To Get Where You Want Sometimes You Need to Stay Put: Acedia and the Christian Life

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Joshua Chestnut

While we may intuitively think of a life of lazy resignation as being diametrically opposed to a life of hyperactive busyness, our ancestors in the faith may have seen things differently and understood these two common ways of life as being symptomatic of some deeper, spiritual problem, i.e. acedia. Sometimes translated as "sloth," acedia originally identified an internal habit of resistance (or laziness) to the Christian calling of loving God and our neighbor. This lecture will consider acedia in its historical context as well as its contemporary instances while considering what might be its remedy.

The Copyright for all material on the podcast is held by L'Abri Fellowship. We ask that you respect this by not publishing the material in full or in part in any format or post it on a website without seeking prior permission from L'Abri Fellowship. ©Southborough L'Abri 2024