1st Edition

Sin: Essays on the Moral Tradition in the Western Middle Ages

By Richard Newhauser Copyright 2007
304 Pages
by Routledge

304 Pages
by Routledge

304 Pages
by Routledge

Richard Newhauser examines here aspects of the moral tradition of medieval thought, specifically the construction of the seven deadly sins, their offspring, and related schematizations of immorality in the Latin West. The emphasis in these studies is on the malleability of moral categories, their relationship to changes in medieval culture, and the creativity and sensitivity of the thinkers who... Read more
Contents: Introduction. Part 1 Contexts: On ambiguity in moral theology: when the vices masquerade as virtues; The treatise on vices and virtues as a medieval genre and its structural foundations in the Classical tradition; Alle sunde hant vnterschidunge: Der Tugend- und Lastertraktat als literarische Gattung im Mittelalter; The Parson's Tale and its generic affiliations; From treatise to sermon: Johannes Herolt on the novem peccata aliena; A la redécouverte de Willem Jordaens. Part 2 Avarice: The love of money as deadly sin and deadly disease; Towards modus in habendo: transformations in the idea of avarice.The early penitentials through the Carolingian reforms; Avarice and the Apocalypse; Avaritia und Paupertas: zur Stellung der frühen Franziskaner in der Geschichte der Habsucht; The meaning of Gawain's greed; Patristic Poggio? The evidence of Györ, Egyházmegyei Könyvtár MS. I.4. Part 3 Curiosity: Towards a history of human curiosity: a prolegomenon to its medieval phase; Augustinian vitium curiositatis and its reception; The sin of curiosity and the Cistercians. Addenda and corrigenda; Index.

Biography

Richard Newhauser is Professor of English and Medieval Studies at Trinity University, Texas, USA.