![[Bad Catholic's Guides] The Bad Catholic's Guide to the Seven Deadly Sins: A Vital Look at Virtue and Vice, With Quizzes and Activities for Saintly Self-Improvement](https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-86nw1qhj/images/stencil/400x500/products/1922/2284/cover-750__97124.1517897775.jpg?c=2 "[Bad Catholic's Guides] The Bad Catholic's Guide to the Seven Deadly Sins: A Vital Look at Virtue and Vice, With Quizzes and Activities for Saintly Self-Improvement")
A moral compass for navigating the murky waters of life
Chock full of hilarious sketches of history’s greatest saints and sinners; cringe-inducing quiz questions to orient you on a spectrum from vice to virtue; and activities, adventures, and insights that highlight the joy, humor, and fun of the Catholic faith.
This Bad Catholic’s Guide examines the greatest threats to the virtuous life—the seven deadly sins. John Zmirak considers the allure of these sins and the power of the seven virtues that can overcome them.
Solidly grounded in doctrine and morality, this book offers profound insights drawn from Thomas Aquinas and other great teachers of the Church. Andy Warhol, Ayn Rand, and Mother Angelica are invoked as exemplars of the best and worst of human behavior, and a heady blend of serious theology and pointed satire—punctuated by trivia, charts, and vignettes—brings theology into sharp, hilarious relief, and painlessly nudges the reader toward a slightly more virtuous life.
Theology and self-help have never been as illuminating—or as fun.
| Format: | Paperback book |
|---|---|
| Product code: | IC525859 |
| Dimensions: | 6" x 9" |
| Length: | 320 pages |
| Publisher: |
Crossroad
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| ISBN: | 978-0-8245-2585-9 |
| 1-2 copies | $13.46 each |
|---|---|
| 3-5 copies | $12.71 each |
| 6+ copies | $11.96 each |
Praise
Reading this guide to the Seven Deadly Sins is the most fun you can have without actually committing them!
Wickedly funny and a sound guide to living a life that won’t end in misery but in joy. One of our best writers produces another classic.
You’re in for a treat: John Zmirak is one of the sharpest, funniest, and most gifted Catholic writers of our generation . . . this is a must-have book. He's at the absolute top of his game in discussing the Seven Deadly Sins.
John Zmirak is a theological Cyrano de Bergerac. In The Bad Catholic’s Guide to the Seven Deadly Sins he engages in wordplay like swordplay—sidestepping error and skewering fuddled thinking with razor edged logic and rapier-sharp repartee. Into his learned content he weaves wacky stories, wild illustrations and wonderful anecdotes. Zmirak writes with panache. He makes theology effervescent and vital, and moves you so much that he makes you think.
What does one say about a book by a polymath who is at the same time gloriously funny and massively serious? What we have here is a thoroughly orthodox and sane treatment of the Seven Deadly Sins by the Tom Wolfe of Catholic apologetics. He capers through the entirety of Catholic doctrine, hagiology, literature, history and contemporary culture in the course of making his case. The book is serious, weighty, and even encyclopedic—but never sententious, never turgid. 'Frolicksome' is a word that springs into one’s mind here. The reader will be instructed, blessed, and exhilarated.
If you believe that all moral instruction should be undertaken with a grim face, steer clear of this book. The sins he describes may be deadly, but Zmirak’s prose is lively. He rants and rambles, jokes and digresses, tells stories about himself—in short, entertains. Only gradually does the reader realize how many serious insights were packed in between the laughs.
This is the kind of apologetics Chesterton used—a blend of logic and ridicule, producing orthodoxy. A funny looking sort of baby, but undeniably effective.
What a great book. . . . As a non-Catholic I found it most educational and extremely funny. It is so refreshing, in this politically correct era!
Author
John Zmirak is an editor, college teacher, screenwriter, and political columnist. He is author of the popular Bad Catholic’s Guides, Wilhelm Röpke, and The Grand Inquisitor(graphic novel). He is a former editor at Investor’s Business Daily. His work has appeared in Aleteia.org, The Blaze, National Review, The Weekly Standard, First Things, The American Spectator, USA Today, Commonweal, The American Conservative, and The National Catholic Register; and he has contributed to The Encyclopedia of Catholic Social Thoughtand American Conservatism: An Encyclopedia. He has been a commentator on Fox News and the Christian Broadcasting Network. He edited a number of popular guides to higher education, and served as press secretary to Louisiana Governor Mike Foster.
