Peter Kreeft's new book, Back to Virtue, is the best introduction to the topic that I have ever read. Kreeft makes the subject matter appealing, accessible, and understandable.

In the book, Kreeft explains how our civilization has rejected the idea of virtue and why we desparately need to recover this moral vision in order to know true blessedness inwardly and good relationships outwardly. As Thomas Merton wrote, "We are not peace with others because we are not peace with ourselves, and we are not peace with ourselves because we are not peace with God."

Kreeft argues that we need a clear roadmap concerning right and wrong -- and that roadmap is clearly discovered in God's Word. "The most striking feature of God's roadmap is the stark fact of the Two Roads. There is the road that leads to Life, and there is the road that leads to Death. There is Good, and there is Evil. There is Right and there is Wrong" (11) We must regain the wisdom of those who have gone before us in order to meet the challenges of the present and the future. C. S. Lewis concisely presents the modern problem: "For the wise men of old, the cardinal problem of human life was how to conform the soul to objective reality, and the solution was wisdom, self-discipline, and virtue. For the modern, the cardinal problem is how to conform reality to the wishes of man, and the solution is a technique." Kreeft argues that we must return to a historic understanding of virtue and vice in order to confront the moral turmoil that surrounds us. "In an age of relativism, orthodoxy is the only possible rebellion left" (189).

With this historical backdrop in place, Kreeft introduces his readers to the four cardinal virtues of justice, wisdom, courage, and moderation. "Cardinal" comes from the Latin word for "hinge". All other virtues "hinge" on these four. He then considers the three theological virtues -- faith, hope, and love. Finally, he considers the seven deadly sins and contrasts them with the Beautitudes.

In short, this book is well worth its weight in gold. It is a fine introduction to a subject that needs to be recovered in our society and -- even more importantly -- in our churches. We are to make every effort to add virtue to our faith (2 Peter 1:5). This book will go a long way in helping us do this.

Miscellaneous Quotes from the Book:

The Theological Virtues

Faith, hope, and charity are our spiritual glue. Whatever dissolves this glue is mortally sinful; whatever can remove faith, hope, or charity can kill God's life in our soul. (153)

The three theological virtues are a single plant. Faith is its root. Hope is its stalk, its life-thrust. Love is its fruit. (78)

On Faith

Thomas Aquinas wrote "the primary object of the act of faith is not a proposition but a reality"... So the object of faith is not the truths about God but the God who is truth. (Kreeft, Back to Virtue, 74)

On Hope

Hope is faith directed to the future. God is the object of hope, just as God is the object of faith. (75)

On Love

There is only one thing that never gets boring: God. The God-shaped vacuum in us is infinite and cannot be filled with any finite objects or actions. Therefore if we are bored with God, we will be bored with everything. For as St. Augustine says, he who has God has everything; he who has everything but God has nothing; and he who has God bless everything else does not have any more than Hugh has God alone. (157)

"To see God" -- -- that is joy, the fulfillment of everyone's deepest desire, whether they know it or not. "This is eternal life, to know Thee." Just to know. For this "knowing" is not just abstract doctrine but concrete experience. It satisfies not curiosity of love... If we only knew, we would eagerly sacrifice anything in everything in the world for this. (171)

It is also the greatest complement the lover can give: "I love you with my whole heart and soul. My love is not divided. You have no rival." (173)

A divided heart. Saints experience it as much as sinners. Indeed, though they have it less, they feel it more. (173)

On Pride

Pride is the greatest sin. It comes not from the world or the flesh but from the Devil. It comes from Hell. It was the Devil's original sin, perhaps the only sin possible for a pure spirit. (97)

Pride excludes not only God but also neighbor, Christ's body as well as Christ. For there can be only one Number One. Pride is essentially competitive. (98)

St. Bernard of Clairvaux, when asked what the four cardinal virtues were, replied: "Humility, humility, humility, and humility." (99)

The only way to become humble is to admit you are proud. (99)

Misc Quotes

Fanatic. There is absolutely no word in our language which ostracizes a person from today's intellectual establishment more than this word, especially when combined with another dirty word to produce the supreme insults: "religious fanatic". (29 -- 30)

In the Philippines, monkeys are caught by hollowing out coconuts and inserting sticky, aromantic candy to attract the monkeys, who put in their hands to grab the candy and can't get their fists out. They won't let go, even when their captors approach, and the end up as monkey stew. Jesus sees us as monkeys and tells us, Let go! It seems raving nonsense to the monkeys, but it is simple sense. (106)

Money... rather falsely promises to be a security blanket against change. It ape's divine self-sufficiency. (109)

Jesus commanded Peter to put up his sword... The most just war ever fought, in defense of the most just, most worthy, most innocent Man and cause, was also the shortest. Jesus stopped it almost before it started, apparently allowing it to start only to give his disciples and us an object lesson about his methods for ending it. (148)

Not everyone hungers for righteousness, but everyone hungers. Everybody's looking for something. Hunger is our very nature. Our souls, like our bodies, need food. No one but God is self-sufficient. (160)

Gluttony is: eating or drinking in inordinately, contrary to reason. Medieval moralists distinguished five ways this could be done: hastily (gulping), sumptuously (demanding rich foods), excessively (too much), greedily (I want what I want to what I want it), or daintily (it must be perfectly prepared). (177)