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In Defense of Sin »

Book cover image of In Defense of Sin by John Portmann

Authors: John Portmann (Editor), John Portmann
ISBN-13: 9781403961426, ISBN-10: 1403961425
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Date Published: March 2003
Edition: (Non-applicable)

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Author Biography: John Portmann

John Portmann is the author of When Bad Things Happen to Other People.He lives in Charlottesville, Virginia and his forthcoming book is Sex and Heaven.

Book Synopsis

Intriguing, and occasionally unsettling, In Defense of Sinis a refreshingly frank exploration of some real facts of life. Portmann gathers an on-target collection of great writers on transgressions large and small. Read about defenses for promiscuity, greed, deceit, gossip, lust, breaking the golden rule, and more—and use this unusual guide to decide for yourself if sin has a place in our contemporary, and virtually unshockable, society.

Provocative and illuminating, this book may change how you think about sin, morality, and what's right.

Contributors include Aaron Ben-Ze'ev, Anthony Ellis, Jane English, Ludwig Feuerbach, Sigmund Freud, Bernard Mandeville, Jerome Neu, Friedrich Nietzsche, David Novitz, Joyce Carol Oates, David A.J. Richards, Seneca, Jonathan Swift, Richard Wasserstrom, and Oscar Wilde.

Stanley Fish

...a book defending lust, gossip, deceit, and prostitution, and-a book that is finally more moral than The Book of Virtues.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Half-Life of Sin1
Ch. 1In Defense of Idolatry: from The Essence of Christianity13
Ch. 2In Defense of Blasphemy: from The Anti-Christ25
Ch. 3In Defense of Dismissing Mother and Father: What Do Grown Children Owe Their Parents?35
Ch. 4In Defense of Murder: A Modest Proposal45
Ch. 5In Defense of Adultery: Is Adultery Immoral?57
Ch. 6In Defense of Deceit: The Decay of Lying77
Ch. 7In Defense of Greed: "The Grumbling Hive" from The Fable of the Bees111
Ch. 8In Defense of Breaking the Golden Rule: from Civilization and Its Discontents129
Ch. 9In Defense of Refusing to Forgive: Forgiveness and Self-Respect139
Ch. 10In Defense of Pride, the Worst of the Seven Deadly Sins: Pride and identity163
Ch. 11In Defense of Gossip: The Vindication of Gossip197
Ch. 12In Defense of Lust: Chatting Is Not Cheating221
Ch. 13In Defense of Promiscuity: Casual Sex243
Ch. 14In Defense of Prostitution: from Commercial Sex and the Rights of the Person263
Ch. 15In Defense of Despair: Despair: The One Unforgivable Sin283
Ch. 16In Defense of Suicide: On the Proper Time to Slip the Cable291
Postscript300
About the Contributors301
Index305

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