Glittering Vices: A New Look at the Seven Deadly Sins and Their Remedies by Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 320 reconstruction and ecumenical reception of Thomas’s teaching on fides caritate formata. REINHARD HÜTTER Duke University Divinity School Durham, North Carolina Glittering Vices: A New Look at the Seven Deadly Sins and Their Remedies. By REBECCA KONYNDYK DEYOUNG. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Brazos, 2009. Pp. 208. $14.99 (paper) ISBN: 978-1-58743-232-3. Is the recovery of virtue theory in contemporary moral philosophy and theology complete? Has the academy reached the point where we can presume that we have reversed the condition lamented by MacIntyre, that we might now be able to engage in a coherent discourse about the moral life in terms of a shared understanding of the nature and place of virtue informed by the classical, and especially Aristotelian/Thomistic, moral tradition? This work by Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung, associate professor of philosophy at Calvin College, which examines the vices as a necessary companion to any theory of the virtues, should give rise to caution about any such heady claims. Responding to the ignorance of and incoherence in the understanding of vice found in contemporary accounts of the moral life, DeYoung recovers the tradition of teaching on the vices as an essential component of any adequate virtue theory, and provides an explanation of each of the seven capital vices that prompts the reader to a deeper examination of his or her own conscience. DeYoung’s introduction sets the stage for her project of recovery. She reviews recent popular depictions of the vices that populate the traditional list of seven, and in the process reveals some to be distortions that either trivialize the gravity of each vice or, worse yet, glamorize them as actual virtues. Having set forth the state of the question, laying out the mainstream views and subjecting them to powerful critique, DeYoung presents a concise and cogent account of virtue, to which the vices under examination will be contrary. This account is solidly Thomistic, incorporating the classicalaccount of the cardinal virtues as connected with the theological virtues, and Christ as the virtuous role model to be imitated by one seeking to grow and develop in virtue. DeYoung concludes with five good reasons for recovering an account of the vices in the first place, three of particular interest to Christians and two others of interest to all. For Christians, a knowledge of the tradition of teaching about the vices provides insight into the kinds of habits to which one must die in order to rise with Christ. Understanding the nature of the vices sheds brighter light on the truths of the Scriptures, and BOOK REVIEWS 321 deeper inspection of our sinfulness through the lens of the vices reveals previously unseen ways that we are entwined with the sins of the world. Even those without faith in Christ will find the tradition of teaching about the vices a useful tool for engaging and understanding our cultural institutions and its practices, relying as they often do on the distorted habits of human souls for their continuation and expansion. At the very least, familiarity with the seven deadly sins makes one culturally conversant with the themes and allusions in literature, music, and film that trade, honestly or not, in the currency of vice. The first chapter gives the lie to the subtitle of the book: its explanation of the vices does not strive to be new, and it isn’t really about the seven deadly sins. Far from being a failing, this is the strength of DeYoung’s work as an exercise of recovery in virtue theory. Its concise but effective summary of the traditional listing of the vices begins by contrasting the ancient, well-organized and wellattested tradition of teachings about the virtues, with roots in Greek, Roman and biblical sources, with the emergence of the corresponding list of vices in the writings of Evagrius and Cassian, each of whom aimed to address the practical needs of monks engaged in spiritual battle. The subsequent tradition considered the vices with greater refinement, with Gregory the Great separating off pride as the singular vice at the root of the seven others, and Thomas Aquinas examining the vices in a way that aimed at greater systematic coherence. Yet...