On Our Best Behavior - The Seven Deadly Sins And The Price Women Pay To Be Good

By: Elise Loehnen

Description:

An instant New York Times bestseller, On Our Best Behavior is a groundbreaking exploration of the Seven Deadly Sins - ancient ideas of morality that still control and distort women’s lives today - revealing how trust in our natural instincts can return us to a more balanced, peaceful, and spiritually complete way to live.

Since being codified by the Christian church in the fourth century, the Seven Deadly Sins—pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and sloth—have exerted insidious power. Even today, in our largely secular, patriarchal society, they continue to circumscribe women’s behavior. For example, seeing sloth as sinful leads women to deny themselves rest; a fear of gluttony drives them to ignore their appetites; and an aversion to greed prevents them from negotiating for themselves and contributes to the 55 percent gender wealth gap.

In On Our Best Behavior, Loehnen reveals how we’ve been programmed to obey the rules represented by these sins and how doing so qualifies us as “good.” This probing analysis of contemporary culture and thoroughly researched history explains how women have internalized the patriarchy, and how they unwittingly reinforce it. By sharing her own story and the spiritual wisdom of other traditions, Loehnen shows how we can break free and discover the integrity and wholeness we seek.