BookView Review

Philosopher-theologian King reimagines the Fall of Man as a choice, not a condemnation in his compelling book. “What if Adam and Eve had chosen the Tree of Life over the Tree of Knowledge?” he asks. Through structured logic and scriptural reflection, King sketches two possible human destinies: one of innocence, peace, and immortality; the other, of suffering and transformation. Rather than a fall, the biblical moment becomes a fork in the road between untouched harmony and tested spiritual growth. King’s “Innocents” live in a world free of malice but still subject to accident and nature’s force. Evil, he argues, is not innate but chosen, experienced only through intention. The “Guilty,” by contrast, walk a harder path, but one that forges them for eventual communion with the overwhelming majesty of God. Their suffering, seen as sacred trial, is central to King’s argument that pain serves a divine purpose.

The book unfolds as a wide-ranging thought experiment, touching on ethics, environment, family, and politics, each reconsidered under the dual lens of Innocence and Guilt. While abstract at times, the prose is grounded by personal anecdotes, including King’s reflections on dogs as emblems of unconditional goodness. Some readers may resist his embrace of reincarnation, or his claim that evil comes from without. But others will find in his speculative theology a powerful provocation to rethink the meaning of sin, free will, and divine justice.

A spare yet stirring philosophical vision of a world untouched by evil, and what choosing it might cost.

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