When I was a pastoral newbie in the 1970s, the cathartic approach to anger was all the rage. The let-it-all-out method of venting anger was in vogue and counselors even created “rage rooms” so clients could blow off steam. Recent research has called this anger management technique into question. The get-the-anger-out approach could be doing more harm than good. Studies have shown that venting anger makes us angrier. Consider the Proverb, “Fools give full vent to their rage…A hot-tempered person commits many sins” (Prov. 19.11, 22).
Augustine of Hippo (354-420) utilized the Lord’s Prayer as a primary means of instructing candidates for Easter baptism. He urged catechumens to cultivate patience and forbearance as an antidote to anger. He observed that the petition, “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors,” is the only portion of the prayer that Jesus elaborates. After concluding the prayer, Jesus circles back to forgiveness by adding the words, “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins” (Mt. 6.14-15). While I can’t locate in Augustine’s writings a quote widely attributed to him, “Resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die,” it’s consistent with Augustine’s caution about the deleterious impact of unchecked anger. Resentment has self-destructive tendencies. He observed, “Anger is a speck; hatred a beam.” If we do not remove the speck of anger, it can become a massive beam of hatred. Augustine taught new converts to “attend to yourself” to curb anger. Don’t allow anger to master us. Invite Christ to help us master inordinate desires like anger. In Augustine’s spiritual autobiography, Confessions, he draws upon a house metaphor in prayer. Our houses (souls) are too small for God to inhabit. We need to enlarge our house for God to indwell. His reference to “strange sins” may express his wonder at why he attracted to sins that hollow out his soul:
Augustine of Hippo
O Lord,
The house of my soul is narrow;
enlarge it that you may enter in.
It is ruinous, O repair it!
It displeases Your sight.
I confess it, I know.
But who shall cleanse it,
to whom shall I cry but to you?
Cleanse me from my secret faults, O Lord,
and spare Your servant from strange sins.
Augustine of Hippo, Confessions,1, 5.
Alex Fogleman, “Anger, Prayer and the Transformation of Desire: Augustine’s Catechumenate as an Emotion-Shaping Instruction.”
Rev. Dr. Peter James served 42 years as the senior of Vienna Presbyterian Church in Vienna, VA — 21 years in the 20th century and 21 years in the 21st century. He retired in 2021 and now serves as Pastor-in-Residence at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.
Even as a pastor, prayer came slowly to Pete. Read Pete’s story.