From The Eight Capital Vices To The Seven Deadly Sins -  The Shift To The Seven Sins episode artwork

EPISODE · Jan 28, 2026 · 13 MIN

From The Eight Capital Vices To The Seven Deadly Sins - The Shift To The Seven Sins

from Sadler's Lectures · host Lectures on classic and contemporary philosophical texts and thinkers by Gregory B. Sadler

In this invited lecture at Marist College, hosted by the Catholic Studies Program as part of their Marcelin Lecture Series, I narrate some of the key points and developments in the story of how we ended up with the current list of the Seven Deadly Sins, which are: Gluttony, Lust, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, and Pride. Originally, these start out as the Eight Capital Vices, a list which includes sadness, acedia, and vainglory, and which does not include envy. So, how did we end up with the list we know today? The story involves Christian monks in the Egyptian desert, Benedictine monks, a reluctant pope, poets, scholastic professors, confessors, and mystics, and ranges over a millennium of thinkers and texts. In the process, I discuss some of the key players: Evagrius Ponticus, John Cassian, Gregory I, Alcuin, Peter Lombard, Thomas Aquinas, and Dante Alighieri This portion of the talk discusses how the eight capital vices get transformed into the schema of the seven deadly sins. A key person in that transformation is the Benedictine monk and pope Gregory I, who makes pride into the root of the seven deadly sins To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon site - www.patreon.com/sadler If you'd like to make a direct contribution, you can do so here - www.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler

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