Dangerous Passions, Deadly Sins

Dennis Okholm

Description

This volume unpacks the psychological insights found in the writings of three early monks--Evagrius Ponticus (fourth century), John Cassian (fifth century), and Gregory the Great (sixth century)--to help us appreciate the relevance of these monastic writers and apply their wisdom to our own spiritual and psychological well-being. The book addresses each of the seven deadly sins, offering practical guidance from the early monastic tradition for overcoming these dangerous passions.As Dennis Okholm introduces key monastic figures, literature, and thought of the early church, he relates early Christian writings to modern studies in psychology. He shows how ancient monks often anticipated the insights of contemporary psychology and sociology, exploring, for example, how their discussions of gluttony compare with current discussions regarding eating disorders. This book will appeal to readers interested in spirituality, early monastic resources, and ancient wisdom for human flourishing, as well as students of spirituality and spiritual formation.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie

Informations

• Publié par: Baker Publishing Group
• Date de parution: 15 juillet 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781441246462
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

© 2014 by Dennis Okholm
Published by Brazos Press
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www . brazospress .com
Ebook edition created 2014
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
ISBN 978-1-4412-4646-2
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Dedicated to Robert C. Roberts whose invitation to friendship I am reminded of every time I read Wallace Stegner’s Crossing to Safety and whose invitation to a scholarly community began my study of the deadly sins I commit
Contents
Cover i
Title Page iii
Copyright Page iv
Dedication v
Acknowledgments ix
1. Getting Oriented 1
2. Gluttony 11
3. Lust 37
4. Greed 61
5. Anger 93
6. Envy 117
7. Sloth 135
8. Vainglory 157
Addendum 181
Notes 185
Index 223
Back Cover 231
Acknowledgments
I began this investigation years ago at the invitation of Robert Roberts to join a think tank that provided me the opportunity to examine ancient wisdom about gluttony. That was followed by a generous grant from the PEW Evangelical Scholars Program which supported further research beyond the first sin on the list. Sabbaticals provided by Wheaton College and Azusa Pacific University added leave time to do more work on this project.
I am also thankful that several churches responded positively to presentations of what these ancients taught on these topics. Among others, this includes First Presbyterian of Glen Ellyn (IL), St. Barnabas Episcopal Church (Glen Ellyn, IL), St. Andrews Presbyterian (Newport Beach, CA), and Community Presbyterian Church (Palm Desert, CA). Students in classes at Wheaton College and Azusa Pacific University also listened to, read, and provided feedback on this material, many times with questions and insights that added clarity.
There are individuals who have helped in one way or another with the research, including Morse Tan, Joseph Tsang, Chris Waks, Cory Anderson, and, though it was only a short meeting in his office and over lunch at St. John’s Abbey and University, Columba Stewart. (Though he would probably not remember our meeting, his generosity and insights into Cassian provided me with a compass and course correction that were crucial to this project.) Most significantly, my wife, Trevecca, whose practice of hypomon ē (see chapter 7) through forty years of marriage would make St. Benedict smile, has not only put up in monastic silence with my hours at the desk, but has been an invaluable sounding board so that what is written is more clear and relevant. (Because it is characteristic of her, she is also the virtuous example I used in chapter five.)
Chapters 2 and 6 contain material that previously appeared in the American Benedictine Review as “Gluttony: Thought for Food” 49, no. 1 (March 1998), and “Envy: The Silent Killer” 59, no. 2 (June 2008). Chapter 2 also contains material that previously appeared in “Being Stuffed and Being Fulfilled,” in Limning the Psyche , edited by Robert C. Roberts and Mark R. Talbot (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997). Adapted by permission of the publisher; all rights reserved.
Chapter 5 is adapted from “To Vent or Not to Vent? What Contemporary Psychology Can Learn from Ascetic Theology about Anger,” originally published in Care for the Soul , edited by Mark R. McMinn and Timothy R. Phillips. Copyright 2001 by Mark R. McMinn and the estate of Timothy R. Phillips. Used by permission of InterVarsity Press, PO Box 1400, Downers Grove, IL 60515. www.ivpress.com.
One always has to say that, despite the people who responded to my talks, provided feedback on previously published material, or helped with the research and writing, the deficiencies and any errors are my responsibility. One always has to say that . . . because, unfortunately, it’s true.
1 Getting Oriented
The Psychology of Monks

The greatest difference between classical and modern psychology probably lies in the former’s heavy emphasis on free will.
Gabriel Bunge, Despondency
In the 1995 movie Seven , after killing six people who represent the first six of seven deadly sins, “John Doe” delivers a speech explaining his actions to the two detectives who have captured him. After recounting the sin of each person he has murdered, he spills out his rationale: “We see a deadly sin on every street corner, in every home, and we tolerate it. We tolerate it because it’s common, it’s trivial. We tolerate it morning, noon, and night. Well, not anymore. I’m setting the example. What I’ve done is going to be puzzled over and studied and followed . . . forever.” 1
I was stunned by this speech when I first heard it because the shocking murders that the movie portrayed (a movie not for the squeamish) turned out not to be gratuitous Hollywood fare, but graphic illustrations of the point captured in these lines. We do tolerate the deadly sins, not just because they are common, but, in some cases, because they have become virtuous: we celebrate the consumption of five dozen hot dogs in ten minutes in an annual July 4th contest; we dispense coffee from a self-serve urn on which hangs a sign declaring that the vendors “proudly” serve this brand; we pitch food products in commercials that show women erotically engaged with sandwiches or soft drinks; we accumulate so much “stuff” that we have to store the extra in rented storage units that are as large as the average American home of the 1950s.
So what really are these “common” sins? Who “invented” them? What have they got to do with our lives today beyond the fact that we tolerate them?
The story begins with a desert monk named Evagrius of Pontus (c. 345–99). He came up with a list of eight evil thoughts ( logismoi )—generic thoughts that are common to all humans and which Evagrius occasionally reduced to three fundamental thoughts—gluttony, avarice, and vainglory. 2 The others on the list are lust, anger, sadness ( tristitia ), despondency ( acedia ), and pride. These thoughts are not sins to begin with, but can be turned into passions and then into sins by the freely willed consent of the one who entertains them—“freely willed,” that is, when “demons” use these thoughts as allies that end up distorting human nature as God created it. (Actually, Evagrius sometimes used “demons” and “thoughts” almost interchangeably.) The common root in all of these thoughts gone awry is self-love, a point to keep in mind when we discuss the goal of these ancient monks.
In John Cassian (c. 360–435) this list became the eight principal faults. 3 Cassian stood as the link between the Eastern theologian Evagrius and Western Benedictine monasticism. (At the end of The Rule of St. Benedict , Benedict advises his monks to go deeper by reading Cassian and Basil the Great.) For our purposes this is significant especially because the third key figure in our investigation of the psychology of these early monks is a Benedictine who became the first great pope—Gregory I (540–604). He modified Cassian’s list and enumerated the “seven principal vices” by placing pride in a category by itself as the root of all sins, adding envy, and merging spiritual lethargy ( acedia ) with sadness ( tristitia ). These became our present-day list of the “seven deadly sins.” 4
Calling all of these deadly sins is not entirely accurate. As Thomas Aquinas makes clear in the Summa Theologica , 5 Gregory’s seven are capital or chief or cardinal sins, but they are not necessarily always mortal sins. That is, each is a cardinal sin in part because it is the parent of “daughter” sins (not that “sons” are any better, but that is the language that Gregory used). For instance, Gregory teaches that gluttony breeds foolish mirth, scurrility, uncleanness, babbling, and dullness of mind with reference to the understanding; anger propagates an army consisting of strifes, swelling of mind, insults, clamor, indignation, and blasphemies. 6 But whether each cardinal sin is mortal or venial depends on the degree to which it is opposed to the love and grace of God.
The order in which these thoughts are discussed reflects the fact that the eight were viewed as interconnected. 7 For example, Cassian groups the vices in pairs; the deadly thoughts form alliances against us. 8 Anger is often the bedfellow of envy. It is frequently aroused by frustrated greed and lust. These connections observed between the vices and sins in everyday life is the genius of ascetic theologians like Evagrius, whom one translator calls “the anatomist of the passions of the psyche both in their manifestations in behavior and in their intrapsychic activity.” 9 Evagrius called for careful observation, description, and analysis of the precise nature of our thoughts in order for this knowledge to work to our advantage as we struggle with or against these thoughts, or even the memories of them.
The first two, gluttony and lust, involve the body and the soul; they are the carnal sins. They are the first to be conquered, and, along with avarice, they belong to the concupiscible ( epithumikon ) part of our existence. Anger is the first on the irascible ( thumikon ) list, which also includes dejection and acedia . Finally, vainglory and pride belong to the third category of principal thoughts—the rational ( logikon ). This arrangement helps to understand why Evagrius could sometimes reduce the eight to the three in the front lines of each grouping—namely, gluttony, anger, and vainglory.
Which ones wer