Seven deadly sins#Pride .28Latin.2C superbia.29

{{Short description|Set of vices in Christian theology}}

{{other uses|Seven deadly sins (disambiguation)|Deadly Sins (disambiguation)}}

{{distinguish|Mortal sin}}

File:Hieronymus Bosch- The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things.JPG's The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things]]

File:Dirc van Delft - The Holy Ghost and the Seven Deadly Sins - Walters W171110R - Full Page.jpg

{{Catholic philosophy}}

The seven deadly sins (also known as the capital vices or cardinal sins) function as a grouping of major vices within the teachings of Christianity.{{Cite book |title=The Virtues and Vices in the Arts: A Sourcebook |last=Tucker |first=Shawn |publisher=Cascade |year=2015 |isbn=978-1625647184}} In the standard list, the seven deadly sins according to the Catholic Church are pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony, and sloth

In Catholicism, the classification of deadly sins into a group of seven originated with Tertullian and continued with Evagrius Ponticus.{{Cite web |title=The Seven Deadly Sins |url=https://www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/the-seven-deadly-sins |access-date=2023-09-30 |website=Catholic Answers |archive-date=2024-08-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240808052301/https://www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/the-seven-deadly-sins |url-status=live }} The concepts were partly based on Greco-Roman and Biblical antecedents. Later, the concept of seven deadly sins evolved further, as shown by historical context based on the Latin language of the Roman Catholic Church, though with significant influence from the Greek language and associated religious traditions. Knowledge of this concept is evident in various treatises; in paintings and sculpture (for example, architectural decorations on churches in some Catholic parishes); and in some older textbooks. Further knowledge has been derived from patterns of confession.

During later centuries and in modern times, the idea of sins (especially seven in number) has influenced or inspired various streams of religious and philosophical thought, fine art painting, and modern popular media such as literature, film, and television.

History

File:Tableau de mission -François-Marie Balanant tableau 1-.jpg = avarice; snake = envy; lion = wrath; snail = sloth; pig = gluttony; goat = lust; peacock = pride)]]

With reference to the seven deadly sins, "evil thoughts" can be categorized as follows:

  • physical (thoughts produced by the nutritive, sexual, and acquisitive appetites)
  • emotional (thoughts produced by depressive, irascible, or dismissive moods)
  • mental (thoughts produced by jealous, boastful, or hubristic states of mind)

The fourth-century monk Evagrius Ponticus reduced the{{which|date=September 2024}} logismoi (or forms of temptation) from nine to eight in number, as follows:Evagrio Pontico, Gli Otto Spiriti Malvagi, trans., Felice Comello, Pratiche Editrice, Parma, 1990, p.11-12.{{Cite book |last=Evagrius |title=The Greek Ascetic Corpus |date=22 June 2006 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0199297088 |location=Oxford and New York |translator-last=Sinkewicz. |translator-first=Robert E. |author-link=Evagrius Ponticus}}

  1. {{lang|grc|Γαστριμαργία}} ({{transliteration|grc|gastrimargia}}) gluttony
  2. {{lang|grc|Πορνεία}} ({{transliteration|grc|porneia}}) prostitution, fornication
  3. {{lang|grc|Φιλαργυρία}} ({{transliteration|grc|philargyria}}) greed
  4. {{lang|grc|Λύπη}} ({{transliteration|grc|lypē}}) sadness, rendered in the Philokalia as envy, sadness at another's good fortune
  5. {{lang|grc|Ὀργή}} ({{transliteration|grc|orgē}}) wrath
  6. {{lang|grc|Ἀκηδία}} ({{transliteration|grc|akēdia}}) acedia (apathy, neglect, or indifference), rendered in the Philokalia as dejection
  7. {{lang|grc|Κενοδοξία}} ({{transliteration|grc|kenodoxia}}) boasting
  8. {{lang|grc|Ὑπερηφανία}} ({{transliteration|grc|hyperēphania}}) pride, sometimes rendered as self-overestimation, arrogance, or grandiosityIn the [https://archive.org/stream/Philokalia-TheCompleteText/Philokalia-Complete-Text_djvu.txt translation] of the Philokalia by Palmer, Ware and Sherrard.

Evagrius's list was translated into the Latin of Western Christianity in many writings of John Cassian,{{cite web |url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf211.iv.iii.html |title=NPNF-211. Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lerins, John Cassian – Christian Classics Ethereal Library |website=www.ccel.org |access-date=2012-05-19 |archive-date=2021-06-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210615203349/https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf211.iv.iii.html |url-status=live }}{{Cite book |edition=First |title=The Institutes |publisher=Newman Press of the Paulist Press |date=3 January 2000 |location=New York |isbn=9780809105229 |first=John |last=Cassian |author-link=John Cassian}} one of Evagrius’s students; the list thus become part of the Western tradition's spiritual pietas or Catholic devotions as follows:Refoule, F. (1967) "Evagrius Ponticus," In New Catholic Encyclopaedia, Vol. 5, pp. 644f, Staff of Catholic University of America, Eds., New York: McGraw-Hill.

  1. {{lang|la|Gula}} (gluttony)
  2. {{lang|la|Luxuria/Fornicatio}} (lust, fornication)
  3. {{lang|la|Avaritia}} (greed)
  4. {{lang|la|Tristitia}} (sorrow, despair, despondency)
  5. {{lang|la|Ira}} (wrath)
  6. {{lang|la|Acedia}} (sloth)
  7. {{lang|la|Vanagloria}} (vanity, vainglory)
  8. {{lang|la|Superbia}} (pride)

In AD 590, Pope Gregory I revised this list into the form that has become common."For pride is the root of all evil, of which it is said, as Scripture bears witness; Pride is the beginning of all sin. [Ecclus. 10, 1] But seven principal vices, as its first progeny, spring doubtless from this poisonous root, namely, vain glory, envy, anger, melancholy, avarice, gluttony, lust." Gregory the Great, [http://www.lectionarycentral.com/GregoryMoralia/Book31.html Moralia in Iob, book XXXI] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210612234814/http://www.lectionarycentral.com/GregoryMoralia/Book31.html |date=2021-06-12 }} He combined {{lang|la|tristitia}} with {{lang|la|acedia}}; combined {{lang|la|vanagloria}} with {{lang|la|superbia}}; and added envy, which is {{lang|la|invidia}} in Latin.{{Cite book|title=Gregory the Great: Moral Reflections on the Book of Job, Volume 1|publisher=Cistercian Publications|date=18 November 2014|isbn=9780879071493|first=Mark|last=DelCogliano}}{{Cite book|title=The Virtues and Vices in the Arts: A Sourcebook|publisher=Cascade Books, an Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers|date=24 February 2015|first=Shawn R.|last=Tucker}} (Pope Gregory's list corresponds to the traits described in Pirkei Avot as "removing one from the world.")Pirkei Avot 2:11, 3:10, and 4:21. Also the Vilna Gaon's commentary to Aggadot Berakhot 4b.{{cite web | url=https://seforimblog.com/2016/03/traditional-jewish-source-for-seven/?print=print | title=Traditional Jewish source for the "Seven Deadly Sins" - the Seforim Blog }} Thomas Aquinas uses and defends Gregory's list in his Summa Theologica, although he calls them the "capital sins", because they are the head and form of all the other sins.{{Cite web|title=SUMMA THEOLOGICA: The cause of sin, in respect of one sin being the cause of another Prima Secundae Partis, Q. 84; I-II,84,3)|url=http://www.newadvent.org/summa/2084.htm#article4|website=www.newadvent.org|access-date=4 December 2015|archive-date=17 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210717151503/https://www.newadvent.org/summa/2084.htm#article4|url-status=live}} Christian denominations, such as the Anglican Communion,{{cite book|last=Armentrout|first=Don S.|title=An Episcopal Dictionary of the Church: A User-Friendly Reference for Episcopalians|date=1 January 2000|publisher=Church Publishing, Inc.|language=en |isbn=9780898697018|page=479}} Lutheran Church,{{cite web|url=http://www.lutheranhour.org/sermon.asp?articleid=648&mode=print|title=Mighty Menacin' Midianites|last=Lessing|first=Reed|date=25 August 2002|publisher=The Lutheran Hour|language=en|access-date=26 March 2017|archive-date=17 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210717152903/https://www.lutheranhour.org/sermon.asp?articleid=648&mode=print|url-status=live}} and Methodist Church,{{cite web|url=https://ucmpage.org/articles/rspeidel.htm|title=What Would a United Methodist Jesus Do?|last=Speidel|first=Royal|publisher=UCM|language=en|access-date=26 March 2017|quote=Thirdly, the United Methodist Jesus reminds us to confess our sins. How long has it been since you have heard reference to the seven deadly sins: pride, gluttony, sloth, lust, greed, envy and anger?|archive-date=25 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160425124302/http://ucmpage.org/articles/rspeidel.htm|url-status=dead}} still retain this list; modern evangelists such as Billy Graham have explicated it.{{cite book|title=The American Lutheran, Volumes 39–40|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KaHmAAAAMAAJ|year=1956|publisher=American Lutheran Publicity Bureau|language=en |page=332|quote=The world-renowned Evangelist, Billy Graham, presents in this volume an excellent analysis of the seven deadly sins which he enumerates as pride, anger, envy, impurity, gluttony, avarice and slothfulness.}}

Historical and modern definitions and perspectives

According to Catholic prelate Henry Edward Manning, the seven deadly sins are seven ways to eternal death (or Hell).{{Cite book|title=Sin and Its consequences|last=Manning|first=Henry Edward}} The Lutheran divine Martin Chemnitz, who contributed to the development of Lutheran systematic theology, implored clergy to remind faithful congregations about the seven deadly sins.{{cite book |author1=Martin Chemnitz |title=Ministry, Word, and Sacraments: An Enchiridion; The Lord's Supper; The Lord's Prayer |date=2007 |publisher=Concordia Publishing House |isbn=978-0-7586-1544-2 |language=en}}

In order of increasing severity according to Pope Gregory I, the seven deadly sins are as follows:

= Lust =

{{Main|Lust}}Lust or lechery is intense longing. It is usually viewed as intense or unbridled sexual desire,{{Cite web|url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lust|title=Definition of LUST|website=www.merriam-webster.com|access-date=4 May 2016|archive-date=15 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210715092256/https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lust|url-status=live}} which may lead to fornication (including adultery, rape, or bestiality), and other sinful and sexual acts; however, lust can also denote other forms of unbridled desire, such as for money or power. Henry Edward Manning explains that the impurity of lust transforms one into "a slave of the devil".

Lust is generally thought to be the mildest capital sin.Dorothy L. Sayers, Purgatory, Introduction, pp. 65–67 (Penguin, 1955).{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uf62BQAAQBAJ|title=William Blake's Illustrations for Dante's Divine Comedy: A Study of the Engravings, Pencil Sketches and Watercolors|last=Pyle|first=Eric|date=31 December 2014|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9781476617022|language=en}} Thomas Aquinas considers it an abuse of a faculty that humans share with animals, and sins of the flesh are less grievous than spiritual sins.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VeP7kg-blnIC&q=lust%2520summa%2520theologica&pg=PA1819|title=Summa Theologica, Volume 4 (Part III, First Section)|last=Aquinas|first=St Thomas|date=1 January 2013|publisher=Cosimo|isbn=9781602065604|language=en}}

= Gluttony =

{{Main|Gluttony}}

File:Albert_Anker_-_Stillleben_-_Unmässigkeit.jpg, 1896)]]

Gluttony is the overindulgence and overconsumption of anything to the point of excess. The word derives from the Latin {{lang|la|gluttire}}, meaning 'to gulp down' or 'to swallow'.{{Cite web |title=Latin Definition for: gluttio, gluttire, -, – (ID: 21567) – Latin Dictionary and Grammar Resources – Latdict |url=https://latin-dictionary.net/definition/21567/gluttio-gluttire |access-date=2022-10-10 |website=latin-dictionary.net}} One reason for condemning gluttony is that gorging by prosperous people may leave needy people hungry.Okholm, Dennis. [http://www.ctlibrary.com/ct/2000/september4/3.62.html "Rx for Gluttony"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160324175340/http://www.ctlibrary.com/ct/2000/september4/3.62.html |date=2016-03-24 }}. Christianity Today, Vol. 44, No. 10, 11 September 2000, p.62

Medieval church leaders such as Thomas Aquinas took a more expansive view of gluttony, arguing that it could also include an obsessive anticipation of meals, as well as overindulgence in delicacies and costly foods. Aquinas listed five forms of gluttony:{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06590a.htm|title=Gluttony|encyclopedia=Catholic Encyclopedia|access-date=2007-09-18|archive-date=2010-06-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100613024328/http://newadvent.org/cathen/06590a.htm|url-status=live}}

  • {{lang|la|Laute}} – eating too expensively
  • {{lang|la|Studiose}} – eating too daintily
  • {{lang|la|Nimis}} – eating too much
  • {{lang|la|Praepropere}} – eating too soon
  • {{lang|la|Ardenter}} – eating too eagerly

= Greed =

{{Main|Greed}}

File:The_worship_of_Mammon.jpg (1909) by Evelyn De Morgan]]

In the words of Henry Edward Manning, avarice "plunges a man deep into the mire of this world, so that he makes it to be his god".

Avarice, or greed as it came to be known, has many forms. When Pope Gregory I revised the sins, he defined greed as "treachery, fraud, deceit, perjury, restlessness, violence and hardnesses of heart against compassion." This definition would evolve into the modern interpretation: outside Christian writings, greed is an inordinate desire to acquire or possess more than one needs, especially with respect to material wealth.{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.thefreedictionary.com/greed|title=greed| encyclopedia=American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language|edition=5th|year=2016|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|via=The Free Dictionary|access-date=4 February 2019}} Aquinas believed that greed, like pride, can lead to evil.{{Cite book |last=Aquinas |first=Thomas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YiJCBAAAQBAJ |title=Summa Theologica (All Complete & Unabridged 3 Parts + Supplement & Appendix + interactive links and annotations) |date=20 August 2013 |publisher=e-artnow |isbn=9788074842924 |language=en |author-link=St Thomas Aquinas}}

= Sloth =

{{Main|Sloth (deadly sin)}}

File:Abraham Bloemaert - Parable of the Wheat and the Tares - Walters 372505.jpg (1624) by Abraham Bloemaert, Walters Art Museum]]

Sloth refers to many related ideas, dating from antiquity, and includes spiritual, mental, and physical states.{{Cite book|title=The Seven Deadly Sins: Society and Evil|last=Lyman|first=Stanford|year=1989|isbn=0-930390-81-4|pages=5|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield }} The definition has changed considerably since it was first recognized as a sin. Today it can be defined as the absence of interest in or habitual disinclination to exertion.{{Cite web|url=http://www.dictionary.com/browse/sloth?s=t|title=the definition of sloth|website=Dictionary.com|access-date=3 May 2016|archive-date=17 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210617033740/https://www.dictionary.com/browse/sloth?s=t|url-status=live}} Originally, however, Christian theologians believed it to be a lack of care for performing spiritual duties.

In his Summa Theologica, Saint Thomas Aquinas defined sloth as "sorrow about spiritual good".

The scope of sloth is wide. In a spiritual sense, acedia first referred to an affliction attending religious persons, especially monks, wherein they became indifferent to their duties and obligations to God. In a mental sense, acedia has a number of distinctive components: the most important of these is affectlessness—a lack of any feeling about self or other; a mind-state that gives rise to boredom, rancor, apathy; and a passive inert or sluggish mentation. In a physical sense, acedia is fundamentally associated with a cessation of motion and an indifference to work; the sin finds expression in laziness, idleness, and indolence.

Sloth includes ceasing to use the seven gifts of grace given by the Holy Spirit; these gifts are Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Knowledge, Piety, Fortitude, and Fear of the Lord. Such disregard may lead to slower spiritual progress towards eternal life, neglect of multiple duties of charity towards a neighbor, and animosity towards those who love God.

The other deadly sins are sins of committing immorality; by contrast, sloth is a sin of avoiding responsibilities. The sin may arise from any of the other capital vices: for example, a son may avoid his duty to his father because of anger. The state and habit of sloth is a mortal sin; but the habit of the soul tending towards the last mortal state of sloth is not mortal in and of itself, except under certain circumstances.

Emotionally, and cognitively, the evil of acedia (or sloth) finds expression in a lack of feeling for the world, the people in it, or the self. Acedia takes form as an alienation of the sentient self first from the world and then from itself. The most profound versions of this condition are found in a withdrawal from all forms of participation in, or care for, others or oneself. Nevertheless, a lesser yet more harmful element was also noted by theologians: Gregory the Great asserted that, "from tristitia, there arise malice, rancour, cowardice, [and] despair".

Chaucer also dealt with this attribute of acedia, reckoning the characteristics of the sin to include despair, somnolence, idleness, tardiness, negligence, laziness, and wrawnesse, the last variously translated as 'anger' or better as 'peevishness'. For Chaucer, human sin consists in languishing and holding back, refusing to undertake works of goodness because (people tell themselves) the circumstances surrounding the establishment of good are too grievous and too difficult to suffer. Acedia in Chaucer's view is thus the enemy of every source and motive for work.{{Cite book|title=The Seven Deadly Sins: Society and Evil|last=Lyman|first=Stanford|pages=6–7}}

According to Stanford Lyman, sloth subverts the maintenance of the body, taking no care for its daily needs; sloth also slows down the mind, diverting its attention away from important matters. Sloth hinders a person in moral undertakings, and it thus becomes a significant source of a person's ruin.

= Wrath =

{{Main|Wrath}}

File:Jacques_de_l'Ange_-_A_young_Man_with_a_Sword_restrained_by_a_young_Woman,_'Anger'.jpg]]

Wrath can be defined as uncontrolled feelings of anger, rage, and even hatred. Wrath often reveals itself in the wish to seek vengeance.{{Cite book|title=The Seven deadly Sins: A companion|last=Landau|first=Ronnie|isbn=978-1-4457-3227-5|date=30 October 2010|publisher=Lulu.com }}

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the neutral act of anger becomes the sin of wrath when it is directed against an innocent person; when it is unduly strong or long-lasting; or when it desires excessive punishment. "If anger reaches the point of a deliberate desire to kill or seriously wound a neighbor, it is gravely against charity; it is a mortal sin". Hatred is the sin of desiring that someone else may suffer misfortune or evil, and it is a mortal sin when one desires grave harm.{{CCC|pp=2302|pp_range=2302-3}}

People feel angry when they sense that they or someone they care about has been offended; when they are certain about the nature and cause of the angering event; when they are certain someone else is responsible; and when they feel that they can still influence the situation or cope with it.International Handbook of Anger. p. 290

Henry Edward Manning considers that "angry people are slaves to themselves".

= Envy =

{{Main|Envy}}Envy is characterized by an insatiable desire such as greed and lust. It can be described as a sad or resentful covetousness towards the traits or possessions of another person. Envy stems from vainglory{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A7Cf9Bt1DWsC |title=Summa Theologica, Volume 3 (Part II, Second Section) |last=Aquinas |first=Thomas |author-link=St Thomas Aquinas |date=1 January 2013 |publisher=Cosimo, Inc. |isbn=9781602065581 |language=en}} and cuts a person off from their neighbor.

According to St. Thomas Aquinas, the struggle aroused by envy has three stages:

  1. During the first stage, the envious person attempts to lower another person's reputation
  2. In the middle stage, the envious person receives either "joy at another's misfortune" (if he succeeds in defaming the other person) or "grief at another's prosperity" (if he fails)
  3. the third stage is hatred because "sorrow causes hatred"{{cite web |url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/aquinas/summa/sum291.htm |title=Summa Theologica: Treatise on The Theological Virtues (QQ[1] – 46): Question. 36 – Of Envy (four articles) |publisher=Sacred-texts.com |access-date=2 January 2010 |archive-date=3 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303182651/http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/aquinas/summa/sum291.htm |url-status=live }}

Bertrand Russell said that envy was one of the most potent causes of unhappiness, bringing sorrow to committers of envy, while giving them the urge to inflict pain upon others.{{cite book |title=The Conquest of Happiness |url=https://archive.org/details/conquestofhappin0000russ |url-access=registration |last=Russell |first=Bertrand |author-link=Bertrand Russell |publisher=H. Liverwright |year=1930 |location=New York |page=86}}

= Pride =

{{Main|Pride}}

File:Jheronimus Bosch Table of the Mortal Sins (Superbia).jpgPride is known as hubris (from the Ancient Greek {{wikt-lang|grc|ὕβρις}}) or futility; it is considered the original and worst of the seven deadly sins—the most demonic—on almost every list, .{{Cite book |last=Climacus |first=John |author-link=John Cliamcus |title=The Ladder of Divine Ascent, Translation by Colm Luibheid and Norman Russell |pages=62–63}} Pride is also thought to be the source of the other capital sins. Pride is viewed as the opposite of humility.{{Cite web |title=Humility vs Pride And Why The Difference Should Matter To You {{!}} Jeremie Kubicek |url=https://jeremiekubicek.com/humility-vs-pride/ |access-date=2 March 2018 |website=jeremiekubicek.com |language=en-US |archive-date=18 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180618175743/https://jeremiekubicek.com/humility-vs-pride/ |url-status=dead }}{{Cite book |last=Acquaviva |first=Gary J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qAtNAPteVk0C&q=Pride+is+generally+associated+with+an+absence+of+humility&pg=PA31 |title=Values, Violence and Our Future |date=2000 |publisher=Rodopi |isbn=9042005599 |language=en}}

C. S. Lewis writes in Mere Christianity that pride is the "anti-God" state, the position in which the ego and the self are directly opposed to God: "Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison: it was through Pride that Lucifer became wicked: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind."Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis, {{ISBN|978-0-06-065292-0}} Pride is understood to sever the human spirit from God, as well as from the life and grace given by God's presence.

A person can be prideful for different reasons. Author Ichabod Spencer states that "spiritual pride is the worst kind of pride, if not worst snare of the devil. The heart is particularly deceitful on this one thing."{{Cite book|title=Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers|year=1895|pages=485}} Jonathan Edwards wrote: "remember that pride is the worst viper that is in the heart, the greatest disturber of the soul's peace and sweet communion with Christ; it was the first sin that ever was and lies lowest in the foundation of Lucifer's whole building and is the most difficultly rooted out and is the most hidden, secret and deceitful of all lusts and often creeps in, insensibly, into the midst of religion and sometimes under the disguise of humility."{{Cite book |title=To Deborah Hatheway, Letters and Personal Writings (Works of Jonathan Edwards Online Vol. 16) |last=Claghorn |first=George}}

Modern use of the term pride may be captured in the biblical proverb, "Pride goeth before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall" (which is abbreviated as "Pride goeth before a fall" in Proverbs 16:18). The "pride that blinds" causes foolish actions against common sense.{{cite journal |url=https://www.academia.edu/6081830 |title=The 1920 Farrow's Bank Failure: A Case of Managerial Hubris |journal=Journal of Management History |volume=20 |issue=2 |pages=164–178 |publisher=Durham University |access-date=1 October 2014 |last1=Hollow |first1=Matthew |doi=10.1108/JMH-11-2012-0071 |year=2014 |issn=1751-1348 |archive-date=14 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210714204331/https://www.academia.edu/6081830 |url-status=live }} In political analysis, hubris is often used to describe how powerful leaders become irrationally self-confident and contemptuous of advice over time, leading them to act impulsively.

Historical definitions and perspectives

= Acedia =

{{Main|Acedia}}

File:Acedia_(mosaic,_Basilique_Notre-Dame_de_Fourvière).jpg, Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière]]

Acedia is neglecting to take care of something that one should do. The term can be translated as 'apathetic listlessness' or depression. It is related to melancholy; acedia describes the behaviour, and melancholy suggests the emotion producing it. In early Christian thought, the lack of joy was regarded as a willful refusal to enjoy the goodness of God. By contrast, apathy was considered a refusal to help others in times of need.

Acēdia is the negative form of the Greek term {{lang|grc|κηδεία}} ({{transliteration|grc|Kēdeia}}), which has a more restricted usage. Kēdeia refers specifically to spousal love and respect for the dead.Henry George Liddell and Robert Scott. A Greek-English Lexicon. Revised by Sir Henry Stuart Jones and Roderick McKenzie. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1940.

Pope Gregory combined acedia with tristitia to form sloth in his list. When Thomas Aquinas considered acedia in his interpretation of this list, he described it as an "uneasiness of the mind", which was a progenitor for lesser sins such as restlessness and instability.{{Citation |title=From Gent to Gentil: Jed Tewksbury and the Function of Literary Allusion in A Place to Come To |url=https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/rpwstudies/vol2/iss1/6/ |last1=McCarron |first1=Bill |last2=Knoke |first2=Paul |journal=Robert Penn Warren Studies |date=2002 |volume=2 |issue=1 }}

Acedia is currently defined in the Catechism of the Catholic Church as spiritual sloth—believing spiritual tasks to be too difficult.{{CCC|pp=2733}} In the fourth century, Christian monks believed that acedia was primarily caused by a state of melancholia that caused spiritual detachment rather than laziness.{{Cite news|url=https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/desert-fathers-sins-acedia-sloth|title=Before Sloth Meant Laziness, It Was the Spiritual Sin of Acedia|date=14 July 2017|work=Atlas Obscura|access-date=27 November 2017|language=en|archive-date=14 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210714204329/https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/desert-fathers-sins-acedia-sloth|url-status=live}}

= Vainglory =

{{Main|Vanity}}

Vainglory is unjustified boasting. Pope Gregory viewed it as a form of pride, so he merged vainglory into pride in his list of sins. Vainglory is the progenitor of envy.

Professor Kevin M. Clarke observes that vainglory is technically different from pride: vainglory is “when we seek human acclaim”, while pride is “taking spiritual credit for what I’ve done, instead of ascribing one’s good deeds to God.”{{sfn|Clarke|2018|p=163}}

The Latin term {{lang|la|gloria}} roughly means 'boasting', although its English cognate glory has come to have an exclusively positive meaning. Historically, the term vain meant roughly 'futile' (a meaning retained in the modern expression in vain); but by the fourteenth century, vain had come to have the strong narcissistic undertones that it retains today.Oxford English dictionary

Patterns of confession

{{Further|Confession (religion)}}

According to a 2009 study by the Jesuit scholar Fr. Roberto Busa, the most common deadly sin confessed by men is lust, and the most common deadly sin confessed by women is pride.{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7897034.stm |title=Two sexes 'sin in different ways' |work=BBC News |date=18 February 2009 |access-date=24 July 2010 |archive-date=18 December 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091218000318/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7897034.stm |url-status=live }} It is unclear whether these differences were due to the actual number of transgressions committed by each sex, or whether the observed pattern was caused by differing views on what matters or should be confessed.{{cite web |author=Morning Edition |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100906920 |title=True Confessions: Men And Women Sin Differently |publisher=NPR |date=20 February 2009 |access-date=24 July 2010 |archive-date=14 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210714204329/https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100906920 |url-status=live }}

See also

References

{{reflist}}

{{cite web |last1=Collaert |first1=Hans |last2=Snellinck |first2=Jan |title=Harrowing of Hell and the Seven Deadly Sins |url=https://viewer.cbl.ie/viewer/image/WEp_0960/1/ |access-date=April 13, 2025}}

{{cite web |last1=Taras |first1=Zach |last2=Ross |first2=Dave |title=7 Deadly Sins: List of the Biblical Violations and Their Origins |url=https://people.howstuffworks.com/what-are-seven-deadly-sins.htm}}

{{cite web |last1=Le |first1=Kathy |last2=Writer |first2=Staff |title=Sinful History: The Strange and Unknown Origins of the Seven Deadly Sins |url=https://thesciencesurvey.com/spotlight/2023/06/06/sinful-history-the-strange-and-unknown-origins-of-the-seven-deadly-sins/}}

Further reading

  • Alighieri, Dante, Divine Comedy
  • {{cite book |chapter=The Remedies for the Eight Principal Faults. |title=Ante-Nicene Christian Library, Volume XI |year=1885 |publisher=T. & T. Clark in Edinburgh |first=John |last=Cassian |author-link=John Cassian |translator-first=Philip |translator-last=Schaff}}
  • {{cite book|chapter=On Pride and Vainglory|title=Meditations On The Mysteries Of Our Holy Faith|year=1852|publisher=Richarson and Son|first=Lius|last=de la Puente|author-link=Luis de la Puente}}
  • {{ill|Schumacher, Meinolf|de|Meinolf Schumacher}} (2005): "Catalogues of Demons as Catalogues of Vices in Medieval German Literature: 'Des Teufels Netz' and the Alexander Romance by Ulrich von Etzenbach." In In the Garden of Evil: The Vices and Culture in the Middle Ages. Edited by Richard Newhauser, pp. 277–290. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies.
  • The Concept of Sin, by Josef Pieper
  • The Traveller's Guide to Hell, by Michael Pauls & Dana Facaros
  • Sacred Origins of Profound Things, by Charles Panati
  • The Faerie Queene, by Edmund Spenser
  • [http://www.oup.com/us/collections/7_sins/?view=usa The Seven Deadly Sins Series], Oxford University Press (7 vols.)
  • Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung, Glittering Vices: A New Look at the Seven Deadly Sins and Their Remedies, (Grand Rapids: BrazosPress, 2009)
  • Solomon Schimmel, The Seven Deadly Sins: Jewish, Christian and Classical Reflections on Human Psychology, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997)
  • {{cite book|chapter=Book 4: On Sin (Pride)|title=A manual of moral theology for English-speaking countries|year=1925|publisher=Burns Oates & Washbourne Ltd.|first=Thomas|last=Slater S.J.}}
  • Tucker, Shawn. The Virtues and Vices in the Arts: A Sourcebook, (Eugene, OR: Cascade Press, 2015)
  • {{cite book |last=Clarke |first=Kevin M. |title=The Seven Deadly Sins: Sayings of the Fathers of the Church |publisher=CUA Press |date=May 18, 2018 |isbn=978-0-8132-3021-4 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Seven_Deadly_Sins/MM9ZDwAAQBAJ?hl=en |access-date=May 3, 2025}}