Leading away from God: acedia, believers and the church
Acedia is not just a problem for individual believers. It can also affect the local church as a body corporate. Yet for the contemporary Western church, it is perhaps the least well-known of the seven deadly sins and we have not been equipped to recognise it. Acedi-what? or equivalent is a question...
| Published in: | Practical theology |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group
2021
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| In: |
Practical theology
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| IxTheo Classification: | CB Christian life; spirituality |
| Further subjects: | B
Ecclesial
B Leadership B Accidie B Church B sloth |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Acedia is not just a problem for individual believers. It can also affect the local church as a body corporate. Yet for the contemporary Western church, it is perhaps the least well-known of the seven deadly sins and we have not been equipped to recognise it. Acedi-what? or equivalent is a question I hear often. I therefore begin by surveying Christian tradition regarding what behaviours are typical of acedia and what this sin is at its very heart. Understanding acedia as a failure to continue in friendship with God, expressed in patterns of passivity or (hyper)activity – and sometimes both – I proceed to make the case not only for the prevalence of acedia amongst individual Western believers but, importantly, for the previously unrecognised possibility of acedia existing in an ecclesial form. Our leadership priorities, in particular, may be leading the church away from God. |
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| ISSN: | 1756-0748 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Practical theology
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/1756073X.2020.1839691 |