Passions and Emotions

Here's an interesting quote from the City of God talking about stoicism (Book 14, chapter 9):

"And if some, with a vanity monstrous in proportion to its rarity, have become enamoured of themselves because they can be stimulated and excited by no emotion, moved or bent by no affection, such persons rather lose all humanity than obtain true tranquility.”

It's a reminder that in Japan, one thing that people need to have transformed in them when they become Christians is their stoicism. The Spirit needs to teach them to feel again, to be passionate again, to mourn again, to love again.