Abstract
This chapter showcases the interrelations between the understandings of patience in Christian moral wisdom and in contemporary psychological findings. Christian moral wisdom teaches that patience is interconnected with a variety of virtues, including meekness and courage, which address particular emotions. Recent psychological work has examined the emotion regulation strategies that are employed in regulation of particular emotions. Christian moral wisdom teaches the necessity of patience for attaining the Christian goal of union with God and receiving God’s promises, and contemporary psychology examines the necessity of patience for goal pursuit, too. The Christian tradition also emphasizes the importance of practicing patience alongside other virtues, which is reflected in psychological research on the counterbalancing relation of patience and courage. Likewise, both Christian moral wisdom and contemporary psychology suggest that reminding people of their goals is beneficial for their behaving patiently; Christian scripture suggests this, with Gregory the Great and Thomas Aquinas affirming it explicitly. Likewise, psychological findings indicate that self-transcendent goals may facilitate patience, helping people identify an ultimate, self-transcendent purpose as a prime direction for future intervention research. In addition, both Christian moral wisdom and contemporary definitions of virtue found in psychology and philosophy warn against measuring a character trait, like virtue, by reference to activities regardless of the motivations for those activities, even though empirical measurement remains challenging. Finally, understanding the ways humans might be patient with God is an important candidate for theological and empirical inquiry.