The Challenge of Stoicism

I recently had the joy of reading reading William B. Irvine´s The Stoic Challenge: A Philosopher´s Guide to Becoming Tougher, Calmer, and More Resilient (Norton, 2019). You can find it here. I think it is fair to say that Stoicism has seen a strong resurgence in recent years, powered in large part by sharp popularizers like Ryan Holiday.

Irvine´s book, aimed very much at the non-academic reader, is to supply from the ancient Stoic toolkit some very useful implements for living in the modern world. According to the author, what the ancient Stoics excelled at—and what we need to practice—is managing our volatile psychology so that we can construe inevitable mishaps as opportunities to grow in resilience and discipline, rather than simply giving in to disappointment, self-pity or anger. Handled correctly, setbacks are ¨likely to trigger in us a renewed appreciation of our life and circumstances¨ (81).

The author makes the point that he himself is not a theist, but Stoicism can easily be grafted onto theistic religions. Rather than viewing setbacks as gifts of the ´Stoic gods´ (which exist for the psychologically but not in an extramental sense), the Christian views misfortune as a test from Yhwh.

I gained much from Irvine´s insights on reframing, toughness training and the like. I find myself circling back to the question of whether it is the case that we can simply graft the psychology of the Stoics onto the metaphysics and narrative of Christianity. Or have the spirtiual masters done some of this integration already? James writes: Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance (James 1:2-3 NIV). For the Desert Fathers, apatheia or passionlessness represented the zenith of Christian maturity—not too dissimilar from Stoic ideals of tranquility.

The Christian foci of resurrection and personal afterlife force some dissonance, since the nontheist Stoic will insist these are unprovable distractions from eudaimonia and contentment in this life. Still, there are significant points of intersection and agreement. Christians would do well to consider their own emotions and formation in light of the seasoned insights of Stoic psychology and praxis.