Michael Hill retired as Vice-Principal of Moore Theological College last year, having completed 27 years on the faculty as a lecturer in ethics and philosophy, interrupted by a period of five years as rector of St Paul's Seaforth. In honour of Michael's contribution to Christian ethics, a group of past students and fellow lecturers has written on the so-called ‘seven deadly sins’.  Of course one might pause to ponder why such friends would devote a book on the seven deadly sins to honour a friend and colleague! Hopefully it wasn't because pride, envy, anger, sloth, greed, gluttony and lust reminded them of Michael!  Rather, it was Michael's profound teaching on the concept of mutual love that inspired his students to write not so much about the deadly sins as ancient cures to deadly sins.

Michael's significant contribution to the teaching of ethics was his ability to see the goal of God's command is relationship characterised by love, shaping a community of mutual love. Guided by this principle, the contributors to this book open our eyes to understand the ways in which these deadly sins violate the expression of God's love in mutual love relationships and how the grace of God in the gospel, rightly conceived, empowers Christians for godly living. 

A refreshing aspect of this book is its approach to the seven deadly sins using Christian teachers from the past as dialogue partners for confronting each vice. Thus under Brian Rosner's guidance, we tackle greed with the help of Luther; Andrew Cameron aids our understanding of lust with the insights of Augustine; and Bill Salier introduces us to Basil of Caesarea's treatment of envy. Similarly, we find engagement with Clement on gluttony (Richard Gibson), Aquinas on anger (Gordon Preece), Niebuhr on pride (Graham Cole) and Calvin on sloth (Peter Jensen).

While each author is not uncritical of their ancient counterparts, we are provided with a fresh appreciation of the contribution of past Christian teachers, supplemented by the judicious comments of our present teachers, in honour of the one who, as the dedication reads, is a "Master of mutual love". Yet such a descriptor is only true because Michael Hill is first a "servant of mutual love", seeking first to be a servant of Christ.  All who would likewise follow Christ will find this book a rich resource for following in his footsteps.