In the case of authors writing about post-modernism and theology sins could include:
- Writing an introductory book without a bibliography.
- Writing an introductory book without an annotated bibliography (fun to read and fun to write! Why would anyone deny himself and us such pleasure?)
- Writing an introductory book without mentioning Fergus Kerr’s Theology After Wittgenstein.
- Mentioning the Reformation Tradition in the context of an introductory book but without mentioning either John Frame’s The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God or Vern Poythress’ Symphonic Theology.
Of course, none of these necessarily spoil the book. And, one is free to decide that Tuesday-morning-quarterbacking a book is also a sin and discount all this.
Amen on the annotated bibliography. I love reading those!
FWIW,
I greatly enjoyed AKM Adam’s What is Postmodern Biblical Criticism?, the entirety of which could be considered an extended annotated bibliography. Really the whole book is an intro to various postmodern thinkers and what their thought suggests regarding directions in biblical studies. It’s short and has a ton of books listed and discussed.