Whatever became of sin PDF
Preview Whatever became of sin
Karl Menninger, M. D. WHATEVER BECAME OF SIN? HAWTHORN BOOKS, INC. Publishers / new york OTHER BOOKS BY Karl Menninger, M.D. The Human Mind Man Against Himself Love Against Hate (With Mrs. Menninger) A Guide to Psychiatric Books Manual for Psychiatric Case Study Theory of Psychoanalytic Technique A Psychiatrist's World The Vital Balance The Crime of Punishment Whatever Became of Sin? Copyright © 1973 by Karl Menninger, M.D. Copyright under International and Pan- American Copyright Conventions. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review. All inquiries should be addressed to Hawthorn Books, Inc., 260 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016. This book was manufactured in the United States of America and published simultaneously in Canada by Prentice-Hall of Canada, Limited, 1870 Birchmount Road, Scarborough, Ontario. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 72-7776. First printing, October 1973 Second printing, November 1973 Third printing, January 1974 Fourth printing, February 1974 Fifth printing, March 1974 Sixth printing, June 1974 /?73 Acknowledgments A preface may be an effort to supply a raison d’etre for the writing of a book, or it may informally introduce the topic or philosophy of the contents. My preface would be of the first type, and as such I think it should properly be at the end of the book. A preface is usu ally the last chapter written by the author and should be the last one to be read by the reader. You will find it on page 223 if you must look now. But let me here make my acknowledgment of indebtedness for the help I have received from many people in many ways. My dear wife is a joint author with me of everything I write and would have been so listed here except that she might be blamed for any seeming departures from medical orthodoxy. In addition to her great help, I received encouragement and advice from many colleagues, notably the following: The Reverend Richard Bollinger, of the Department of Religion and Psychiatry, the Menninger Foundation; the Reverend Gerald Daily, S.J., Rector of Newman College, University of Melbourne, Australia; the Reverend Alfred Davies, of the Kansas (penal) Reception and Diagnostic Center; Dr. Frederick J. Hacker, of the Hacker Clinic and Foundation, Los Angeles, California; Dr. Seward Hiltner, of Princeton Theological Seminary; Dr. Philip B. Holzman, of the University of Chicago Pritzker Medical School; the Reverend Carlyle Marney, of The Interpreters’ House, Lake Junaluska, North Carolina; Dr. Gardner Murphy, George Washington University, Washington, D.C., and former Director of Research, the Menninger Foundation; the Reverend Leslie A. Newman, Methodist clergyman of Sussex, England, and Chautauqua, New York; Dr. Paul W. Pruyser, Henry March Pfeiffer Professor, the Menninger Founda tion; Dr. Sydney Smith, Editor-in-Chief of the Bulletin of the Men ninger Clinic; Professor Arnold Toynbee, The Royal Institute of International Affairs, London, England; Dr. Lewis F. Wheelock, v vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS my friend and my assistant in the Chicago office of the Menninger Foundation, formerly Visiting Lecturer in History at the University of Kansas. So many people have helped me that I could not possibly list them all. W. Clement Stone, of Chicago, was interested in the idea of the book and encouraged its development. And I am particularly in debted for help in its preparation to Virginia Eicholtz, Managing Editor of the Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic, and to Vesta Walker, Chief Librarian at the Menninger Foundation, and to my secretaries and typists, Berenice Brinker, Marilyn Koilath, Beverlee Hayes, Clara Erdman, Ellen Tebbel, Mary Hooper, Judy Walton, Carole Rosebaugh, and Judy Craig. For their indefatigable general assist ance, including much photocopying, I thank Alvin Todd and Willie Foster. For the devotion and help of all these people I am indeed grateful. Karl Menninger, M.D. Topeka, Kansas; and Chicago, Illinois Contents Acknowledgments v 1 A Brief and Biased Review of Moral History i 2 What Is Wrong? 6 3 The Disappearance of Sin: An Eyewitness Account 13 4 A New Social Morality 38 5 Sin into Crime 50 6 Sin into Symptom 74 vii viii CONTENTS 7 Sin as Collective Irresponsibility 94 8 The Old Seven Deadly Sins ( and Some New Ones ) 133 9 Sin, So What? 173 10 The Bluebird on the Dung Heap 189 Epilogue The Displaced Preface 223 Index 231 Whatever Became of Sin? 1 A Brief and Biased Review of Moral History When, in an apprehensive or deploring mood, we seniors are tempted to dispense to our successors cautionary admonishment and dire prediction, we should first reflect on the moral history of mankind, which can be summarized: They hang prophets. Or ignore them, which hurts worse. Yes, so they do. So they always did. But the urge to prophesy comes upon us, nonetheless, and we must tell it, if not “like it is,” at least as it seems to us to be. Morituri salutemus et crucem manebimus. But by speaking out we shall have tossed onto the cenotaph of human history another pebble from the quarry of hope. n a sunny day in September, 1972, a stern-faced, plainly O dressed man could be seen standing still on a street comer in the busy Chicago Loop. As pedestrians hurried by on their way to lunch or business, he would solemnly lift his right arm, and pointing to the person nearest him, intone loudly the single word “GUILTY!” Then, without any change of expression, he would resume his stiff stance for a few moments before repeating the gesture. Then, again, the inexorable raising of his arm, the pointing, and the solemn pronouncing of the one word “GUILTY!” The effect of this strange faccuse pantomime on the passing strangers was extraordinary, almost eerie. They would stare at him, 1 2 WHATEVER BECAME OF SIN? hesitate, look away, look at each other, and then at him again; then hurriedly continue on their ways. One man, turning to another who was my informant, exclaimed: “But how did he know?” No doubt many others had similar thoughts. How did he know, indeed? “Guilty!” Everyone guilty? Guilty of what? Guilty of overpark ing? Guilty of lying? Guilty of arrogance and hubris toward the one God? Guilty of “borrowing,” not to say embezzling? Guilty of un faithfulness to a faithful wife? Guilty only of evil thoughts—or evil plans? Guilty before whom? Is a police officer following? Did anyone see? Will they be likely to notice it? Does he know about it? But that isn’t technically illegal, is it? I can make it up. I will give it back. I’ll apologize. I wasn’t myself when I did that. No one knows about it. But I’m going to quit. It’s a dangerous habit. I wouldn’t want the children to see me. How can I ever straighten it out? What’s done can’t be undone. The solemn accuser on the Chicago street corner has had many predecessors. In the eighth to sixth centuries b.c. peripatetic ex- horters held forth in thriving Palestinian villages attracting large and attentive crowds. To their listeners these earnest young men likewise cried “guilty” and proclaimed ominously that for all the general prosperity, sin was prevalent thereabouts which, unacknowl edged and unrepented, would bring dire consequences. These men were ignored, ridiculed as alarmists, jailed as trespassers, or driven from the country. In the course of time, their predictions were fulfilled and their countries were annihilated. Later on, remnants of these chastened peoples returned to re establish themselves as a nation with a morally strict government. Commercial trade and prosperity returned, with fluctuating military fortunes. Seers again appeared, preaching the old refrain of needed repentance. One of these, John ben Zechariah, lived in a desert area outside the metropolis and attracted considerable attention from the com mon people. Crowds trekked out into the desert to hear him. He reproached them for their swinging ways in public and private life. “Desist! Repent!” he cried.
The list of books you might like
