ABSTRACT
This chapter will explore Jüngel's account of nothingness and sin, an account which sets the stage for his account of justification and salvation. It will be argued that whilst Jüngel's account of nothingness draws from Barth in his account of creatio ex nihilo and nothingness as evil, there are aspects of Jüngel's thought that move it further from Barth to Heidegger. Jüngel outlines death and perishing as natural, good parts of creation, and as the conditions for possibilities, rejecting the metaphysics of presence. Nothingness, in contrast, is the absolute ending of all possibilities. Nothingness masquerades as perishing and death to terrify us with a misrepresentation of these natural processes. This turns us towards self-sufficiency and individuation, as Nothingness terrifies us and leads to sin by wanting us to self-actualise, rather than surrender our self to God. In the event of the cross, nothingness was drawn into the life of God's infinite relationality and thus infinite possibilities and overcome by the love of God in the death of Christ. The way to escape from the terror of nothingness is to surrender our self to God, to have faith in God. Jüngel's account of nothingness will be critically evaluated in this chapter, with attention drawn to the role of nothingness post-cross, and to introduce the next chapter, an analysis of human agency in relation to sin.
