The Seven Deadly Sins: Jewish, Christian, and Classical Reflections on Human Psychology

Although our anger doesn't make most of us murderers, our lust doesn't make most of us rapists, and our greed and envy don't make most of us outright criminals, they, together with gluttony, arrogance, and sloth, often make us, and those who have to live with us, miserable. One need only read the daily paper to see that these seven sins are alive and well, deadlier than ever, spawning violence and suffering, illness and anxiety, loss of meaning and depression. An arrogant yuppie considers suicide after losing his job on Wall Street, which had been the fragile basis of his false pride. A distinguished senator and a prominent judge destroy their careers and wound their female victims with their lust. Millions of men and women, distraught about their body image, subject themselves to liposuction, breast and hair implants because of their gluttony or vanity. People at the pinnacle of economic power fall into the abyss of prison because they could not control their avarice.

In The Seven Deadly Sins, Solomon Schimmel explains why psychology must incorporate many of the ethical and spiritual values of religion and moral philosophy if it is to effectively address the emotional problems faced by modern men and women, be they believers or agnostics. Drawing on the psychological insights of the Bible, Aristotle, Maimonides, Aquinas, and Shakespeare, among others, he shows how all of us can learn from them about the relationship between virtue and psychological well-being and vice and emotional distress. This insightful and fascinating work guides us to master our passions rather than be enslaved by them so that we can become more humane and build a happier, caring society.

Onto Schimmel's seventh and final sin: Sloth. Here is the book's most troubling and troublesome chapter. Sloth here is only minimally what we usually associate with the word: laziness, laying-about, being a couch-potato. Far more important is Schimmel's attachment of Sloth to what we might call "existential despair." Sloth is not only physical, but intellectual. If we lay back, hide, retreat, take cover because life is just too overwhelming, then we are guilty of Sloth. It seems to me that Schimmel is here (and only here) a bit cruel to those of us who may have biochemical imbalances and severe mood swings. But this chapter seems to urge us to carry on even if we are clinically depressed and intellectually despairing. It is odd how Schimmel, elsewhere in this book so adept at linking the ancient wisdom to the modern, can go on about Job (194-95) but never mention someone like Samuel Beckett.

Here's an activity for a serious dinner-party or an intelligent classroom: compare the sequence of the seven sins in this book's chapters with the progression of the seven in the late 1990s movie SEVEN (with Brad Pitt as Bad Cop, Morgan Freeman as Good Cop, Kevin Spacey as psychopath villain).


this book was a wonderful documentry of the sins   January 11, 1999
 8 out of 21 found this review helpful

I have read many such books and I find this one to be the most informitive and well-written


beautiful eye-opener in radiant truth   September 18, 1998
 12 out of 15 found this review helpful

Anyone who wonders what he or she is about today will find great directives in this book. It is so full of old cultures and tradition, the genuine feel of which we seem to lack to-day in our hasteful, almost superficial world. From viewpoints of ancient times comes a timeless voice, rich in human experience and wisdom. It is the great accomplishment that ancient knowledge has been made accessible in a modern, somewhat therapeutic way. The book is clear, honest and compassionate, and renders a good insight in what sin is precisely, and our human ability to make good and beautify our souls and existence. To everyone withdrawing once in a while to be with themselves: read this book!


Fantastic book for those who study their character.   January 1, 1998
 22 out of 23 found this review helpful

Schimmel defines the sin and then describes the results of this defect of character. Examining each sin from a classic Greek, Jewish and Christian perspective Schimmel then recommends secular pschological remedies. This, I feel, is the books only failing. I must say I loved the book and everyone I have loaned my copy to has loved it also. I treasure my copy and have gained insight into my character by studying it's every word.