Pieper argues that the virtue of prudence (the perfected ability to make right decisions) has all but dropped out of the modern mind. It is his view that we need to recapture the meaning of prudence, because all human virtue hangs upon it. No human action or decision can be good if it is not first and foremost prudent. The other classical virtues, namely justice, fortitude, and temperance, are virtues because they are fundamentally prudent. For the Christian, divine love is the ultimate form of all virtue, but God himself works in our hearts that we might recognize the prudence of surrendering ourselves to his mercy and love. Thus prudence becomes a means of moving onward in the supernatural virtues of faith, hope and love.

There is a need to enlist the help of prudence in facing the issues of human sexuality (and all the other issues) in the Anglican Church. Prudence has been left by the roadside and it is time we pick it up. Though some of us might use the word prudence in conversation, the lack of attention to it as a virtue has meant that we have ceased to understand its true meaning. Some Christians have rejected the idea of prudence, and many of the other classical virtues, because they aren’t Scriptural enough. These same Christians have instead approached morality simply in terms of the Ten Commandments and the “duties” of being a Christian. But following commandments and refraining from sin simply because we are told to (by our grandmothers or even the Bible) is not the highest goal for us. There is a reason we are given the commandments. After rejecting sin and accepting God’s mercy we are to move towards Christlikeness. God teaches us what it means to be fully human and to excel at goodness. Prudence is concerned with the “how” of following Christ.

So what is prudence? Besides being defined as the perfected ability to make right decisions, Pieper adds that it is the acceptance of the reality of the truth as it is revealed, naturally in our God-given minds and consciences, and supernaturally by the grace of God.

Prudence means that in our everyday lives and decisions we take care not to warp reality to conform to our own desires. Instead, we try to see things with “clear-eyed objectivity.” Obviously we take into account our desires (how can we not?) but the most important thing is that we direct
our hearts and minds towards the truth, even if that means acknowledging our desires were misdirected, or our opinions flawed.

In order for an idea or decision to be prudent there must be two things present: (i) a properly ordered conscience, and (ii) a clear understanding of the reality of our situation.

To say that the conscience must be ordered properly means there must be both the love of what is good and the desire for that good to be a reality in our life. For the Christian this means that the Spirit of God is active in our hearts infusing the virtues of faith, hope and love. It means that as these virtues are perfected in us they are overflowing from us into the world around us. It is the participation in the life of God and ministering that same Life to the world around us.

Along with this ordered conscience, prudence requires that there must be a clear understanding of the reality of the situation we face. This seems obvious. If we don’t truly know what our situation is, how can we respond prudently?

Though these sound simple enough, the human soul excels at self-deception regarding conscience and reality. Both our conscience and our perception of our situation can be tainted if we aren’t careful. For instance, negative facts or warning signs can be buried under mountains of self-justification, or pushed aside by the forces of social convention and fad. Memory (our experiences of the past are key for forming our conscience and wisdom in the present) can be manipulated so that it is no longer a clear reflection of what actually happened. Seeking advice in humility may instead become seeking people who will tell us only what we want hear. Also, if we don’t think prudently at the best of times, in time of crisis we will not have the capacity to respond prudently. Instead we will make rash decisions without a true knowledge of our own motives and impulses, or of the facts. Practicing prudence all the time will give us the ability to respond prudently under pressure.

So, to be prudent in our response to questions of human sexuality we must be sure of two things: first, that our conscience is oriented in the direction of God’s will, and second, that we understand the context in which the questions are being asked. All this is to say what we’ve probably guessed all along: in order for us to face the current debate about human sexuality prudently as Christians, we must align ourselves with Scripture (the revelation of God’s self, and the truth of who we are). We must make sure we are thinking properly (using all the means we’ve been given to perceive reality—including the realities of faith). We must take into account the memory of the Church (her thoughts and convictions in the past). In humility we must accept the possibility that we have been wrong and so listen to each other graciously. Finally, our consciences must be directed towards the good and we must be prepared for the possibility that a rightly ordered conscience may be at odds with our current culture. It is only with these things present that prudent debate can occur.

Pieper felt that proper thinking was inextricably linked to purity of life. Moral and intellectual virtue are linked. To be prudent means to acknowledge that our minds do not create truth, but instead must be conformed to it. The truth that has been given to us, in Scripture and in Creation, cannot be manipulated in order to be palatable to society. Instead, the individual Christian and the whole Church must be oriented towards God and his mercy. In this way, and only in this way, we point the world towards God and his mercy as well.

--Lars Nowen is an Anglican priest in the Diocese of Durham, England.

This story first appeared on The AnglicanPlanet.net