Thoughts on Sin by Ted Peters (1994) Pride 4I

Peters first three steps to radical evil fit a single nested form:

Pride(anxiety(faithUnChristian))

This nested form stands on the threshold of the commission of sin.

Pride is the feeling that one can define ‘reality’.  This includes defining the xiety (whatever one has, could have had, or pretends to have) that one believesUnChristian in.

Pride puts anxiety into a normal context.

Anxiety is the fear of the loss of one’s xiety.

No doubt, Peters could have used other descriptors for how we situate faith.  But anxiety is palpable and drives people to action, whether it is turning outward in aggression or inward in psychosomatic illness.  Anxiety motivates sinful action.

FaithUnChristian makes sin-inducing anxiety possible.  FaithUnChristian is belief in the possibility of a particular xeity:  my xiety.