- Feb 5, 2002
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The best book I’ve worked on, out of a dozen I’ve written, co-written, or edited, was The Bad Catholic’s Guide to the Seven Deadly Sins.Hands down. Not because it’s funnier, or more politically pointed. No, I like it the most because I’ve been told that it’s the most useful. It does something that nobody’s done, at least not in English and not for a very long time, so far as I’ve seen. Let me explain.
Every book I’ve seen on the Seven Deadly Sins lists the sins, and then the virtues they mock or miss. For instance Lust vs. Chastity, Wrath vs. Patience, etc. But that’s only part of the picture, and presenting the moral life that way gravely misleads people. Because the moral life is not about looking at one sin, and overreacting to it to the greatest degree imaginable.
Instead, it’s about finding the Golden Mean between two opposing vices or sins. That’s where virtue lies, between the two. Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, and Dante recognized this. Too few Christians writing books on morality have seen this in recent decades.
Lurching From One Sin to its Opposite
As I wrote in the book:
Much of the trouble and most of the self-torturing craziness we find in religious circles comes less from people sunk in deadly sins – though we’ve got our share of those – than from well-meaning people who have carelessly overreacted to a sin by embracing the opposite vice, just to be on the safe side.
But the opposite vice is usually no better than the sin. Sometimes it’s worse. The opposite of Lust isn’t Chastity, but Frigidity. The opposite of Wrath is Servility, which takes a sullen, cowardly pleasure in putting up with mistreatment, and feeling morally superior.
Continued below.
Why We Refuse to Fight | The Stream
Every book I’ve seen on the Seven Deadly Sins lists the sins, and then the virtues they mock or miss. For instance Lust vs. Chastity, Wrath vs. Patience, etc. But that’s only part of the picture, and presenting the moral life that way gravely misleads people. Because the moral life is not about looking at one sin, and overreacting to it to the greatest degree imaginable.
Instead, it’s about finding the Golden Mean between two opposing vices or sins. That’s where virtue lies, between the two. Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, and Dante recognized this. Too few Christians writing books on morality have seen this in recent decades.
Lurching From One Sin to its Opposite
As I wrote in the book:
Much of the trouble and most of the self-torturing craziness we find in religious circles comes less from people sunk in deadly sins – though we’ve got our share of those – than from well-meaning people who have carelessly overreacted to a sin by embracing the opposite vice, just to be on the safe side.
But the opposite vice is usually no better than the sin. Sometimes it’s worse. The opposite of Lust isn’t Chastity, but Frigidity. The opposite of Wrath is Servility, which takes a sullen, cowardly pleasure in putting up with mistreatment, and feeling morally superior.
Continued below.
Why We Refuse to Fight | The Stream
