A professor at Oxford University, England is on a campaign to "rescue" lust and declare it to be a "life-affirming virtue" instead of a sin. Evidently, this is part of the Oxford University Press’ project to evaluate the "modern relevance of the seven deadly sins" which were first drawn up by Pope Gregory in the 6th Century. Of course, reclassifying lust will leave an opening in that list. As a replacement, I nominate Jimmy Buffett’s choice for number eight: pizza!
Ah the seven deadly sins… I’ve always remembered them using the Gilligan’s Island mnemonic:
I also used to tell people about the seven lively virtues which included faith, hope, chastity, alsmgiving, good spelling, and right turn on red,
And I’m a mass on every Sunday Catholic.
Maybe the professor’s been reading too many Andrew Greeley novels…
Sadly, lust needs no rehabilitation in our culture. I need only to turn on the television to be saturated in the stuff. If Blackburn really wanted to be avant-garde, he’d have tried making the case for chastity and monogamy….
Andrew Greeley was a professor of English at the University of Arizona when I attended. Never took a class from him and never saw much in his writing.
As to television, you shouldn’t worry about lust. Be concerned about the characters acting on it! :-)
Love the Gilligan’s Island reference!
Umm, actually Greeley taught Sociology, not English. Having read his writings in Theology, Sociology and fiction, I would say that he’s a decent sociologist and theologian, but as a novelist, if he weren’t a priest, no one would read his stuff. I remember reading White Smoke and thinking that almost every character in the book was Greeley.