Aquinas in Suma Theologica (II-II, Q.20, A.4) argues that sloth leads to despair. I will briefly explore how sloth might lead to despair, using Rebecca DeYoung’s reinterpretation on the nature of sloth in her book Glittering Vices (Brazos Press, 2009). Young briefly challenges the popular notion of understanding sloth as mere laziness. She argues that the modern concept of ‘sloth’ has departed significantly from the spiritual roots with which it had connections (p. 82). Young’s aim is to retrieve the Christian notion of sloth and clarify the misunderstandings around this concept. Young clings to Aquinas, who is in the middle …

Kierkegaard tells us that the Socratic tradition understood sin as ignorance. The problem that Kierkegaard finds with such a notion is its partial definition, which “leaves unclear how ignorance is to be more precisely understood, the question of its origin, etc. ” (p. 120). In Socrates’ view, if someone sins, such sinful action happens because one does it involuntarily and out of ignorance. Sinful actions are not rooted elsewhere but in knowledge itself. In this respect, Socrates’s definition of sin has a serious issue: “If sin is ignorance, then sin does not really exist for sin is precisely consciousness” (p. …

In this post, I will summarize the content of Jewish scholar Wolfson’s discussion regarding patristic and medieval anthropology. His essay is titled “Immortality and Resurrection in the Philosophy of the Church Fathers,” originally published in the Harvard Divinity School Bulletin in 1956, and reprinted in Harry A. Wolfson, Religious Philosophy: A Group of Essays (Massachusetts: Belknap Press, 1961): 69-83. After discussing Wolfson’s ideas, I will then be providing a brief conclusion regarding his exposition of the topic. After giving some brief examples concerning how Socrates (a dualist Greek philosopher), Jesus (a dualist first-century Jew), and Rabban Johanan, the son of …