Acedia and student life: Ancient Christian wisdom for addressing boredom, distraction, and over-commitment in undergraduates

Although the deadly vice of acedia is prevalent in contemporary student culture, it is often misunderstood as mere carelessness. This article reconstructs the ancient meaning of acedia, highlighting its outward markers and arguing for a complex account of its internal motivations grounded in the wor...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of Christianity & education
Main Author: Aijian, J L (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Sage Publishing 2017
In: International journal of Christianity & education
Further subjects:B Seven Deadly Sins
B Accidie
B Boredom
B Anxiety
B John Cassian
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Parallel Edition:Electronic
Description
Summary:Although the deadly vice of acedia is prevalent in contemporary student culture, it is often misunderstood as mere carelessness. This article reconstructs the ancient meaning of acedia, highlighting its outward markers and arguing for a complex account of its internal motivations grounded in the work of John Cassian. These insights are then applied to the experience of contemporary educators with students who are listless or distracted. Students who manifest acedia ought to be understood as not merely careless, but possibly suffering from a kind of paralysis brought on by anxiety or despair. Finally, Cassian suggests some remedies available to educators.
ISSN:2056-998X
Contains:Enthalten in: International journal of Christianity & education
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1177/2056997117725343