Seven was released in September 2008. Summary of chapters From the Back Cover Our world is charged with both the grandeur of God and the void of his absence. And only one will make us happy. --Peter Kreeft, professor of philosophy at Boston College, and author of over forty-five books, including Love is Stronger than Death and Back to Virtue. Reviews of the Book - Seven Publisher’s Weekly "The seven deadly sins and the New Testament’s seven beatitudes spoken by Jesus play against each other in this philosophy professor’s first book. Although both the beatitudes and the seven deadly sins are well-mined territory, the contribution of this book is the curious way they serve as foils for one another. They are “two realities, each vying for our affection.” Cook offers unique pairings throughout—envy and the mourner, gluttony and the persecuted, for example—as well as discussion that goes far beyond platitude and easy explanation. Greed isn’t about money, Cook says, but about “accumulation”; mercy, conversely, is “breathing out.” Lust is a substitute for real life, while purity is about freedom. Readers will find new ways to think about sin and its “summons into a dead life,” as well as the beatitudes and their invitation to life. Cook overwrites occasionally, making readers decipher his meaning, but overall he creates a unique comparison between living a life of hell and living a life of heaven. Study questions are provided. (Sept.)" http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6575550.html
Peter Kreeft "Of the many, many books about the Gospels, or about Jesus, or about Christian morality, only one in a thousand gives us a real breakthrough, a new `big picture'. Most are just nice little candles on the cake. Seven is a bonfire. It's not just good; it's striking. It doesn't just say all the things you've heard a thousand times before. And yet it's totally in sync with both the saints and the scholars."
RELEVANT Magazine Heather Georgoudiou Pride and the Poor in Spirit “When pride takes hold of a culture, everyone starves.” Although this sounds like bumper sticker theology, it rings true—especially when you look at the state of the country. Cook states, “The hell bound do not travel downward; they travel inward, cocooning themselves behind a mass of vanity, personal rights, religiosity and defensiveness.” In order to draw closer to God and others, pride must be executed and God can do this through a variety of drastic means, like pain and personal failure. Envy and the Mourner“Envy says, the life you have is worthless. Do whatever it takes to escape it.” Cook combines envy with mourning because envy constantly implies the life God has offered us is not good enough. Cook writes, “Sometimes it is our sin that separates us—not because we have wronged someone else, but because we are ashamed. Sometimes the biggest barrier between us and others is simply our self-image.” This comparison is especially impactful in an age of media—when we constantly receive images of ways to “perfect” ourselves from weight loss to teeth whitening. The connection between envy and mourning is even clearer when you consider societies highly competitive nature and how our self-image can quickly turn from envy to shame to mourning, ignoring God’s blessings.Sloth and Those Who Hunger for a Life Made RightCook defines sloth as “indifference … toward my soul, my neighbors, my world or my God.” Sloth has patience and does not burst into our lifestyles but “slides” into our lives, squashing our desire to engage actively in the world. Life’s petty matters are magnified, and we lose our sense of compassion for the global community. This chapter challenges us as a society not to lose sight of the immediate needs around you. Indifference extends beyond societal needs and can become a reflection of your relationship with God. Wrath and the Meek Peacemaker“Wrath plays on our inability to forgive, our inability to deal with injustice with intelligence.” Cook theorizes that, “wrath aimed at fellow human beings is always opposed to God’s activities.” Cook suggests that beyond aggression and pacifism lays a third way, the proactive approach that Jesus displayed to His aggressors. This chapter in many ways is harder to relate to, the “proactive” approach doesn’t seem fully satisfactory. We live in a country at war, and wrath is part of our everyday existence. We see the devastating results of wrath daily on newscasts and become numb. Granted, wrath and the peacemaker could be a book within itself, but this chapter deserves an expansion, especially on Cook’s theory of dealing with injustice with intelligence.
Scot McKnight "I've never been a fan of studies of the seven deadly sins. I did purchase the New York Public Library series since it had two of my favorite authors, Phyllis Tickle and Joseph Epstein. Recently I got a book in the mail and when I saw the title "Seven" I thought, "Here we go again." No, it is not here we go again. Jeff Cook, in Seven: The Deadly Sins and the Beatitudes , uniquely and eloquently combines the seven deadly sins with the [eight] beatitudes. What Seven does is combine something we need to repent from with something we need as a virtue. Instead of leaving a person feeling guilty, as so many of the studies of the seven deadlies do, this book stiff arms us a bit and then points us to the way of Jesus. http://blog.beliefnet.com/jesuscreed/2008/11/seven-plus-seven.html Tim Keel - "I am writing to let you know how much I am enjoying your book. I decided at the beginning of the year that I was going to preach through the seven deadly sins for the seven weeks of Lent. Right before I went away to a monastery for a time of preparation and study, I picked up a couple extra books last minute to add to my references. Yours is one of the books I picked up. It has been an incredibly valuable resource for me over the last couple of weeks ... I just wanted to let you know how good I think what you have done is, and how grateful I am to get to access your work and share it with others." - Byron Borger. Hearts and Minds Books.
"Introduction: Holes in a Good World" - The intro to Seven is lengthy and introduces both the deadly sins and the Beatitudes.
The author argues that sin is first and foremost a power at work in our world cutting holes in what was once solid. Its most lethal expressions in the human heart are: "Pride, the natural love for myself magnified and perverted into disdain for others; envy, the rejection of the good life God has given me for an obsession with what God gives to someone else; sloth, the indifference toward my neighbor, my soul, my world, or my God; greed, the desire to possess more than I need because of fear or idolatry; lust, handing control over my body and mind to illicit cravings; wrath, the love for justice perverted into bitterness, revenge, and violence; and gluttony, the excessive consumption that deprives another human being of a life-giving necessity."
The author argues that such sins distort our humanity and destroy what God created beautiful. Yet such sins appeal to our desires, and they are difficult to reject therefore, "When Jesus began to announce that heaven was engulfing our world, he had to do more than show this reality through miracles. He had to show that God's work was desirable." Jesus appealed to the desires and intuitions of his audience through a teaching he often gave called the Beatitudes.
"The Beatitudes are some of the sights we see when heaven and earth overlap and interlock. More than anything, they are Jesus' appeal to the brokenhearted and the arrogant, the virtuous and the self-assured to awaken, to turn their perspective right-side-up and not only see the world as God does, but desire it. At their core, the Beatitudes are Jesus' portrait of a dead world resurrected from the clutches of the seven deadly sins...The Beatitudes and deadly sins are two sets of invitations. Looking at them in turn, we see two paths available to us. Both call to deep places within us to come and taste. Both present themselves as life as it actually is. Both invite us to take up residence. But only one will make us happy, for one is life full and awake, the other is the absence, the nothingness. In the Beatitudes and the deadly sins we see heaven and hell and we hear the words they speak to us."
1. "Pride and the Poor in Spirit" - Cook writes, "Pride is the natural love for myself magnified and perverted into disdain for others. Augustine called pride the foundation of sin, for, "Pride made the soul desert God, to whom it should cling as the source of life, and to imagine itself instead as the source of its own life." In other words, the more I make my life, my well-being, my enlightenment, and my success primary, the further I step from reality. Thus, the hell-bound do not travel downward; they travel inward, cocooning themselves behind a mass of vanity, personal rights, and defensiveness." Conversely the poor in spirit know they are empty. Cook argues, "The poor in spirit are blessed because they alone know they need help--and any step toward help must be a step toward community. Jesus said to those who acknowledge their spiritual poverty that `theirs is the kingdom of heaven,' because here in heaven we thrive on codependency. Here in heaven we suffer and mend together. Here in heaven the language we speak assumes that you and I are one, that we need each other, that healing comes when we exhale all the toxic things within us by confessing them. Total exposure is not a requirement to enjoy heaven; total exposure is what enjoying heaven looks like."
2. "Envy and the Blessed Mourner" - The author argues that envy has "the deadly ability to distract our heart and mind from the daily bread God puts in our hands each morning, focusing us instead on the gifts, status, talents, and joys he gives to others. This is not only a rejection of the good that God has given to me; this is a desire to become someone I'm not, was never made to be, and will not enjoy becoming if my jealousy ever succeeds." Conversely, Jesus says that those who mourn expose the places they lack. Cook writes, "Those who envy and those who mourn are both in positions of want. They both desire a different kind of life with different details, but only one group finds happiness.'"
3. "Sloth and Those Who Hunger For a Life Made Right" - Cook argues that sloth is not about being lazy. Sloth is indifference. He cites Dante who called sloth "a failure to love God with all one's heart, all one's mind, and all one's soul." Where the slothful are controlled by apathy, those who "hunger for a life made right" push toward what matters despite their lack. Cook writes, "When Jesus said, `Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled,' he was not blessing people who were already filled with goodness ... Jesus was addressing those with wrecked moral lives. So wrecked in fact, that he associated their pain with starvation." It is these, writes Cook, who will experience heaven filling their world, for they are empty enough to receive it.
4. "Greed and the Mercy Giver" - "Greed" writes Cook, "is not gluttony, which indulges to the point of bursting. Greed in many ways could care less about enjoying its spoils. Greed pursues accumulation. It is the desire to possess more than I need, because of fear or idolatry. A fitting personification of greed is Ebenezer Scrooge, who sat alone at night with a single candle to light his cold bedroom. `Darkness is cheap,' wrote Charles Dickens, `and Scrooge liked it.' Where the greedy hoard, the merciful give even out of their want. Cook writes, "Giving mercy not only reaffirms the humanity of others; it reaffirms and invigorates our own humanity. Even in the most desperate places, those who give away what they have are the ones who in the end truly receive." The argument is that those who stockpile drown in their stuff, where the merciful breathe easily the only life worth having.
5. "Lust and the Pure of Heart" - Cook argues that God is not a substitute for sex, as Freud thought, but sex can be a substitute for God. Lust is self-absorbed and uses others for its own satisfaction. The pure in heart however honor the unique value of a person as a vessel (or potential vessel) of God's Spirit. They in fact see into others, see the hands at work, see the Spirit of God just as Jesus promised. Cook writes, "You and I have desires. We will never be rid of them. They are meant for our good and are only burdensome when we seek to fulfill them with things that cannot satisfy. Our desires can keep us pinned to shadows, or they can be redirected toward what is real. They can insist that we are mere animals, or they can awaken us to a new way of being human."
6. "Wrath and Meek Peacemakers" - Dante's description of wrath was "love of justice perverted to revenge and spite." As with the other deadly sins, Cook argues that wrath is essentially self-focused. It defends its own territory. It lashes out at the provocation of others, and causes only confusion and discord. Peacemakers, those who restrain their fists, know that there is no territory of their own, for "the earth is the Lord's and everything in it." Peacemakers honor their Father, and their Father gives to his children (even the meekest) the whole world. Cook writes, "What an incredible thing to hear! In Jesus' kingdom, the harmless and kind will gain what tyrants and the violent spent their entire lives seeking to possess. [When Jesus said blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth; blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God], he judged and called worthless all the world's power plays. He mocked such pursuits with matter-of-fact candor and said those marginalized and oppressed by the strong will inevitably possess all the plunder."
7. "Gluttony and the Persecuted" - The author argues that Gluttony's favorite word is "more." Food, drink, sex, hobbies, possessions: the glutton is an extremist. Those who are persecuted for Christ's sake, however, give even those things they need for the love of their King. Cook writes, "The question of gluttony and the persecuted is a question of marriage. To what am I united? What will I give everything for? The glutton's answer comes through addictive behaviors. Though we may say our first love is for God or a set of human beings, our actions tell the real story. The glutton sells her soul for another hit, another car, another round of trivial pleasures, a forbidden fruit. The persecuted, on the other hand, give even what she needs for the sake of a lover."
8. "The Story God Loves" - Like the intro, this chapter focuses heavily on resurrection. Cook argues that the beatitudes are an example of the work God is in fact doing in our world. He writes, "We taste the fruit of God's renewed world when the poor in spirit fill God's kingdom. We taste the fruit of God's new world when comfort comes to those who mourn, when the meek inherit the earth, when God's fullness enlivens those who hunger and thirst for a right soul. We taste the fruit of God's new world when mercy is poured out on the merciful, when the pure in heart see God, when the peacemakers are known universally as God's sons and daughters. We taste the fruit of God's new world when the persecuted take their place beside the prophets with gladness, knowing their suffering is not vanity but union with Christ. Among so many other details of God's future, the Beatitudes are heaven breaking into our desert world and filling it with the life of God's future."
Summing up the deadly sins he writes, "Jesus showed in his teachings and parables, those who serve pride will be left alone. Those who serve the fires of lust and wrath will burn up in their flames. Those who serve envy and sloth will experience a dark exile. Those who serve greed will lose their very lives. And those who serve gluttony will starve for the only life there is. In each case, the fruit of sin is spoken of by Jesus as fire and darkness, death and solitude. Those committed to the nothingness to the nothingness go."
The study ends with words that are printed on the back of the book, "The deadly sins and the Beatitudes are two realities, each vying for our affection. The Beatitudes reveal the tenor of heaven; the deadly sins are the methods of hell. Both call us to serve them, to eat their fruit, to enjoy, and believe. But only one draws us into reality. Only one promotes life. And only one will make us happy."
The seven deadly sins are the force causing that hole. They are at work in each of us. They decimate our relationships, our souls and our world. These deadly sins often seem pleasing and good for gaining what we desire, but they are thoroughly poisonous.
Conversely, the Beatitudes are Jesus' pictures of a restored creation. The Beatitudes introduced what Jesus said to his earliest followers about a life strong and fruitful. In fact, the Beatitudes give us a glimpse of a world empty of evil and filled to the edges with God's life.
Looking at the Beatitudes and the seven deadly sins in turn, we see two paths, two sets of invitations. Both call to deep places within us to come and taste. Both invite us to take up residence. Both present themselves as life as it actually is. But only one will draw us further into reality.
“Of the many, many books about the Gospels, or about Jesus, or about Christian morality, only one in a thousand gives us a real breakthrough, a new ‘big picture’. Most are just nice little candles on the cake. Seven is a bonfire. It’s not just good; it’s striking. It doesn’t just say all the things you’ve heard a thousand times before. And yet it’s totally in sync with both the saints and the scholars.”
Tuesday, 17 March 2009 09:03
The Sermon on the Mount stands as one of Jesus’ most famous speeches. The sermon in Matthew 5-7 starts the New Testament with powerful ideas about righteous living. Jesus began this sermon with the beatitudes—a code of ethics for Christian living that contradicts worldly values. Jeff Cook’s powerful new book, Seven: The Deadly Sins and the Beatitudes, compares the seven deadly sins with a challenging beatitude.
Cook, a philosophy teacher, gathers wisdom from such famous philosophers as Dante, Milton and Socrates to support biblical teachings. Cook also includes literary greats as well, quoting Dickens, Oscar Wilde and Stephen King to name a few. This scope of philosophical and literary giants creates an engaging and thought-provoking read. Inserting personal vignettes from his life, Cook’s writing is part memoir, part philosophy lesson and totally convicting. Cook challenges the reader to pursue “self-resurrection.” The book carries a conversational tone—it’s like having one of those soul talks with your best friend. By openly revealing his personal struggles, Cook effectively builds a trust with the reader. The text challenges us to examine deeply personal truths. Truths that are uncomfortable. Cook’s voice is not one of moral higher ground, but of genuine concern for healing from personal and painful dysfunctions. “Sin,” as defined by Cook is, “first and foremost a power.” Sin has an unconscious goal “to cut pieces out of the fabric of reality and call the incisions real life.” The real goal of sin, Cook theorizes, “is to summon us into a dead, dysfunctional life.” The seven deadly sins and the beatitudes become “two sets of invitations”: one invitation offers death and dysfunction, the other invitation offers healing and a new way to be human.
Greed and the Mercy GiverIn this chapter, Cook examines the idea that society creates bubbles in order to avoid people who are “weird and messy.” These bubbles may start at home, but they also extend into our automobiles and the extent we go to avoid “messy” people in general. Cook quotes Dante stating, “Greed is a misdirected love.” Greed equates to fear from a lack of faith. “In the teachings of Jesus,” Cook reminds us, “there is a moral imperative to both make all you can and to simply release it like a breath.”Lust and the Pure of HeartCook begins this chapter with a story of how an all-American nice guy became a sexual predator. Sins of the body start with unrepented and unconfessed sins of the heart. Cook writes, “It is certainly healthy to want sex … however, when our desire for sex takes over—when our appetites demand whatever they wish without commitment or care—our sexual longings step beyond their natural role.” Lust manipulates its way into nearly every form of advertising, of all the deadly sins, lust ensnares us daily. The journey of a sexual predator is a compelling introduction. Usually as a society, all we hear about are the horrendous consequences, not the painful decline.
Gluttony and the PersecutedIt’s easy to write off gluttony as only a problem for the obese. But Cook challenges that definition, and calls gluttony “what we unite ourselves to.” Gluttony, “divorces us from the life that God has made good … and demands over and above what is natural.” Cook asks us, “What is a healthy basic lifestyle?” Living in a highly evolved country, we don’t often consider basic lifestyle choices. A basic lifestyle for us is life without cable TV, but for many, basic living revolves around the necessities of food, water and shelter. Cook relates persecution to sacrificial actions for our beloved, or God. How often do we sacrifice for God?
The final chapter entitled “The story God loves” examines how God loves to renew the dead. The beatitudes remind us that God wishes us absolute joy. Cook explains that, because we hate and cherish the things that destroy us, “we cannot consistently be the kind of people we wish to be.” The beatitudes give us a visual of heaven and remind us that God is on our side.
Seven attempts to reveal sin as an alternate reality that leads to death. Through the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus offers us a “new way to be human.” Cook effectively combines philosophy with scriptural teachings and challenges the reader to find joy in the gifts of God, not the gifts of the world.
I recommend this book for church small groups, for college groups interested in exploring Christian morality, and to anyone who needs a good reminder of our moral calling. The prose is gentle and informed and accessible; the quotes very good; the stories exceptional."