Of the seven deadly sins, pride is the only one with a virtuous side. It is certainly a good thing to have pride in one's country, in one's community, in oneself. But when taken too far, as Michael Eric Dyson shows in Pride, these virtues become deadly sins.
Dyson, named by Ebony magazine as one of the 100 most influential African Americans, here looks at the many dimensions of pride. Ranging from Augustine and Aquinas, MacIntyre and Hauerwas, to Niebuhr and King, Dyson offers a thoughtful, multifaceted look at this "virtuous vice." He probes the philosophical and theological roots of pride in examining its transformation in Western culture. Dyson discusses how black pride keeps blacks from being degraded and excluded by white pride, which can be invisible, unspoken, but nonetheless very powerful. Dyson also offers a moving glimpse into the teachers and books that shaped his personal pride and vocation. Dyson also looks at less savory aspects of national pride. Since 9/11, he notes, we have had to close ranks. But the collective embrace of all things American, to the exclusion of anything else, has taken the place of a much richer, much more enduring, much more profound version of love of country. This unchecked pride asserts the supremacy of America above all others--elevating our national beliefs above any moral court in the world--and attacking critics of American foreign policy as unpatriotic and even traitorous.
Hubris, temerity, arrogance--the unquestioned presumption that one's way of life defines how everyone else should live--pride has many destructive manifestations. In this engaging and energetic volume, Michael Eric Dyson, one of the nation's foremost public intellectuals, illuminates this many-sided human emotion, one that can be an indispensable virtue or a deadly sin.
Industry Reviews
"One of the most inspired reads to cross my desk in a good while. The travel-size sermon...takes a look at what Brother Dyson calls 'the most deadly of the seven sins.' You'll be dazzled by his musings on that vice."--Patrik Henry Bass, Essence Magazine
"An excellent essay on pride in its various dimensions."--Booklist
"Pride isn't what it used to be, and by the time Michael Eric Dyson gets through with the subject, many of the philosophers who have opined on the subject will realize they have less to be proud of than they thought. The 'deadly sin' turns out to have its virtues, and Dyson is eloquent in rooting them in his own vividly-recounted experience." --James J. O'Donnell, Provost, Georgetown University, and author of Augustine: A New Biography
"Dyson examines pride in its many iterations, invoking pop culture icons and events to lend accessibility to a potentially didactic subject.... Dyson's discussions of 'personal pride,' 'white pride,' 'black pride' and 'national pride' are thoughtful and exhibit a fine balance of scholarship and philosophizing.... Readers already familiar with the 'sins' series will welcome this final volume, as will those interested in issues of race."--Publishers
Weekly
"What midsummer night's feast would be digestible without Francine Prose's Gluttony; what weekend jaunt to your best friend's chateau would be survivable without Joseph Epstein's Envy? And you'll need Wendy Wasserstein's Sloth (wickedly subtitled 'And How to Get It') while you're struggling out of your deck chair."--O, The Oprah Magazine (on the series)
"Whimsically packaged exminations of Lust by Simon Blackburn, Gluttony by Francine Prsoe, Envy by Joseph Epstein, Anger by Robert Thurman, Greed by Phyllis Tickle, Sloth by Wendy Wasserstein and Pride by Michael Eric Dyson become playgrounds for cultural reflection by authors and playwrights in Oxford's Seven Deadly Sins series."--Publishers Weekly (on the series)
"One of the most inspired reads to cross my desk in a good while. The travel-size sermon...takes a look at what Brother Dyson calls 'the most deadly of the seven sins.' You'll be dazzled by his musings on that vice."--Patrik Henry Bass, Essence Magazine
"Dyson examines pride in its many iterations, invoking pop culture icons and events to lend accessibility to a potentially didactic subject.... Dyson's discussions of 'personal pride,' 'white pride,' 'black pride' and 'national pride' are thoughtful and exhibit a fine balance of scholarship and philosophizing.... Readers already familiar with the 'sins' series will welcome this final volume, as will those interested in issues of race."--Publishers
Weekly
"An excellent essay on pride in its various dimensions."--Booklist
"Pride isn't what it used to be, and by the time Michael Eric Dyson gets through with the subject, many of the philosophers who have opined on the subject will realize they have less to be proud of than they thought. The 'deadly sin' turns out to have its virtues, and Dyson is eloquent in rooting them in his own vividly-recounted experience." --James J. O'Donnell, Provost, Georgetown University, and author of Augustine: A New Biography
"Whimsically packaged exminations of Lust by Simon Blackburn, Gluttony by Francine Prsoe, Envy by Joseph Epstein, Anger by Robert Thurman, Greed by Phyllis Tickle, Sloth by Wendy Wasserstein and Pride by Michael Eric Dyson become playgrounds for cultural reflection by authors and playwrights in Oxford's Seven Deadly Sins series."--Publishers Weekly (on the series)
