Acedia is not a well-known sin in our day, not because we have overcome it, but because it is nearly omnipresent and has accordingly become invisible. Acedia is spiritual sluggishness, a dullness of soul. It is the sin that makes young men sing hymns in a mediocre fashion. It is the sin that makes young women think vanity is an acceptable quality of youth. Acedia is a disbelief that spiritual struggle ever pays off. Acedia whispers that no tradition deserves our undivided respect, and that anything and everything may be suddenly and boringly called into question. How can a sin so common be bested? Only by way of the cruciform lectern. Come and hear.
Joshua Gibbs
Joshua Gibbs is the editor of FilmFisher, a frequent contributor at the CiRCE Institute, and a teacher of great books at Veritas School in Richmond, VA. He has been labeled “insane” by two Pulitzer Prize– winning poets and once abandoned a moving vehicle for fear of his life. He married a girl he fell in love with in high school and has two daughters, both of whom have seven names.