Book Review
The Slothful Modern
Acedia and Its Discontents: Metaphysical Boredom in an Empire of Desire by R. J. Snell
Angelico Press, 2015
(134 pages, $14.95, paperback)
reviewed by Matthew Kemp
When we think of words to describe modern Western culture, "sloth" is not one that usually comes to mind. For one thing, it is a fairly archaic term. But more importantly, we tend to associate it simply with laziness or inactivity. R. J. Snell argues in Acedia and Its Discontents that this is nevertheless a fundamental characteristic of our age. Snell, who was Professor of Philosophy at Eastern University at the time of the book's publication and now serves as the Director of the Center on the University and Intellectual Life at the Witherspoon Institute, prefers to use the untranslated term acedia, which he draws largely from early monastic literature. While the term may be unfamiliar to us, the experience is not. He defines acedia as "a failure of love—an aversion to being, a sadness at the good, and the inability to act well" (111).
Sloth has always been a temptation in human life, but the modern age, with its focus on individual freedom, has made it a cultural phenomenon: "More than indolence, sloth rejects the burden of order, choosing instead the breezy lightness of freedom. Loving self more than relation, and autonomy more than the good, in sloth one rejects the weight and density of living in an ordered creation" (11). Drawing from a wide range of sources in the Judeo-Christian tradition, Snell seeks to get to the heart of the modern malaise of acedia and identify ways to remedy it.
All Reality a Gift
The book is a quick read and is divided into three sections of two chapters each. In the first section Snell frames the issue within the narrative and doctrine of creation, with a focus on work as a human vocation. Chapter 1 considers creation as God's self-communication, which constitutes all reality as gift. Human beings find their worth precisely in their status as creatures, particularly creatures that possess God-given freedom and integrity. The proper response of the human being is freely to receive and welcome the gift of creation in the form of both other creatures and one's own creaturely limits. It is in this context that we can understand the vocation to work as a gift and as the means by which we seek our own proper perfection while lovingly transforming the world in which we live.
Snell expounds on the meaning of work in chapter 2, relying heavily on Jewish and Christian interpretations of biblical themes. He lays out three "tests of good work": it must respect the "integrity of things" ("Remember You are Dust"), respect the "integrity of systemic emergence" ("Build Soil"), and be properly directed ("Fill the Temple"). These tests provide a framework for envisioning tasks that preserve both human agency and subjectivity on the one hand, and a loving and receptive orientation toward the cosmos on the other.
Acedia's Devastation
In stark contrast to this positive vision for creation and work, Snell presents the devastating effects of acedia in the second section of the book. Chapter 3 describes how the modern "disenchanted" world is characterized by sloth on a deep level. Unbounded freedom and autonomy, far from enhancing our lives, have made us bored with everything that we seek to master, so that reality itself becomes tedious. Snell sees this as more than mere "situational boredom." Drawing from the writings of the Desert Fathers and Thomas Aquinas, he argues that acedia manifests itself as a deep internal instability, an aversion to one's place, work, life, even communion with God, ultimately leading to nihilism.
He continues these reflections in chapter 4, focusing on how acedia views the ordinary things of the world. Unlike the medieval perspective, which saw all created things as endowed with their own meaning, the slothful modern mind reduces everything to an object, which can be used or discarded as one chooses. While things remain neutral, bereft of meaning, human beings have defined themselves increasingly in terms of autonomy. Thus our concept of freedom is deeply bound to our ability to use objects as we will. Snell sees this as the foundation of contractual political theories, but he also notes the irony of how this understanding of freedom ultimately threatens itself, as we seek to use technology to control people. He closes the chapter with a discussion on contraception as an example.
Two Remedies
If Snell's analysis of the problem seems bleak, his third section is more hopeful in offering two ways that we might—to the extent that we can—resist the culture of acedia which pervades modern society. The first of these, described in chapter 5, is to reclaim the meaning of the Sabbath. As he notes earlier, sloth is not -laziness; indeed, the slothful can be quite active, as the non-stop rush of contemporary life bears witness. Likewise, leisure is not merely the cessation of activity but a certain attitude toward reality that approves and loves it. Sabbath, leisure, and celebration are opposed to sloth because they exist for their own sake and cannot be instrumentalized. Moreover, it is on the seventh day, when God rests, that creation is completed. The Sabbath also sanctifies time and thus frames our work, restoring its proper meaning.
In chapter 6 Snell describes the second remedy to acedia, which he lifts directly from the literature of early monasticism: staying faithful to one's vocation in the ordinary things of life. The reason for this is that sloth, like any vice, cannot simply be negated, but must be overcome by a positive virtue. If the opposite of boredom with the world is loving approval, this must be cultivated as a habit practiced over time. But Snell sees a deeper theological truth here as well, that our redemption is worked out in the concrete, ordinary tasks of everyday life, just as the first thirty years of Jesus' earthly life had a role in our salvation.
A Work of Mere Christianity
Snell's reflections on acedia offer a lucid analysis of modernity. With a profound clarity he identifies one of the great spiritual maladies of our age. Our obsession with freedom and our tendency to reduce and commodify things has spread acedia both wide and deep in Western society. The author's unique take on this from the standpoint of spirituality and virtue ethics reveals many things that would be less obvious in a strictly intellectual evaluation of modernity. He creatively draws from and synthesizes diverse sources, which include (but are not limited to) the Desert Fathers, Thomas Aquinas, John Paul II, Josef Pieper, Wendell Berry, Charles Taylor, and even some works of literature. His use of these sources strengthens his argument, as he considers the matter at hand from a variety of angles. It also shows something of the "mere Christianity" identified by C. S. Lewis, as the different traditions and backgrounds of these writers contribute to a unified voice.
The connections between the book's sections are not always as clear as they might be, and the solutions offered frequently seem excessively abstract—it would have been helpful to see more discussion on how they could be lived out, both by individuals and by communities. While Snell draws from numerous writers, he sometimes cites only secondary sources, which is a disappointment to the reader who would like to read more of the primary texts. On the whole, however, the book's strengths outweigh its weaknesses.
Snell writes from a Roman Catholic perspective, but most of the book should resonate with Christians (and even some non-Christians) of all sorts. While it is steeped in theology and philosophy, it is accessible to the non-expert, making it a worthwhile read for anyone who wants to make theological and spiritual sense of the modern age and seek something better.
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