| International Standard Book Number |
0385551681
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| International Standard Book Number |
9780385551687
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| Dewey Decimal Classification Number |
241.3
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| Personal Name |
Jones, P. V. (Peter V.), author.
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| Title Statement |
Self-help from the Middle Ages : what the seven deadly sins can teach us about living / Peter Jones.
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| Edition Statement |
First Doubleday hardcover edition.
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| Imprint |
©2026.
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| Imprint |
New York : Doubleday, 2026.
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| Physical Description |
360 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 25 cm.
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| Bibliography, Etc. Note |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 269-345) and index.
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| Formatted Contents Note |
The seven. Pride -- Envy -- Anger -- Sloth -- Avarice -- Gluttony -- Lust -- The seven, again -- Acknowledgments -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Picture credits -- Index.
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| Summary, Etc. |
Peter Jones was teaching medieval history at a university in Siberia when his third icy winter there plunged him into a dark place. Luckily, he knew something few of us know-- that for all its reputation for darkness and superstition, the Middle Ages were the golden age of self-help. So he set out on a journey to explore the wisdom of medieval scholars, saints, and mystics, looking for an alternative path through the challenges of modern life. Never in history has so much energy and talent gone into studying how the mind works as in the medieval centuries. Although today we think of the Seven Deadly Sins as a catalog of forbidden behavior, in the Middle Ages, at the height of their currency, they were a path to self-knowledge and self-forgiveness. Together, pride, envy, anger, sloth, greed, gluttony and lust were a psychological map that laid out seven basic patterns of thought, showing how our thinking can go astray and how we can find our way home. In Self-Help from the Middle Ages, Jones explores each sin, searching the hellscapes of Hieronymous Bosch and Giotto, the intimate confessions of Dante and Margery Kempe, and the personal struggles of Francis of Assisi and Catherine of Siena. Along the way he discovers a treasure trove of lost truths about temptation, frustration, addiction, compulsion, burnout, rage, fear, anxiety, and grief that still pulse with life. With beautiful illustrations drawn from medieval art and literature, his book is a gift to all who love history and anyone who has ever sought wisdom from the past.
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| Subject Added Entry - Topical Term |
Conduct of life.
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| Subject Added Entry - Topical Term |
Christian life.
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| Subject Added Entry - Topical Term |
Civilization, Medieval.
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| Subject Added Entry - Topical Term |
English literature Old English, ca. 450-1100 History and criticism.
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| Subject Added Entry - Topical Term |
ethics (philosophical concept)
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| Subject Added Entry - Topical Term |
Deadly sins.
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| Subject Added Entry - Topical Term |
Christian ethics History Middle Ages, 600-1500.
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| Index Term-Genre/Form |
Informational works.
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