Envy – A Silent Sin

Envy Plucking the Wings of Fame

Beginning in December, I will be teaching a 12-week class on the sin of envy on Sunday mornings at Adams Blvd. Church of Christ.  The following is a class description, as well as a bibliography listing the source material.

Class Description

Envy is a sin that is often listed, but seldom confessed.  Many of us think our hearts are free of this sinister force and then are surprised when we find ourselves slow to share in rejoicing when a brother is honored. In this class, we will look at how envy operates in society at large and particularly within the Lord's church, where it impedes the progress of God's kingdom.  We will learn how to recognize envy and move past it to true biblical love for one another.

Bibliography

Books

Envy: The Enemy Within, by Bob Sorge.  (This is a brief study of envy, written for a Christian audience.)

Envy: A Theory of Social Behaviour, by Helmut Schoeck.

Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, by Kenneth E. Bailey.

Articles

"The Origins of Envy," by Max Borders, The American (Jan. 2012).

"Envy (Definition)," Wikipedia.

"Seven Deadly Sins," Wikipedia.

"Are People Willing to Pay to Reduce Others' Income?," by Daniel John Zizzo and Andrew Oswald (June 2001).

"They Clapped: Can Price-Gouging Laws Prohibit Scarcity?," by Michael Munger, Library of Economics and Liberty (Jan. 2007).

"The Envious Affluent," by James Taranto, The Wall Street Journal (Oct. 17, 2012).

"What Drives Views on Government Redistribution and Anti-Capitalism: Envy or a Desire for Social Dominance?," by James Lindgren, Northwestern University - School of Law (March 2011).

Envy Quotes

Lyrics

"How Sweet, How Heavenly, is the Sight," by Joseph Swain (1792).

Television

"Babies Help Unlock the Origins of Morality," CBS 60 Minutes, November 18, 2012.

Fiction

The following works of fiction all deal with the theme of envy.  It is unlikely that we will discuss them in class, but they all provide an enjoyable means of examining envy more in depth. 

Envy, by Yuri Olesha.  (A Russian novel originally published in 1927.)

Facial Justice, by L. P. Hartley.  (A satire set in the future, it was originally published in 1961.)

Billy Budd, by Herman Melville.

Paradise Lost, by John Milton.