Addiction and Virtue – Kent Dunnington

Addiction and Virtue – Kent Dunnington

Very Important Christian Understanding of Addiction and Its Meaning

“Addiction and Virtue” is a book lover’s dream. It’s a book with a big and important idea, presented in an original thesis, and compellingly argued.

What Kent Dunnington has done is to provide us with an extremely important book about the nature and meaning of addiction. In recent decades, the concept of addiction has grown to be a dominant way of understanding what it means to be human. Almost all of us have known someone close to us who is facing some kind of addiction. Dunnington goes beyond the traditional debate between whether addiction is a choice or a disease. His stunningly effective and useful answer is that addiction is formed by a much neglected human factor – and that is “habit.”

Standing on the shoulders of the twin giants of Aristotle and Aquinas, Dunnington methodically explains why the concept of habit explains the characteristics of addiction more adequately than either choice or disease. How can it be, for example, that at one and the same time the addict loathes his habit, wants to change it, and believes he can, and yet also feels completely powerless to change? Habit explains this paradox beautifully because habits are created by the choices we make, but they become habitual and so much a part of us they seem hardwired into us like a disease.

Dunnington’s thesis goes even further, for he offers a cogent explanation for why addiction has become so prevalent in modern culture in particular. It’s because in modernity we have cut ourselves off from any common consensus of meaning or “telos.” Addictions offer a totalizing meaning for the addict’s life in a life that too often is characterized by arbitrariness, boredom, and loneliness. More than this, addictions become almost religious in nature, complete with worship and ritual. Time and time again, Dunnington provides quotations from addicts that support his thesis that behind the surface of addictions lies a quest for meaning that is ultimately religious. The problem with addiction, ultimately, is that it is idolatrous and seeks ultimate meaning in something less than God Himself. Dunnington thankfully identifies addiction as a kind of sin, but he wisely goes beyond mere labeling and helps us understand the deeper meaning of addiction. This, in turn, gives us the ability to more lovingly and effectively deal with the addictions in our lives.

I can’t emphasize how important “Addiction and Virtue” is for understanding addiction and how we, particularly the Church, can respond with grace and power to the addictions in our lives. I teach a high school Worldviews class and have been referring to this book constantly for the last 2 weeks as I’ve been reading it. It’s one of those books with such a powerful and useful idea that it applies to many areas of life. Dunnington’s thesis is persuasively argued, which is not surprising given his Ph.D. in philosophy. His ideas also resonate with my own observations and theories about addictions, the nature of 12-step programs, and what the Church’s response to addictions should be.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who knows someone trapped in addiction, to pastors, and to anyone who wants to better understand how humans are created and meant to live. The only warning I would give is that at times the philosophical nature of the book can make it difficult to read. While this makes the book difficult for many readers, in the end the effort is well worth it.