Medicine and the Seven Deadly Sins in Late Medieval Literature and Culture [Hardcover]

This book considers howscientists, theologians, priests, and poets approached the relationship of thehuman body and ethics in the later Middle Ages. Is medicine merely a metaphorfor sin? Or can certain kinds of bodies physiologically dispose people to beangry, sad, or greedy? If so, then is it their fault? Virginia Langum offers anaccount of the medical imagery used to describe feelings and actions inreligious and literary contexts, referencing a variety of behavioraldiscussions within medical contexts. The study draws upon medical andtheological writing for its philosophical basis, and upon more popular works ofreligion, as well as poetry, to show how these themes were articulated,explored, and questioned more widely in medieval culture.

Tableof Contents

MEDICINE, SIN ANDLANGUAGE

Medicine asMetaphor

Medicine asMetonymy

Medicine asMaterial

Metaphor asMedicine

PRIDE

Metaphorical Pride

Metonymic Pride

Material Pride

ENVY

Metaphorical Envy

Metonymic Envy

Material Envy

Metaphorical Wrath

Metonymic Wrath

Material Wrath

AVARICE

MetaphoricalAvarice

Metonymic Avarice

Material Avarice

SLOTH

Metaphorical Sloth

Metonymic Sloth

Material Sloth

GLUTTONY

MetaphoricalGluttony

Metonymic Gluttony

Material Gluttony

LECHERY

MetaphoricalLechery

Metonymic Lechery

Material Lechery

CONCLUSION

NOTES