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well-being, whereas Chris�an rela�onship to the measures of compassion and well-being
God centralizes the role of rela�onship, and… used in this study. A cursory glance over the
prosocial character change.” As such, rather items comprising the compassion measure
than relying on a more distal and crude proxy used in this study reveal that some items re-
measure of faith, such as religious par�cipa�- flect ac�ons, whereas others specifically relate
on, Loosemoore employs a more central and to feelings. Presumably this includes neutral or
essen�al measure of faith – namely, one’s rela- mildly posi�ve feelings of compassion and
�onship with God – as the key predictor and warmth, as well as more nega�ve feelings that
source of character forma�on and psychospiri- come with empathizing with and internalizing
tual wellbeing. I wonder how chronic exposure the pain of others. When looking at the compo-
to rela�vely virtuous or vicious a�achment fi- site measure of well-being, I wonder how much
gures or experiences could factor into this mo- of the associa�on between compassion and
del, though accoun�ng for such complex and well-being is driven by the measure of posi�ve
dynamic interac�ons between human-God and and nega�ve emo�ons versus eudaimonic well-
human-human rela�onships would be excee- being? Given the ra�onale for a “dashboard ar-
dingly challenging. ray” approach to measuring well-being, I am
not sugges�ng that the well-being construct
Another theme that stood out to me in Roberts’ should be pulled apart. However, it does raise
(2022) book was that “good character is uni- ques�ons about how we conceptualize and
fied, but not monolithic” (p. 84). Although it is measure compassion as a virtue. Clearly fee-
meaningful and profitable to reflect on the lings of compassion fa�gue are concomitant
parts of character, it seemed impossible to con- with virtuous acts of compassion, but are we
ceive of any single virtue in complete isola�on also capturing ways that – inspired by Christ’s
from any of the other virtues. Like looking at willingness to suffer on our behalf (i.e., rela�-
the various facets of a diamond, analysis of onship with God) – we too can experience joy
each virtue inevitably necessitated reference to and meaning in suffering for the sake of others?
the other virtues. For example, one cannot un- I am not an expert on these specific measures
derstand hope or love apart from faith and vice or on compassion as a virtue to be able to offer
versa. This is captured in Loosemoore’s study. any further comment than this. Instead, I mere-
By examining the combined media�onal effects ly raise these ques�ons and leave them for the
of mul�ple character virtues simultaneously, reader’s considera�on.
Loosemoore was able to make some interes�ng
observa�ons that could not have been made by Lastly, I agree with Loosemoore’s asser�on that
examining separate virtues in isola�on, such as “the model tested is an improvement on analy-
the poten�al role of humility as a “master vir- zing one virtue at a �me, but analyzing increa-
tue” which the other virtues depend upon. singly complex models is warranted.” This stu-
dy offers a good star�ng point based on the
One of the more surprising findings of Loose- exis�ng literature on humility, gra�tude, and
moore’s study was the nega�ve associa�on compassion. I wonder what the model would
between compassion and well-being, which look like if addi�onal character virtues were ad-
also seems to be the least understood associa- ded, such as those described by Kierkegaard
�on in the previous literature that he reviewed. (Roberts, 2022), which include joy, faith, hope,
Loosemoore hypothesizes that this may reflect love, pa�ence, gra�tude, and generosity. I en-
compassion fa�gue as a consequence of taking courage Paul Loosemoore to con�nue this ex-
up one’s cross. This is certainly a plausible hy- cellent work and I thank him for this contribu�-
pothesis. Perhaps we could take a closer look at on.
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