Reinhard Hütter reviews Daniel W. Houck’s attempt to formulate a “New Thomist” account of original sin that can engage evolutionary theory while preserving the Church’s faith in the historical Fall, original justice, and the Adam–Christ typology. Against post-conciliar approaches that reduce original sin, hell, or the demons to obsolete myths, Hütter presents Thomas Aquinas’s mature theology: original justice is a gratuitous gift ordering humanity toward God, while sanctifying grace elevates and perfects nature. Its loss leaves human nature wounded by ignorance, malice, weakness, and concupiscence; original sin is therefore an inherited privation with an analogical relation to personal guilt, not an individual act.

The review considers Houck’s concern for the salvation of unbaptized infants, his distinction between their lack of sanctifying grace and personal moral fault, and the hopeful position reflected in the Catechism and a 2007 International Theological Commission document. Hütter argues that Houck’s proposal underuses Catholic dogmatic history and risks becoming a “free-floating” theory, while also questioning its attempt to combine Francisco Suárez’s account with Henri de Lubac’s nature–grace theology. He calls for theology to respect both scientific inquiry and revelation without treating evolution as quasi-revelation, and to defend original sin through Scripture, Tradition, the Council of Trent, and Aquinas. The mystery is finally interpreted through Christ’s redemption and the Easter proclamation of the “happy fault.”