North American scholars from a range of social sciences and humanities present 12 essays selected from presentations to a July-August 2004 seminar at Cambridge University exploring the seven deadly sins as cultural constructions during the Middle Ages. They deal with the medieval development of the popular sins as concrete examples of vitally important ethical ideas that experienced new and constantly changing definitions while the vocabulary used to articulate them and their surroundings remained remarkably stable. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)