Medicine and the Seven Deadly Sins in Late Medieval Literature and Culture

This book considers how
scientists, theologians, priests, and poets approached the relationship of the
human body and ethics in the later Middle Ages. Is medicine merely a metaphor
for sin? Or can certain kinds of bodies physiologically dispose people to be
angry, sad, or greedy? If so, then is it their fault? Virginia Langum offers an
account of the medical imagery used to describe feelings and actions in
religious and literary contexts, referencing a variety of behavioral
discussions within medical contexts. The study draws upon medical and
theological writing for its philosophical basis, and upon more popular works of
religion, as well as poetry, to show how these themes were articulated,
explored, and questioned more widely in medieval culture.