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Book Review: Humility, Pride, and Christian Virtue Theory

had a list of virtues that were oriented to this-worldly happiness, and, since virtues are habits, they thought you could develop these virtues through repetition: doing what virtuous people do until you become one. Christian spiritual formation is like that in the sense that we, too, have a list of virtues (albeit ones aimed at eternal happiness instead of merely worldly happiness), and a list of repetitive practices (called spiritual disciplines) that will help us develop the habits of heart, mind, and body that we call the Christian virtues (or fruits of the spirit). It’s different in that we think the practices are necessary but not sufficient for sanctification; you also need the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. That is the typical way of connecting the ancient virtue ethics tradition to the tradition of spiritual disciplines. Surely much is right about it, but DeYoung’s frequent emphasis, throughout Glittering Vices, on the way that the capital vices are connected up with our efforts to preserve a cherished self-image, makes me wonder if there is something important being left out of such a standard account. I think DeYoung is right that the preservation of our cherished identities lies at the root of all the capital vices, and indeed of all sin. But if that is so, one wonders if addressing practices is already too little, too late. Sometimes spiritual formation literature assumes the fundamental question is, “How do we get rid of bad habits and form new ones?” Thus the focus on practices and disciplines. But reading DeYoung’s book this time has me thinking that the fundamental question is, “How do we relinquish one identity and adopt another one.” I am less confident than I once was that repetitive practices are central to answering that question.