Kirkpatrick's contention is that Sartre's discourse of 'nothingness,' when placed in the proper historical context, can and should be understood in a theological register, and not (exclusively) in relation to Hegel or Heidegger. The aim of this part of the book is to demonstrate that Sartre, despite his professed atheism later, was exposed to theological issues and ideas as part of his education, and that he continued to draw upon theological language and ideas in his writings through the period of BN. Here, in addition to lucid expositions of Augustine, Descartes, and Pascal, we are introduced to Cornelius Jansen and Jansenism, the Catholic mystic Pierre de Bérulle ('Descartes' spiritual director'), and François Fénelon, whose account of the elusiveness and insubstantiality of the self is uncannily similar to Sartre's. The centerpiece and historical anchor of the argument is presented in Part II, Chapter 2, which traces the genealogy of Sartre's conception of nothingness to French theological debates of the 1600s. Kirkpatrick's earlier book, Sartre and Theology (2017), which examines Sartre's engagement with theology more broadly, could be a useful background resource for readers of this one. She is, however, the first to pursue the topic in depth. Her forerunners include Merold Westphal's Suspicion and Faith: The Religious Uses of Modern Atheism (1998), Stephen Mulhall's Philosophical Myths of the Fall (2005), and several articles by John Gillespie published in Sartre Studies International.

Kirkpatrick is not the first to address Sartre's relation to theology or to note similarities between Sartre's ideas in BN and the doctrine of original sin. However, the book should be welcomed by all readers as it breathes life into the field of Sartre studies, offering a fresh perspective from which to judge the magnum opus of French existentialism.

For readers used to understanding Sartre through the lens of German phenomenology, this will come as a surprise.

Hence, Sartre in BN presents us with 'a phenomenology of sin from a graceless position' (10). Kate Kirkpatrick's provocative interdisciplinary study argues that Sartre's conception of nothingness in Being and Nothingness (BN) can be fruitfully understood as an iteration of the Christian doctrine of original sin, 'nothingness' being synonymous with sin and evil in the Augustinian tradition.

Sartre on being