anger. Any kind of shared life can have its irritating moments-think of all the stand-up comedy made from that material-but

According to Christian tradition, anger is numbered as one of the seven deadly sins,

The Stoics formed a school of Greco-Roman philosophy that taught patience, self-control, and submission to fate. It is not difficult to see why the first Christians found Stoicism appealing and why Stoicism would have influenced Christianity.

all of the other six can lead to anger; or we could say that anger is often symptomatic of the other six.

ANGER

The love of money is the root of all evil because the ultimate aim of all evil is death.

Ultimately this may be true. But the history of the Desert Fathers and Mothers and of other reputed seekers of peace suggests the very opposite. It suggests that conviction and conflict go hand in hand.

But the wrath of the Old Testament God is of a piece with the resurrection of the New: It is the will and the power to change the normal or customary course of things. Furthermore, it is the source of, and in some cases the sanction for, our human power to do the same.

If we think of our emotions as having purposes-that is, if we think of them as having been created or as having evolved for a reason-might the purpose of anger be to enable us to break loose, to struggle free, and at the most basic level to survive?