What is "seven deadly sins"

n. The cardinal sins enumerated by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas%20Aquinas in the 13th century - pride/vanity, envy, gluttony, greed/avarice, lust, sloth, wrath/anger.

The seven deadly sins, also known as the capital vices or cardinal sins, is a grouping and classification of vices of Christian origin. Behaviors or habits are classified under this category if they directly give birth to other immoralities, According to the standard list, they are hubris, greed, lust, malicious envy, gluttony, inordinate anger, and sloth, which are also contrary to the seven virtues. These sins are often thought to be abuses or excessive versions of one's natural faculties or passions (for example, gluttony abuses one's desire to eat).

This classification originated with the desert fathers, especially Evagrius Ponticus, who identified seven or eight evil thoughts or spirits that one needed to overcome. Evagrius' pupil John Cassian, with his book The Institutes, brought the classification to Europe, where it became fundamental to Catholic confessional practices as evident in penitential manuals, sermons like " The Parson's Tale" from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, and artworks like Dante's Purgatory (where the penitents of Mount Purgatory are depicted as being grouped and penanced according to the worst capital sin they committed). The Church used the doctrine of the deadly sins in order to help people stop their inclination towards evil before dire consequences and misdeeds occur; the leader-teachers especially focused on hubris (which is thought to be the one that severs the soul from Grace, and one that is representative and the very essence of all evil) and greed, both of which are seen as inherently sinful and as underlying all other sins (although greed, when viewed just by itself and discounting all the sins it might lead to, is generally thought be less serious than sloth). To inspire people to focus on the seven deadly sins, the vices are discussed in treatises, and depicted in paintings and sculpture decorations on churches. Peter Brueghel the Elder's prints of the Seven Deadly Sins and extremely numerous other works, both non-religious and religious, show the continuity of this practice in the culture and everyday life of the modern era.

The seven deadly sins is a classification of vices used in Christian teachings.

Seven deadly sins may also refer to:

Seven Deadly Sins is a 7-part anthology series examining the dark side of human nature in seven episodes: 'Lust', 'Pride', 'Wrath', 'Sloth', 'Greed', 'Envy' and 'Gluttony'.

Seven Deadly Sins was pitched to Penny Chapman, then head of drama at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, by script editor Barbara Masel. Her idea was to create a series of stories that would 'let the moral compass spin'. Masel was also interested in encouraging the audience to identify with behaviour they would not normally condone and 'that all of the characters in each of the episodes should manifest the sin'. With Chapman on board and Bob Weis appointed as series producer, Masel then set about finding writers. When both outlines and drafts were completed, the directors were brought on board. P.J. Hogan ('Sloth') and Alison Maclean ('Greed') were selected as directors before their international careers had taken off, while Gale Edwards ('Pride') had until then had only ever directed for the theatre. The series was broadcast at 9.30pm because of the language used. In fact, the series rated well, pulling the biggest audience ever at the time for an ABC drama program in that time slot.