On Reading Well: Finding the Good Life Through Great Books

by Karen Swallow Prior

That “suffering” is the meaning of the root word for patience1 is made clear by the fact that we also use the word patient to refer to someone under medical care. The patient is someone “suffering” from an ailment—not merely waiting. Patient shares the same root as the word passion, which also means “suffering.” Someone who has a passion—a passion for music, a passion for soccer, a passion for a person—suffers on behalf of that love. When we speak in the church about “the passion of Christ,” it literally refers to the suffering of Christ on the cross on our behalf. The overlap between the words suffering and patience can be seen in another meaning of both words: “permit.” When Jesus said, “Suffer little children . . . to come unto me” (as Matthew 19:14 is rendered in the King James), he meant “permit” them to come. And when we speak of women’s suffrage, we refer to women being permitted to vote. The word permit in these contexts suggests willingness; the willingness to endure suffering is the meaning of the word patient. The expression “the patience of Job,” describing the great test of faith Job underwent in the Bible, refers to Job’s suffering, not merely his endurance. As connected as patience is to suffering, it is no wonder that, as theologian N. T. Wright points out, we “applaud patience but prefer it to be a virtue that others possess.”