Seven deadly sins
The
seven deadly sins, also known as the
capital vices, suggest a classification of vices and were enumerated in their present form by
Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century. The
Catechism of the Catholic Church briefly mentions them as "capital sins which Christian experience has distinguished, following St. John Cassian and
St. Gregory the Great."
[1]
The capital sins are not to be confused with mortal sins.
Ranked in order of severity (worst sins listed first) as per
Dante's
Divine Comedy (in the
Purgatorio), the seven deadly sins are:
- pride (vanity) — a desire to be important or attractive to others or excessive love of self (holding self out of proper position toward God or fellows; Dante's definition was "love of self perverted to hatred and contempt for one's neighbor")
- envy (jealousy); resentment of others for their possessions (Dante: "Love of one's own good perverted to a desire to deprive other men of theirs")
- wrath (anger) — inappropriate (unrighteous) feelings of hatred, revenge or even denial, as well as punitive desires outside of justice (Dante's description was "love of justice perverted to revenge and spite")
- sloth (also accidie, acedia) — laziness; idleness and wastefulness of time allotted\n:kinds of laziness:\n:*others have to work harder\n:*it is disadvantageous for oneself, because useful work does not get done\n:*an equilibrium: one does not produce much, but one does not need much either (in Dante's theology, sloth is the "failure to love God with all one's heart, all one's mind, and all one's soul" - specific examples including laziness, cowardice, lack of imagination, complacency, and irresponsibility)
- avarice (covetousness) — a desire to possess more than one has need or use for (or, according to Dante, "excessive love of money and power")
- gluttony — wasting of food, either through overindulgence in food, drink or intoxicants, misplaced desire for food for its sensuality, or withholding food from the needy ("excessive love of pleasure" was Dante's rendering)
- lust — seeking sex for pleasure; overindulgence in sex; fornication (Dante's criteria was "excessive love of others," thereby detracting from the love due God)
Several of these sins interlink, and various attempts at causal hierarchy have been made. For example, pride (love of self out of proportion) is implied in gluttony (the over-consumption or waste of food), as well as sloth, envy, and most of the others. Each sin is an attenuation of the central Christian sin of failing to love God with all resources and to love fellows as much as self. The
Scholastic theologians developed schema of attribute and substance of will to explain these sins.
The 4th century
Egyptian monk Evagrius Ponticus defined eight deadly "passions", which were later reduced to seven by merging pride and vainglory. Prior to the current heptad being defined by Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century,
accidie, often translated as sadness or listlessness, was used instead of sloth. A cogent modern term would be "apathy," but the term also included "wanhope" or paralysis of despair.
In the official Catechism of the Catholic Church, consisting of 2,865 numbered sections and first published in
1992 by order of
Pope John Paul II, the seven deadly sins are dealt with in only one paragraph. The principal codification of moral transgression for
Christians continues to be the
Ten Commandments.
Contrast with the
Four Cardinal Virtues and
Three Theological Virtues.
In
Eastern Orthodoxy, these impulses are generally characterized as "deadly passions" rather than sins in and of themselves. To invite and entertain or even refuse to attempt to resist these passions that is considered sinful in Orthodox Christian moral
theology.
The seven deadly sins in popular culture
The movie Se7en is about a serial killer obsessed with the seven deadly sins. The seven deadly sins were also occasionally referenced in the Shazam/Captain Marvel comic-book franchise by seven statues displayed in the hero's secret headquarters. There is also a
board game named after the seven deadly sins, see
Seven Deadly Sins board game. In
2003,
Unilever marketed
Magnum 7 Deadly Sins, a series of seven differently flavoured ice creams. Villains in the
animated series Fullmetal Alchemist are named after the seven deadly sins.
External links
\n* Table contrasting sins with virtues\n*
Seven deadly sins FAQ: answers such questions as why the sins are "deadly"\n*
Another FAQ