This book has argued for the plausibility of original sin theologically and ethically. But it has also been an attempt to work out the implications of original sin on a methodological level. Indeed I understand an acceptance of original sin to be entailed by the meaning of tradition. In this conclusion I want to say something about what this means; for, typically, appeals to tradition are made to help us see better. In this book, however, our appropriation of tradition has not improved our vision, but clouded it; “tradition” has helped us see that we do not understand; it has helped us realize our incomprehension of evil's roots. And this I take to be a necessary prolegomenon to our discernment of the mystery of our response to evil – a response which, this book has argued, is irremediably theological.

This work has argued that the Augustinian tradition of moral and religious inquiry offers us considerable resources for understanding and responding to the challenges that evil puts before us. This argument is actually a series of arguments, one nested inside another.