Those who saw Obama's election as redemption for slavery were off by fourteen decades: his election was supposed to expiate sins much closer to the surface, and therefore far more difficult, and far too expensive, to confront.
In the liturgy of the holidays, hearts are open to divine inspection, but terrestrial Jerusalem appears only on a tangent, on the morning of Yom Kippur, when rabbis and cantors recount, operatically, how the ancient High Priest expiated sin through sacrifices at the Temple in the city.
When Origen surmises that Esau was expiating the sins of his former life, we cannot assume that he was ignorant of rabbinic speculations on the sins that Esau committed in the womb; when he refers elsewhere to causes preceding Esau's entry into the womb, these causes may not include any act on the part of Esau's soul (Princ. 3.1.22).
Is the Consul trying to imitate Christ, shouldering and expiating the sins of others?
Whether or not the sins of the fathers are expiated, sons easily generate sins of their own.
Some mostly white audiences seemed to hope this country could expiate past sins by electing Obama.
He is trekking 1000km to Santiago de Compostela to expiate unknown sins.
"There were volunteers who came to expiate their sins," he said.
Order as principle, beauty as salvation: words, too, can push back the chaos within and help us expiate our sins.
It may be precisely because they feel no guilt that they are willing to expiate the sins of their fathers.
Purgatory, meanwhile, is where 10 Downing's chef, Jason Neroni, has found himself lately, looking to expiate the sins of his culinary past.
