Virtue of the Month

1. What is “Virtue of the Month”?

The League of Houses program at Christ Classical Academy was instituted to train young men and women in principles of Christ-like leadership. Students are grouped together in six houses, each of which is named after an influential historical Christian. Each house has a team of three student leaders who help guide their house members (especially the older students among them) in service projects, competitions, and house meetings. During house meetings, which take place on Fridays of most weeks, students lead our morning prayer liturgy, plan for projects and competitions, fellowship, and discuss the virtue of the month. 

Discussions on the virtue of the month focus on the definition of, illustrations of, and practical applications of a virtue that faculty leaders have appointed for each month. The 2024-25 school year focuses on the four cardinal virtues and the three theological virtues, each of which has been paired as closely as possible with the scripture passages students memorize throughout the school year. The four cardinal virtues are fortitude, prudence, temperance, and justice. The three theological virtues are faith, hope, and love (charity). These seven virtues have been foundational in classical thought from Socrates to the present day. Below, I offer a deeper dive into a selection of these virtues. 

2. What is the purpose of “Virtue of the Month”?

One of the most important characteristics of an excellent leader is a virtuous character. As such, our attempt to train Christian leaders would be obtusely incomplete if we did not emphasize the role of virtue in leadership. Lacking also would be mere discussion of virtue. Thus, not only do we define the virtue of the month and provide illustrations thereof, we also encourage students to cultivate these excellences in their daily lives. We do this, in part, by striving to exemplify virtue in our own lives. And since we invite our older students to participate in the instruction on these virtues, we also challenge them to set themselves as admirable examples of virtuous character for our younger students. Hence, attending to virtue each month is a way to facilitate our general goal for the League of Houses—we teach students what it means to be virtuous, we try to show them what a virtuous life looks like, and we encourage them to develop habits of virtue. 

3. Example of a Cardinal Virtue: Fortitude

Fortitudo (Latin) is a cardinal virtue often translated as “courage.” It (along with prudence, temperance, and justice) is called “cardinal” because they are the four virtues upon which other virtues hinge (cardo is Latin for “hinge”). Aristotle, in his Nicomachean Ethics, defined courage as the disposition by which a person hits the mean regarding fear and confidence.1 However, perhaps a more biblically-aligned definition of courage comes from Plato/Socrates, who, in the Republic, defined courage as the preservation of the knowledge of what is truly fearful; and the only thing that is truly fearful is falling into vice.2 Interestingly, θαρρος (tharros; Greek) is often translated as either “courage” or, when a verb (θαρεω; thareō), “take heart.” The Septuagint (LXX) often uses various imperatival forms of θαρεω (thareō) to translate the command “do not fear,” which could support the Platonic definition. For the command not to fear is taken to say the same thing as the command to be courageous.  

We see an example of the Platonic definition of courage in scripture in Joshua 1:9, which states, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Here, we see in one place the commands to be courageous and not to be frightened. Similarly, in Psalm 23 (which was the scripture memory passage that fortitude was paired with), we say with David that we will not fear evil befalling us because God is with us. It is this reminder—that God is with us—that can help to habituate us towards fearing only those things that are truly fearful. 

4. Example of a Theological Virtue: Charity

A pedagogical goal at Christ Classical is to instill in students an esteem for those things that have withstood the test of time. The classical conception of charity is one of those things; though, as the history of thought on charity shows, a plethora of (sometimes wacky) conceptions has been proposed. Charity has been called the “master virtue” of the three theological virtues—faith, hope, and love (i.e., charity). Charity is the master virtue of the three theological virtues because it is the virtue that must infuse all the rest. That is, faith and hope are properly oriented towards God (rather than something or someone else) only because of charity. One of the motivations for assigning such a status to charity is that Paul memorably elevated charity when he wrote that  

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things (1 Cor. 13:4-7).   

Charity can be defined as the disposition by which we exalt the glory of God and promote the good of our neighbor. This definition accords with its rich etymological history. Caritas (Latin) is often translated as “love.” Αγαπη (agape; Greek) is often (though not always) the word used for God’s covenantal faithfulness/love. חסד (heseḏ; Hebrew) is used for God’s covenantal faithfulness/love (e.g., Exodus 34:6-7), as well as the covenantal faithfulness we are called to show towards God. The definition is also in agreement with Jesus’ summary of the law:  

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets” (Matt. 22: 36-40). 

Not only did Jesus command us to love, he perfectly exemplified how we ought to love—there is no greater love than that which Jesus shows to us (John 15:12-13). Thus, when we teach our students how to cultivate charity, we point first and foremost to Jesus, the “founder and perfecter of our faith” (Heb. 12:2). 

Psalm 1 and Exodus 20:1-17 are the memorization passages paired with charity, for the person who loves God is the one who meditates on his law day and night, and the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 show us concrete ways in which we can love God and love our neighbors. We began the school year with charity as the virtue of the month for August and September to set the stage for all the virtues to follow. This is fitting because, without the aim to exalt the glory of God, which is the foundation of charity, every other character trait, no matter how superficially commendable, is only a simulacrum of true virtue—true courage, true generosity, true justice, and so on, all ultimately aim at exalting the glory of God.