A Review of Stenstrom and Curtis' Analysis of the Seven Deadly Sins

Religious Report

From the “Interdisciplinary Journal of Research Religion”, Dougla Stenstrom and Mathew Curtis explain the seven aspects that they would consider as the “mot deadly” sins. From the seven aspects, the article embarks on a research to support their thesis as well as relate the seven aspects of what many consider to religion. The seven aspects of questions are; Pride, Sloth/Lust/Gluttony, Envy, Greed/Wrath. The article rates these seven aspects in relation to people’s perception and religion as well.

The article focuses mainly on Christians, with a high literature background on what the study deals with. The article gives strong evidence f what people think of the seven aspects related to religion; however, more is emphasized in one religion. As much as the article can be said to be biased, the seven aspects can be linked to any religion so far since it rotates around issues that are considered uncouth in various religions as well.

The article applies quantitative research to determine the relationship between the seven aspects and religion. Despite the fact that many participants are Christian, still, the study relates the numbers to their perception as well as use unbiased means in selecting the members. Both males and females were used in the research, with a slightly higher number of males than females. The authors use demographic tables and standard deviation to come up with the ranks, focusing on what the 507 participants perceive. The article, also, entails qualitative research that explains and discusses the result and it relation to what perceive. Qualitative research explains why and how people would consider the seven aspects and rank them in from a more sinful to the least sinful. In terms of presentation, the article uses graphs, charts and pictures to explain the underlying concepts. Arguably, the article portrays a perfect display on how the seven aspects and religion relate.

However, in an opinion, the article can be said to be biased given that it focuses more on one religion, Christianity. The seven aspects considered in the article could as well be related to other religions and determine the ranking of the seven through the comparison of other religions as well. Also, less is considered when it comes to religious articles such as the Bible, Quran, Torah and other religious books. The literature review focuses on “other” books, which might be of less expectation whenever any religious aspect is put into consideration. In addition, it focuses on seven aspects whereas there are may more “sinful” aspects and elements in the world today, which varies from what an individual thinks and perceive of such “sins”. Nonetheless, the article manages o bring out what it intended for the initial stage, carries out extensive research to determine the ranking, which is eventually ranked as depending on various “types” of Christianity; Protestants and Catholics.

Conclusion

Notably, the article manages to explain religious concepts that it seeks to address. Its presentation and coverage enable the reader to understand the concepts put across. Its literature review as well as the methodology of study explains the concept well and has come up withj different rankings depending on age, status of marriage as well as “the church” that these people are associated with. With this in mind, the article can be said to have managed explaining its concept to the reader, as much as it can be improved in the future. Thus, I recommend the article for future use.