The Seven Deadly Sins in the Pre-Reformation Morality Plays
Abstract
In the centuries preceding the Reformation when religion entered intimately into the lives of people, and the spirit of atholicism profoundly affected their way of living, moralists were naturally concerned with making clear the nature and consequences of sin. They regarded every kind of sin as deadly, but for the sake of concreteness it gradually became conventional to make use of a classification which listed seven, sometimes eight, sources of all sin. Original lists contained eight capital sins, the eighth being sadness. From all accounts, Saint Gregory the Great was the first to list seven. He put sadness and sloth together under the heading of sadness.
Subject Area
Theater|Spirituality|Theater History|Religion
Recommended Citation
Coleman, Anne Gertrude, "The Seven Deadly Sins in the Pre-Reformation Morality Plays" (1944). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI28443087.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI28443087
