Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
The most insidious and least obvious of offenses is addressed in a specifically religious context in this latest entry to Oxford's Seven Deadly Sins series. After a brief survey of the status of greed in non-Western religions, the meat of this essay from former PW religion editor Tickle is devoted to a sequence of (mostly visual) representations of greed that track the shift from what she terms the physical imagination of pre-Reformation Christianity to the modern "intellectual imagination" of religious thought. There is an inspired essay lurking in these pages, about how the transformation of greed from a specific offense against godliness to a brutal but amoral force of society is a potent indicator of how the essence of religion has changed in the modern era. Compelling, too, is Tickle's intuition that in our own epoch the transformation of greed into a kind of mass hysteria heralds a similarly huge shift. Her readings of very apt images by Bosch, Brueghel the Elder and the modern Italian painter Donizetti can get obscured by asides and qualifications (particularly on the evolution of religious sensibility in the West), however, and Erich von Stroheim's great film doesn't get the discussion it deserves. But Tickle's thoughtfulness and scholarship will make readers avaricious and leave them wanting more. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Third and fourth in a series published jointly by Oxford University and the New York Public Library, these two titles continue to show the series' excellence and promise the same for pride, anger, and sloth. In Greed, Tickle gives the reader such an apt "big picture" glimpse into our world and its history that her words could serve as the perfect introduction for the entire series. She then persuasively argues that greed is the ultimate source of all the sins, because the root of greed is desire spun out of control. With quotes from such sources as Prudentius' Psychomachia and St. Paul, Tickle's witty wordsmithing, accompanied by artworks by Bosch and Breughel, is reminiscent of her insightful appearances on PBS's Religion & Ethics News Weekly, the Hallmark Channel, and National Public Radio. One of the most eminent living philosophers, Blackburn (philosophy, Cambridge; The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy) amuses us with his provocative defense of lust. He reminds us that lust is not only the trashy cousin of love but also life-affirming, invigorating, and fun-and that none of us would be here without it. While Blackburn attempts to drag reasonable lust from the category of sin to virtue, he recounts its excesses as viewed by Christianity, Freud, Kinsey, and modern "evolutionary psychology." Sixteen colorful illustrations (mostly famous works of art) vividly accompany the text and remind the reader of lust's long history. While religious conservatives could regard Blackburn's Lust as outrageous, it thoughtfully balances other books in the series. However, more than any other title so far, it is apt to be debated in many venues. Both titles are highly recommended, especially for public libraries.-Gary P. Gillum, Brigham Young Univ., Provo, UT (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Review by Library Journal Review
