Richard Coleman is a retired minister in the United Church of Christ and is a participant in the pastor-theologian program sponsored by the Center for Theological Inquiry in Princeton, New Jersey. He lives in Pembroke, Massachusetts.

• Part 1 Introduction: The Swirl of Intellectual IdeasPart 2 Part I: Science's Coming of Age StoryChapter 3 Chapter 1: Knowledge Too Powerful to Be Ignored: The Good and Noble ScientistChapter 4 Chapter 2: Knowledge Too Good Not to Be Exploited: The Compromised ScientistPart 5 Part II: The New Occasion for an Original TemptationChapter 6 Chapter 3: Sin of the Common Variety: Distinguishing Sin from Evil, and Sin from SinsChapter 7 Chapter 4: Sin Uniquely Christian: A Fresh Interpretation of "The Fall"Chapter 8 Chapter 5: Sin's Geneology: The Emergence of SinChapter 9 Chapter 6: Science as the New Occasion for Sin: When Humans OverreachPart 10 Part III: Science and Theology in CounterbalanceChapter 11 Chapter 7: Can We Trust Ourselves?: So Much Depends on How We AnswerPart 12 BibliographyPart 13 IndexPart 14 About the Author

[Coleman] points out that Adam and Eve must have already had some capacity to make good or bad decisions, else the snake's offer would be futile. Sin, then, is the deliberate transgressing of boundaries set for us…As we make the world in our own image with the tools of science, Coleman holds that we have a duty to individually and corporately guard these limits. My summary cannot do justice to his profound argument, so I would recommend this book to anyone who desires to better understand that duty.