THE ORIGINS OF THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS

Abstract

The concept of the seven deadly sins has been used in Catholic confessional
practices through the usage of penitential manuals, but this concept has also been discussed by various
philosophers such as Thomas Aquinas and Roger Bacon. Moreover, the concept was so popular that
poets such as Dante Alighieri, Geoffrey Chaucer, John Gower and Christopher Marlowe, authors such
as William Langland and theologians such as John Wycliffe among others have also used this concept,
whether to enrich their works or shed light on the concept from their own perspective. This paper
tracks the development of the concept from the “deserts of Egypt”, through Hellenistic theology, Soul
Journey, the Gnostics, aerial demons and the ascetics to the works of Evagrius of Pontus and John
Cassian to the standardization of the concept by Pope Gregory the Great in the 6 th century.