivalent invitation, as we prepare hearts of stone to be replaced by hearts of flesh. POPE FRANCIS'S MULTIVALENT STRUCTURAL SINThroughout his papacy, Francis has employed social sin in ways distinct from his predecessors, explicitly connecting structural harms with abetting attitudes and favoring prophetic denunciation 5 over bounded culpability.In its broadest sense, social 1 I am grateful to Shaun Slusarski for his research assistance and Laurie Cassidy, Conor Kelly, and Mark Potter for feedback on an earlier version of this draft.2