The Deadly Sins: How They Are Viewed and Experienced Today

Envy (resentment, jealousy, rivalry, discrimination etc), 2022

In economic theory, altruism is seen as a positive relationship between the individual members of society; on the other hand, envy can be understood as a negative form of relationship. While altruism increases the level of material well-being by immaterial components, envy leads to a clear reduction in the level of material well-being. If envy spreads in society, there is a risk of conflicts that can lead to civil warlike conditions and anarchy. The development of a social ethics that excludes envy as a basic pattern of behavior and can, for example, build on the values of Christian neighborly love, is therefore a priority. 1

Evangelikal: Jurnal Teologi Injili dan Pembinaan Warga Jemaat, 2025

Sin has damaged human relationships with God, fellow beings, and the universe. It could only be resolved by God's grace. Even believers who have been redeemed still have the potential to fall into sin when faced with temptation. The purpose of this research is to discover and describe the pattern of human fall into sin and the efforts of believers in resisting temptation and fighting sin. This study employs a qualitative theological research method with text analysis. The findings reveal that the pattern of falling into sin begins with temptation, which enters through the five senses and is then processed by the human mind and heart. The response is subsequently expressed in thoughts, feelings, and actions. A sinful heart tends to lead a person toward sin, whereas a heart filled with God's Word is more likely to overcome trials and endure tests of faith. Therefore, believers must fill and guard their hearts with God's Word so that their hearts, minds, and will align with His will and are reflected in actions that glorify Him.

Predigtreiehe "Die sieben Todsünden", published by Johann Ev. Hafner, Evangelische Studierendengemeinde Potsdam, Sommersemester 2011, 2022

In economic theory, altruism is seen as a positive relationship between the individual members of society; on the other hand, envy can be understood as a negative form of relationship. While altruism increases the level of material well-being by immaterial components, envy leads to a clear reduction in the level of material well-being. If envy spreads in society, there is a risk of conflicts that can lead to civil warlike conditions and anarchy. The development of a social ethics that excludes envy as a basic pattern of behavior and can, for example, build on the values of Christian neighborly love, is therefore a priority. 1

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that addictive behaviours are not the result of moral failings but rather emerge from basic human needs going unmet during key developmental phases of life. Each of the seven deadly sins will be examined in direct relation to a specific level of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, revealing a psychological and behavioural pattern rooted in deprivation rather than inherent vice. This paper argues that the connection between unmet needs and the manifestation of sin-like behaviours is not merely theoretical-it is observable, evidence-based, and supported by both modern psychological research and real-world examples.

Envy and resentment weave a dark thread through the tapestry of Scripture, emerging as self-destructive emotions that poison the human spirit and wreak havoc on relationships, communities, and one’s standing with God. Often birthed by pride, these twin forces magnify when the self-exalted heart refuses to rejoice in another’s virtue or God’s favour, setting the stage for their deadly toll. As Proverbs 16:18 (NKJV) warns, "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall," a truth borne out in the bitter fruits of envy and resentment across God’s Word—seen even in Naaman, whose initial pride nearly barred him from healing until he humbled himself to God’s simple command (2 Kings 5:11-14). From the primal jealousy of Cain in Genesis to the calculated resentment of the Jewish leaders in the Gospels, the Bible portrays these twin forces as ‘deadly emotions’—not merely in their capacity to end physical life, but in their power to kill the soul, fracture peace, and defy God’s design. Yet, Scripture offers more than a diagnosis; it provides a divine response—a pathway out of the mire through gratitude, forgiveness, and the transformative love of God. A journey through key biblical narratives reveals the destructive nature of envy and resentment and the redemptive antidote that counters them.

2020

The concept of the seven deadly sins has been used in Catholic confessionalpractices through the usage of penitential manuals, but this concept has also been discussed by variousphilosophers such as Thomas Aquinas and Roger Bacon. Moreover, the concept was so popular thatpoets such as Dante Alighieri, Geoffrey Chaucer, John Gower and Christopher Marlowe, authors suchas William Langland and theologians such as John Wycliffe among others have also used this concept,whether to enrich their works or shed light on the concept from their own perspective. This papertracks the development of the concept from the “deserts of Egypt”, through Hellenistic theology, SoulJourney, the Gnostics, aerial demons and the ascetics to the works of Evagrius of Pontus and JohnCassian to the standardization of the concept by Pope Gregory the Great in the 6 th century

This book addresses the eclipse of shame in Christian theology by showing how shame emerges in Christian texts and practice in ways that can be neither assimilated into a discourses of guilt nor dissociated from embodiment. Stephanie N. Arel argues that the traditional focus on guilt obscures shame by perpetuating the image of the lonely sinner in guilt. Drawing on recent studies in affect and attachment theories to frame the theological analysis, the text examines the theological anthropological writings of Augustine and Reinhold Niebuhr, the interpretation of empathy by Edith Stein, and moments of touch in Christian praxis. Bringing the affective dynamics of shame to the forefront enables theologians and religious leaders to identify where shame emerges in language and human behavior. The text expands work in trauma theory, providing a multi-layered theological lens for engaging shame and accompanying suffering.

Early Theatre, 2004

Among the Henslowe-Alleyn papers at Dulwich College is a document long prized by theatre historians: the handwritten 'plot' of a play called The Second Part of the Seven Deadly Sins (Dulwich College MS XIX), apparently designed to be hung on a peg backstage at a playhouse. The text of this play does not survive, but it is usually thought to be identical with Richard Tarlton's 'famous play of the seauen Deadly sinnes', referred to in 1592 by Gabriel Harvey and Thomas Nashe. 1 The plot is extremely valuable for its scene-by-scene description of the play's action, which lists the characters and (most of) the players who played those characters in each scene. There are twenty players' names in all

Research Article, 2015

There is no doubt that Islam has a clear methodology about everything which is related to mankind and expressed it on easy way to understand it everyone, the subject of sin also discussed in Quran and hadith with detail from various aspects, Allah and his beloved prophet peace be upon him taught us the right and wrong way, and differentiated righteous from sins, and inform us from its effect on us here and hereafter, because it have very serious influence on our soul , due the committing sins the sinner affect physically and psychologically . And it's also clear that we are living in the era of depression, every 4th person in our society suffered from different psychological disease like depression, anxiety and sadness, in this paper I will present the concept of Islam about sins and its psychological effect on our life. Keywords: Righteous, sins, major, minor, darkness, depression

Roczniki Teologiczne

At the beginning of 2014, during his morning meditations, Pope Francis, when referring to a famous phrase by Pius XII, stated that losing the sense of sin is the evil of this civilisation, an evil that strengthens Christian mediocrity and is inversely proportional to directing attention towards – and constructing – the Kingdom of God among men. The categories of sense of sin and sense of guilt, at least in theory and without generalisations, become understandable in the context of the Christian experience and the ecclesial consciousness; yet, when the human horizon is extended, the two concepts do not find a right to citizenship because the question is not even raised. The children and creators of contemporary culture, the men and women of our time, although directed towards the Kingdom of God, are strongly influenced by the global and plural secularist mentality, and this has a negative impact on their attitudes, behaviour and expressions of their existence. The Church, both within...

My focus has been on examining the holistic nature of human sins of the variety that may be considered debts requiring Christians to seek forgiveness from God and others. By a holistic perspective I mean that the act of sin is inextricably linked within us to our spiritual core, thoughts, feelings and our biology and these internal modules are influenced by our past social context, including the people, settings, and time frames of our daily life. Sin does not occur in a vacuum nor can sin be analyzed by focusing on theological implications or biological correlations. An understanding of sin requires a holistic approach.

"Capital vices, or cardinal sins, have been discussed and debated since at least the 4th century, when Evagrius Ponticus, a Roman born monk who relished praise from his peers and married women, first wrote of the eight evil thoughts from which all sinful behavior was based. These evil thoughts - gluttony, fornication, avarice, sorry, anger, discouragement, vainglory, and pride - were later revised in the 6th century by Pope Gregory I to constitute the seven deadly sins: Luxuria (Lust), Gula (Gluttony), Avaritia (Greed), Acedia (Sloth), Ira (Wrath), Invidia (Envy), and Superbia (Pride). From the 14th century onwards, the deadly sins have been popularized by texts, including Dante Alaghieri’s 14th century masterpiece The Divine Comedy (Alagherii, 2010), and they have continued to be a prominent focus in contemporary art, music, television, film, comic books and, most recently, video games. The authors undertook the task of statistically representing the seven deadly sins at the county level wi- thin the Midwest region of the United States to determine what, if any, spatial coincidence occurred. Each of the seven deadly sins was given separate treatment based on sociological and economic characteristics and available data. Pride, the “greatest" and “root" of all sins, was determined to be the aggregation of each sin and represents the total sinfulness of a given county or region."

Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2011

Studies suggest that guilt feeling plays an important role in mental health. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship among two kinds of guilt feeling (pathological and non pathological), religious attitude and mental health. Participants were undergraduate students (N = 312), who were selected by available sampling and completed General Health Questionnaire (GHQ, 28), religious attitude questionnaire and researcher constructed guilt feeling Questionnaire. Our findings showed a negative significant correlation (P<0/001) between pathological guilt and mental health and a positive significant correlation (P<0/001) between non-pathological guilt and religious attitude.

International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, 2021

A number of Christian theologians and philosophers have been critical of overly moralizing approaches to the doctrine of sin, but nearly all Christian thinkers maintain that moral fault is necessary or sufficient for sin to obtain. Call this the “Moral Consensus.” I begin by clarifying the relevance of impurities to the biblical cataloguing of sins. I then present four extensional problems for the Moral Consensus on sin, based on the biblical catalogue of sins: (1) moral over-demandingness, (2) agential unfairness, (3) moral repugnance, and (4) moral atrocity. Next, I survey several partial solutions to these problems, suggested by the recent philosophical literature. Then I evaluate two largely unexplored solutions: (a) genuine sin dilemmas and (b) defeasible sinfulness. I argue that (a) creates more problems than it solves and that, while (b) is well-motivated and solves or eases each of the above problems, (b) leaves many biblical ordinances about sin morally misleading, creating (5) a pedagogical problem of evil. I conclude by arguing that (5) places hefty explanatory burdens on those who would appeal to (b) to resolve the four extensional problems discussed in this paper. So Christian thinkers may need to consider a more radical separation of sin and moral fault.