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Eve and the serpent: A rational choice to err

Dekker, Sidney LU (2007) In Journal of Religion and Health 46(4). p.571-579
Abstract
In dealing with inexplicable disaster, like the untimely death of a child in a hospital, we increasingly turn to the justice system for accountability and retribution. While seemingly sensible, criminalizing human error has a range of negative consequences. But it does offer "good" narratives of failure as the result of human fault-even at the cost of guilt. Such narratives allow us to pinpoint a cause: people made a rational choice to err and should be punished. This allows us to imagine ourselves in control over random, meaningless events. This paper traces Judeo-Christian roots of such regulative ideals in Western moral thinking, by examining the Genesis account of Eve and the Serpent, and St. Augustine's interpretation of it.
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author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
human error, eve, sin, serpent
in
Journal of Religion and Health
volume
46
issue
4
pages
571 - 579
publisher
Springer
external identifiers
  • wos:000250999800009
  • scopus:36348967710
ISSN
0022-4197
DOI
10.1007/s10943-007-9118-1
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
a150e766-9f64-477b-97b1-ee54571c93c5 (old id 966273)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 16:45:42
date last changed
2022-02-27 23:27:56
@article{a150e766-9f64-477b-97b1-ee54571c93c5,
  abstract     = {{In dealing with inexplicable disaster, like the untimely death of a child in a hospital, we increasingly turn to the justice system for accountability and retribution. While seemingly sensible, criminalizing human error has a range of negative consequences. But it does offer "good" narratives of failure as the result of human fault-even at the cost of guilt. Such narratives allow us to pinpoint a cause: people made a rational choice to err and should be punished. This allows us to imagine ourselves in control over random, meaningless events. This paper traces Judeo-Christian roots of such regulative ideals in Western moral thinking, by examining the Genesis account of Eve and the Serpent, and St. Augustine's interpretation of it.}},
  author       = {{Dekker, Sidney}},
  issn         = {{0022-4197}},
  keywords     = {{human error; eve; sin; serpent}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{571--579}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  series       = {{Journal of Religion and Health}},
  title        = {{Eve and the serpent: A rational choice to err}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10943-007-9118-1}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/s10943-007-9118-1}},
  volume       = {{46}},
  year         = {{2007}},
}