Furthermore, historically it was discovered that liberal studies inculcate habits that produce the four classical virtues, and a liberal arts education should be designed to create habits of mind privately and publicly that form these virtues in our souls. Much of western civilization is built upon this theme, and, until recently in our history, it was universally recognized that virtuous citizens are essential to a free society. Now let's look at the four classical virtues themselves.

PRACTICAL WISDOM or PRUDENCE involves knowing how things work, knowing what needs to be done, the right time to do it, and how to do it. It is maximizing whatever one is and has in order to make the proper application. It is the public product of a harmonious soul expressing itself winsomely and appropriately. Therefore, the highest wisdom will manifest itself in practical wisdom.

MODERATION or TEMPERANCE is behaving in neither an excessive or a defective manner in a given situation. It is what the ancients called the golden mean. It embraces the notion of the lady and the gentleman, and does not apply to base things. That is, there is no golden mean of wickedness, but there is a balance necessary in the expression of love, since we might love either too much or too little. As for we the people, we live in an age that prizes radicalism. Defective or excessive people are newsworthy and entertaining. We are bored with temperance. This is even true in the church where we often tend to overreact to secularism with our own distorted brands of radicalism or extremism. Moderation or temperance must apply even to religious life since it is about living for the longer term as opposed to the shorter term, which often ends in burnout.

JUSTICE is giving each his due. It is treating equals as equals and unequals as unequals. Justice knows nothing of egalitarianism. Justice allows for uniqueness in function. That is, if I am gifted in music, then I get to lead worship and you don't. Slowing down gifted children to the pace of slower children is unjust. Taking from me the fruit of my labor in order to support an indolent is immoral. Therefore, justice is the capstone of the civic virtues. If there is no justice, there is no peace. In addition, justice is republican in nature. That is, a democracy is inherently egalitarian, whereas a republic such as the United States is inherently hierarchical and requires the Lordship of Christ over all areas of life in order to survive for the long haul.

As Christians, therefore, it is through the civic virtues that we can make common cause with the secular world. In fact, our Constitution is a document that takes the civic virtues as given within a predominantly Christian environment. It assumes that sacred traditions can be just as powerful as a written constitution. That is, although the Constitution refuses to legally establish the Christian religion and make others acknowledge the Lordship of Christ, it intentionally allows Christians to acknowledge Christ in all we say and do and continue lovingly to advise others to do the same. This is the key to national virtue. 

In our next post in this series, we will explore how the theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity may function within a free society to further strengthen the welfare of its citizens.

My thanks to Dr. John Mark Reynolds at Biola University whose lectures in the summer of 2006 had a substantial influence on the content of this essay.

Blessings,

Arnie Gentile

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