No Stupid Questions Podcast Examines The Seven Deadly Sins

 The Seven Deadly Sins has a lengthy history steeped in Catholic Church tradition that has bled into secular culture.

 In the fourth century, a Christian monk named Evagrius Ponticus wrote down what’s known as the “eight evil thoughts”: gluttony, lust, avarice, anger, sloth, sadness, vainglory and pride. 

 In the late 6th century, Pope Gregory the Great reduced the list to seven items, folding vainglory into pride, acedia into sadness, and adding envy. His ranking of the Sins' seriousness was based on the degree from which they offended against love. It was, from most serious to least: pride, envy, anger, sadness, avarice, gluttony, and lust. 

Later theologians, including St. Thomas Aquinas, would contradict the notion that the seriousness of the sins could be ranked in this way. The term "covetousness" has historically been used interchangeably with "avarice" in accounts of the Deadly Sins. In the seventeenth century, the Church replaced the vague sin of "sadness" with sloth.

 Fast forward to the 13th century, when theologian Thomas Aquinas again revisited the list in Summa Theologica (“Summary of Theology”). In his list, he brought back “sloth” and eliminated “sadness.” Like Gregory, Aquinas described “pride” as the overarching ruler of the seven sins. The Catechism of the Catholic Church’s current capital sins are basically the same as Aquinas’, except that “pride” replaces “vainglory.”

 The seven deadly sins were a popular motif in medieval art and literature, and this likely helped them persist as a concept through the centuries, eventually entering film and television. The movies Se7en (1995) and Shazam (2019) both deal with the seven deadly sins. Even on Gilligan’s Island, the sitcom that aired from 1964-1967, each character was supposed to represent a different deadly sin, according to the show’s creator (Gilligan was “sloth”).

So it's no surprise that earlier this month, No Stupid Questions on the Freakonomics Radio Network launched a new podcast series on the Seven Deadly Sins. The first four episodes are already out, in which co-hosts Angela Duckworth (Grit) and Stephen Dubner (Freakonomics) explore questions about Wrath ("Why Do We Get Angry?"), Lust ("Why is Everyone Having Less Sex?"), Gluttony ("Are We All Addicted to Ultra-Processed Foods?"), and Sloth ("Is Sloth a Sin or a Virtue?")

• Episode 1: Is Sloth a Sin or a Virtue?

How can we distinguish between laziness and patience? Why do people do crossword puzzles? And how is Angie like a combination of a quantum computer and a Sherman tank?

• Episode 2: Are We All Addicted to Ultra-Processed Foods?

Is your favorite treat changing your brain? Why do so many snacks melt in your mouth? And why can’t Stephen replicate his favorite salad dressing?

• Episode 3: Why is Everyone Having Less Sex?

Are we too busy watching Friends? Is porn driving us apart? And why did New Yorkers stop vacationing in the Catskills?

• Episode 4: Why Do We Get Angry?

What’s the difference between anger and indignation? What’s Angela’s problem with turkey sandwiches? And why wasn’t a No Stupid Questions listener angry at the men who assaulted him?

The remaining three sins, if you can't name all seven off the top of your head, are Envy, Greed, and Pride. And the grand finale, in a two part episode airing on April 23 & 30, will unveil a new, eighth "deadly sin" as selected by NSQ listeners.

No Stupid Questions episodes come out every Sunday night at freakonomics.com and on all podcast platforms. 

Check out the podcast and evaluate which of the Seven Deadly Sins you commit most often. Or which of your family or friends have committed these sins regularly and most egregiously? 

It's Karen, your sister-in-law, isn't it? Or is it Justin, your twenty-something nephew who lives in his parent's basement, is unemployed, and has joined a white supremacist group?