that were inextricably tied to intense emotion, the Stoics believed themselves to approach the wisdom of the sage and achieve a life more in accordance with nature (Esler). Letters of consolation further exemplify the Stoics’ dedication to the rejection of impassioned emotion. When writing to Titius in the wake of his sons deaths, rather than expressing a sense of understanding for the man’s loss, Cicero implores Titius to cease his mourning as engaging in such behavior would undermine the virtue of moderation as well as question his status as a man (Wilcox). Cicero does not do so to bluntly dominate Titius in a time of weakness. Cicero’s actions, instead, display his commitment to a genuine belief in emotional restraint and that intense …show more content…
Paul presents a claim that is compatible with Stoicism, does not entail that he does so from a compatible mindset, nor that he does so for similar reasoning. To be sure, St. Paul is not arguing holistically against the expression of impassioned emotions, but in fact expresses as a theologian emotional behavior contradictory to the Stoic theory of emotions. In delivering his condemnation of arrogance, St. Paul is not doing so out of a universal rejection of impassioned emotions as one would expect from a Stoic argument, but rather out of a dedication to the preservation of community (Esler). Given the aforementioned necessity of the social sphere to Christianity, St. Paul views arrogance as encouraging competition or disdain amongst individuals, driving communal division. By describing arrogance as sinful, St. Paul is not attempting to condemn the subjective experience of emotions but rather promote the social cohesion that underscores …show more content…
Paul, these sentiments of distress are not merely the product of improper moral development. Because the Stoics align emotions with the production of false judgements about the world, the sage is immune to distress, as distress would indicate the misapplication of moral judgments to the external world. As the sinless physical instantiation of God, Christ represents a Christian analog to the Stoic sage. Unlike the Stoics’ vision of the sage, however, St. Paul specifically describes Christ as able to suffer (2 Corinthians 1:5). By attributing the ability to suffer to a righteous entity, St. Paul demonstrates that his theory of emotional therapy does not seek to expunge distress for its contribution to vicious belief structures and that a Christian sage may maintain righteousness despite the experience of suffering. Additionally, the fact that Christ suffers not only exemplifies fundamental contradictions between the Pauline and Stoic genres of the sage, but also exposes that St. Paul rejects Epictetus’s premises on the amorality of the external world. Because distress is exhibited by the Christian analog of the sage, St. Paul allows for the existence of justifiable negative beliefs about the moral quality of the external world, undermining the Stoic claim that the world must be accepted “contentedly” as solely flawed human judgements have the capacity to produce