Abstract

The paper argues that the current reluctance by Christian pastors to use the concept and language of ‘pleasure’ in working with counselees suffering a variety of spiritual, moral and psychological difficulties is both practically and dogmatically unwarranted. Although the Christian virtues are ascetic in nature, they cannot be seen as contributing to the ‘final affinities’ of the soul in the form of a moral character that will secure salvation unless pleasure is found in the exercise of such virtues. While such pleasures are indeed different from the common concept of ‘this-worldly pleasures’, and sometimes in fact arise from a denial of the latter, they are very close to what Ancient Greek philosophical schools, and especially the Epicureans, had envisaged as pre-requisites for a ‘good life’. In the paper I toy with the various perceptions of pleasures (and to some extent with the various perceptions of Epicureanism), and proceed to argue a strong thesis: finding pleasure in virtue is required for Christian salvation. This view of pleasure and its relationship with morality is in stark contrast with the dominant Kantian aprioristic view of morality, which has marked large parts of the modern intellectual landscape and has influenced Christian ethics. In support of this view I argue that the Eastern Orthodox doctrine of ‘toll houses’, namely the final temptations administered to the soul upon death, test the ‘final affinities’ of the soul and make sure that the soul ends up where its affinities lie, namely that each receives the after-life place best suited to their character. Thus the building of character, with pleasures being found in some rather than other things and pursuits, is a sine qua non of the Christian soteriological perspective. Epicurean ethics, in its proper interpretation and when it is decidedly separated from Epicurean cosmology and metaphysics, is a potent practical tool for pastoral counseling. Its logical place in the Christian doctrine of salvation is clear, while its practical role in pastoral counseling is currently unduly neglected.