Modern scholars have recognized the fifteenth-century theologian and chancellor of the University of Paris, Jean Gerson (1363–1429), as an important contributor to the medieval tradition of the seven deadly sins. Gerson addressed the deadly sins in his handbooks for parish priests, his sermons to the laity and his theological treatises. He also deployed the deadly sins tradition insermons he delivered before the French royal court addressing issues that may be characterized as primarily political rather than pastoral, such as the papal schism and the civil strife among the French nobility. A comparison of Gerson’s various deployments of the seven deadly sins, moreover, suggests that a potent cross-fertilization occurred between his pastoral, political and theological works which encouraged him to reinforce and elaborate upon his previous deployments of the sins in each subsequent deployment. As a result, his treatment of the sins in his pastoral and political works seems to have influenced his understanding of the university-trained theologian’s role as an agent of reform in the Church and realm. This constant elaboration on the sins explains how Gerson, who wrote most of his works to address particular institutional and political issues, can also be understood as a systematic thinker; at the same time, it demonstrates the centrality of the sins to late medieval pastoral, political and intellectual thought.

Gerson’s treatments of the seven deadly sins simultaneously express his theological and political aims.