How to consider the question

The title of the book I will be delving into is Desperately Wicked: Philosophy, Christianity and the Human Heart, written by Patrick Downey.  
When evil occurs from within ourselves, the tangent question is often, was it inevitable?  Are human beings damned from the beginning? From the ancient writers of the Bible, to Plato, to Nietzche all the way through to modern day scholars, this question has picked at the brains of many, creating many different opinions and beliefs about the answer.  


I picked this book because I already have an opinion as to what I believe the Bible says is the answer, but I wanted to hear what a broad spectrum of minds say about the subject matter. This book allows me to do so.  My hope is to compare this authors thoughts, along with others he mentions, to the Bible and see if I can come up with a biblically based answer that is fortified by academic research.  Perhaps my opinion will be changed by the end of the book, or perhaps it will be cemented.  We will see.