“Optimistic American Christianity resists the notion that the human race, left to itself, will self-destruct. Although the can-do American spirit has taken some hard hits in the twenty-first century, and the future for our nation is not as bright as it was, our politics continue to exhibit a self-righteousness that partners well with religious self-righteousness on both the right and the left… Understanding Sin require us to recognize its power lodged in ourselves.” — Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion: Understanding the Death of Jesus Christ