The Vice of Anger: Sources, Symptoms and Remedies

The spiritual traditions of the Church have always recognized anger as one of the great vices that can afflict the human person. We see this play out around us as anger more and more seems to dictate our lives and attitudes, as it rules over all of our social and political discourses, and as it seems to corrode and disfigure our relationships with friends, family, and loved ones. The Church, though, has spent many centuries reflecting upon this vice and its consequences for our relationship to the divine, our relationship with our neighbor, and its impact on ourselves.

This talk will offer an overview of that reflection, especially as it was articulated by the earliest spiritual authors of the Christian tradition. What is anger, and how does it affect us and our spiritual lives? How do we combat and overcome it, and what are its remedies? By understanding the riches and the wisdom of the Church’s traditions, we can, with God’s help, better combat this vice and its corrosive effects on our lives.