Grove City College
faith & learning A faculty perspective into the mission of Grove City College, the role of Christian scholarship in higher education and the connection between faith and learning.
The Grace of Fortitude By Andrew Mitchell
Dr. Andrew Mitchell is an associate professor of history at Grove City College, having previously taught at Hillsdale College and Spring Arbor University. He earned his B.A. from Hillsdale College in 2000 and his M.A.(2000) and Ph.D. (2005) from The Ohio State University. Dr. Mitchell has taught classes on Spain and Latin America, courses in early modern and military history, and seminars on the 16th century Reformations, piracy, and food and feasting. He is currently working on a book provisionally titled, Long Live the King and Death to the Enemies of the Faith! Religion & Revolution in the Revolt of the Catalans, 1640-1643.
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write this on the eve of Kings’ Day, the twelfth day of Christmas, marking the arrival of Epiphany season when Gentile magi left their contemplation, drawn to the sudden coming of the Light. Grove City has long been associated with light, although at times this light has not always been at its brightest (insert obligatory reference to weather reports being “cloudy with a chance of sunshine.”) In December, we celebrate “Light Up Night,” capped by the illumination of the star over Rockwell Hall (long may it stand!) that can be seen for many a mile – if not by the outlets, at least by Sheetz and the Main Street Diner. In 1911, Grove City adopted as its motto Lux Mea, an allusion to Psalm 119:105 – “thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” A few years ago, we created an eponymous student group inspired by that verse. Open to all, regardless of year or GPA, Lux Mea offers forums to discuss fundamental, interdisciplinary questions designed to guide students along the Way, to live and learn in the warmth and light of the Son. In addition to an annual two-day summer retreat, for the last eight autumns this group has hosted an intercollegiate colloquium inviting honors students from fellow Christian and liberal arts institutions. Attendees have come from Hillsdale College, Geneva College, Eastern University, and even Vanderbilt. This year’s conference explored the virtue of fortitude, the ability, as President McNulty summarized in his opening address, to “[face] challenges with humility, determination, grit and grace.” “Fortitude” means “strength” in Latin, but more importantly, it connotes firmness
over time. This is not simply the bravery of the moment, but a far greater strength, one that endures in the face of long-term threats to one’s existence. The pain and hardship associated with these threats can come from nature (think of cancers) or from man (consider Paul’s thorn in the flesh).
Fortitude, as with all virtues, engages the whole man, heart, body, and soul and it does so over the long haul. As with all virtues, fortitude cannot be practiced in isolation. Although individuals alone can be brave they act, not out of selfpreservation, but that others might live. In order to exercise fortitude it is imperative not only that you be in a position where you can use your strength, but that you do so for the right reason. From the classical era to the 20th century, we saw fortitude displayed in righting injustice or in defending one’s community. Disconcertingly we also examined the difficulties of being courageous in modern, rights-based democracies, as well as our contemporary perversion of courage, which increasingly celebrates the Nietzchean individual who sets out to violate and destroy communal norms. More challenging to conference participants, there are circumstances in which fortitude can be manifested by refraining from acting and instead “taking up the cross,” passively enduring the suffering that comes. Alternatively, we found that standing with others, consoling them in their