Sin

A central theme of Connelly's retelling of the stories of the Old Testament is sin. Ward W. Briggs, Jr., commented in Dictionary of Literary Biography, "The theme throughout is that man sins and is either punished or renounced by God." The play presents the Earth and humans primarily from the perspective of God. Adam and Eve are the first sinners, and are punished by being thrown out of the Garden of Eden. After Cain has killed his brother Abel, God tells him, "I'm yere to tell you dat's called a crime," and advises him to go as far away as possible, then "git married an' settle down an' raise some chillun."

When, several hundred years later, God returns to Earth on a Sunday, he finds a girl singing blues music, a group of men betting, and a family wracked with drunkenness and debauchery. Walking down a country road...