fallenness and flourishing

Table of Contents

Preface - In Wandering Mazes Lost

Chapter 1 - Some False Step

§1 It Was the Best of Worlds, It Was the Worst of Times

§2 The Kingdom of Animals

§3 This Quintessence of Dust

§4 Society and the Institutions of Cruelty

§5 World Religions -- Seven Stories for Everyone

§6 Art, Literature, Music, Philosophy, and the Wisdom Traditions

§7 The Fall and Original Sin

§8 The Doctrine of (Optimistic) Pessimism

§9 Felix Culpa

Chapter 2 - Thus Mammon Spake

§1 Cannot We His Light Imitate When We Please?

§2 Analytic Methodology

§3 Happiness, Well-Being, and Interpreting Mammon's Advice

§4 The Question of Well-Being, Three Kinds of Skepticism, and Mammon's Restriction

§5 Hedonism and Desire-Fulfillment Theories

§6 Perfectionism and Objective-List Theories

§7 The Question of Happiness, Two Kinds of Skepticism, and Mammon's Restriction

§8 Hedonism, Life Satisfaction, and Psychic Affirmation

§9 A Curiosity about Theories of Well-Being and Happiness

Chapter 3 - Libido Sentiendi, Libido Sciendi, Libido Dominandi

§1 Secular Suspicions

§2 Noetic Effects of Sin: Self-Love and Self-Deception

§3 A Second Battle Lost

§4 The Path from Happiness to Unhappiness

§5 Steeped in Sin - Six Stories for Everyone

§6 Sloth, the Sin of Sadness

§7 Taking Stock

Chapter 4 - The Masks of Sloth

§1 Cellar Dwellers

§2 Boredom and Diversion

§3 The Absurd -- Tragedy, Meaning-Making, and Defiance

§4 That Sleep of Death

§5 Lawful Evil and the Demonic

§6 The Lopsided Aesthete

§7 Most Respectfully Return Him the Ticket

§8 Guilt, Shame, Mediocrity

Chapter 5 - Ye Cannot Serve God and Mammon

§1 Recovered Paradise

§2 The Virtue of Obedience, Christ's Temptations, and Perseverance

§3 Obedience and Well-Being -- A Story for Everyone

§4 The Problem of Ignorance

§5 The Problem of Exclusivity

§6 The Obstacle of Sin and Caring for the Vulnerable

§7 In Summary

Bibliography