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Courage: How the Gospel Creates Christian Fortitude
Exploring Courage in Light of the Gospel
Throughout Scripture, important biblical figures have faced numerous adversities with remarkable courage. In the New Testament, the apostles endured persecution, imprisonment, and even death for spreading the good news of the gospel. Yet, amid their struggle, they continued to expand the kingdom of God—even rejoicing as they suffered for Christ. How can believers exhibit this same courage today?
In Courage, author Joe Rigney explores the Christian virtue of fortitude and its connection to the gospel. From a theological perspective, Rigney argues that courage—used in the proper context—is a sign of God’s salvation and a believer’s faith in Christ. In this concise and practical book, readers will defeat feelings of anxiety, anger, and fear as they gain boldness from God to endure all of life’s circumstances.
Explores Christian How the gospel shapes this important Christian virtue Practical This concise guide encourages Christians to build up their boldness through Christ A Part of the Growing Gospel Integrity Created in partnership with Union School of Theology Written by Joe Author of The Things of Earth; Strangely Bright; and More Than a How to Experience Victory, Freedom, and Healing from Lust.
Throughout Scripture, important biblical figures have faced numerous adversities with remarkable courage. In the New Testament, the apostles endured persecution, imprisonment, and even death for spreading the good news of the gospel. Yet, amid their struggle, they continued to expand the kingdom of God—even rejoicing as they suffered for Christ. How can believers exhibit this same courage today?
In Courage, author Joe Rigney explores the Christian virtue of fortitude and its connection to the gospel. From a theological perspective, Rigney argues that courage—used in the proper context—is a sign of God’s salvation and a believer’s faith in Christ. In this concise and practical book, readers will defeat feelings of anxiety, anger, and fear as they gain boldness from God to endure all of life’s circumstances.
Explores Christian How the gospel shapes this important Christian virtue Practical This concise guide encourages Christians to build up their boldness through Christ A Part of the Growing Gospel Integrity Created in partnership with Union School of Theology Written by Joe Author of The Things of Earth; Strangely Bright; and More Than a How to Experience Victory, Freedom, and Healing from Lust.
115 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 26, 2023
23 people are currently reading
314 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews
July 17, 2023
Not all small books are meaty. This one is.
We all need a good reminder of what Biblical courage is and how we can attain it, especially because the times we are living now are frightening indeed.
We all need a good reminder of what Biblical courage is and how we can attain it, especially because the times we are living now are frightening indeed.
March 7, 2024
Excellent.
"So then, what is Christian boldness? It is courage and clarity about Jesus and sin in the face of powerful opposition. It is plain and open speech with no obfuscation or muttering. It is unhindered testimony to the truth, whether about Christ and his salvation or about what he came to save us from."
"So then, what is Christian boldness? It is courage and clarity about Jesus and sin in the face of powerful opposition. It is plain and open speech with no obfuscation or muttering. It is unhindered testimony to the truth, whether about Christ and his salvation or about what he came to save us from."
December 1, 2023
Rigney reminds us that both courage and fear are contagious, he biblically defines courage (his definitions are great!) and he roots our courage in Christ’s unshakable love for his people and proper fear of God. The biblical and literary models of courage were inspiring.
I look forward to reading the other books in this series. They seem like a great discipleship resource on various gospel virtues.
I look forward to reading the other books in this series. They seem like a great discipleship resource on various gospel virtues.
January 18, 2025
2025: Went through this solid book together with some friends from church over a few months. See below!
Solid work from Rigney, a to-the-point evaluation of what it means to live courageously as a follower of Jesus. I enjoyed the examples from Shakespeare as well as Narnia and other writings, but ultimately courage as a Christian comes down to confidence in something outside ourselves viz., the redemptive work of Jesus which both saves from damnation AND enables boldness to live out this gospel. "In other words, be fortified by the conviction that God will take you in when you are cast out. Strengthen your mind and steady your soul by the truth that God will give you Himself forever." (pg. 123)
Solid work from Rigney, a to-the-point evaluation of what it means to live courageously as a follower of Jesus. I enjoyed the examples from Shakespeare as well as Narnia and other writings, but ultimately courage as a Christian comes down to confidence in something outside ourselves viz., the redemptive work of Jesus which both saves from damnation AND enables boldness to live out this gospel. "In other words, be fortified by the conviction that God will take you in when you are cast out. Strengthen your mind and steady your soul by the truth that God will give you Himself forever." (pg. 123)
October 16, 2024
This book seems to equally speak directly to me just as Habits of Grace did. This was fantastic in teaching and showing me ways of courage in my faith. Great at defining courage. Showing clearly what biblical courage is. As well as failures of courage. Boldness, courage, and fearlessness are the key topics in the book, which are the prime concepts in Philippians 1. Great lessons and applications are shown. Thoroughly enjoyed the read!
December 7, 2023
Courage is a strong desire to live taking the form of a readiness to die. Neither clinging too hard to life, or waiting passively for death, but seeking life while being willing to lay it down. We can hold life this way because of the surety of God's goodness and Jesus' work in our lives.
Courage is remembering what is good and true, and clinging to it/pursuing it in the face of evil, doubt, uncertainty. I am praying for a deeper understanding of goodness and truth, as well as the boldness to cling to it.
Master fear through having a superior desire for some good thing.
Courage is tied to laughter and joy. Definitely not always, but helpful observation that courage is not going about with dour resolution and resignation, but meeting danger willingly, and even joyfully, and even with laughter. Wholehearted pursuit of some better good is joyful even with fear and failure.
Really liked it, needed to hear it. Praying again for courage with regards to both the gospel and every other area in my life. Sorry for the book report.
Courage is remembering what is good and true, and clinging to it/pursuing it in the face of evil, doubt, uncertainty. I am praying for a deeper understanding of goodness and truth, as well as the boldness to cling to it.
Master fear through having a superior desire for some good thing.
Courage is tied to laughter and joy. Definitely not always, but helpful observation that courage is not going about with dour resolution and resignation, but meeting danger willingly, and even joyfully, and even with laughter. Wholehearted pursuit of some better good is joyful even with fear and failure.
Really liked it, needed to hear it. Praying again for courage with regards to both the gospel and every other area in my life. Sorry for the book report.
September 13, 2024
Our culture needs more courageous Jesus followers.
Rigney defines courage as “a stable habit of the heart that masters the passions, especially the passion of fear, through the power of a superior desire”
The superior desire of a Christian is for the glory of God. Such desire overcomes every fear and passion, leading to lion-hearted joy in the face of all evil. Epic book. Great for a short devotional or discipleship resource.
Rigney defines courage as “a stable habit of the heart that masters the passions, especially the passion of fear, through the power of a superior desire”
The superior desire of a Christian is for the glory of God. Such desire overcomes every fear and passion, leading to lion-hearted joy in the face of all evil. Epic book. Great for a short devotional or discipleship resource.
August 5, 2023
I can’t begin to express how much of a jewel this book is. I’ve never come across much discussion of courage outside of Aristotle’s “Ethics”, yet Rigney’s exegesis of Christian courage is something else entirely. Read this book!
September 10, 2023
The trouble with reading anything by Joe Rigney is that he always makes me want to reread Narnia. And by "trouble" I of course mean "bonus." I've already started LWW. I always enjoy anything from Joe and anything from Union Theology (as long as we mean Mike Reeves's Union, not the apostate seminary in New York), and this was no exception. I particularly appreciated the chapter on gendered inflections of courage.
Narrator was OK as long as he didn't run into any Latin or difficult names.
Narrator was OK as long as he didn't run into any Latin or difficult names.
November 18, 2023
We live in a time where many invertebres stand behind pulpits. This is a must read for any leader. Great for discipleship, especially for men.
June 22, 2024
Much has been written about the new post-Christian cultural situation in which we find ourselves. This has called forth many new proposals regarding apologetics, evangelism and politics, but there is a simple virtue necessary today that few have talked about, and that's courage. Christians need to be courageous.
It has caught my attention before that courage is not included among the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5, but chapter 2 of Rigney's book reminds us how often God encourages his people to be courageous. It's a common refrain. The mature Christian is not just loving and patient and kind, but one who can face potential loss in the interest of a greater good -- one who possesses a strong desire to live in the form of a readiness to die (quoting Chesterton on p.21). To be courageous also involves a rejection of its antithesis, which would be cowardice. Christians should seek to resist timidity, fear and faintheartedness, which "saps our strength, withers the heart, and weakens our resolve." (p.57). This does not mean that believers do not experience fear, but that they have learned to master their fears (p.10).
In the last chapter, Rigney discusses the way men and women can be courageous in ways that are specific to their sex. Both will have opportunities to be bold and fearless, but not in the same way. This was a surprising addition to the conversation, but enlightening and helpful.
Personally I would have rather read more about practical application at the end of the book rather than observations from Shakespeare, but it's a small quibble in an otherwise en-"couraging" book.
It has caught my attention before that courage is not included among the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5, but chapter 2 of Rigney's book reminds us how often God encourages his people to be courageous. It's a common refrain. The mature Christian is not just loving and patient and kind, but one who can face potential loss in the interest of a greater good -- one who possesses a strong desire to live in the form of a readiness to die (quoting Chesterton on p.21). To be courageous also involves a rejection of its antithesis, which would be cowardice. Christians should seek to resist timidity, fear and faintheartedness, which "saps our strength, withers the heart, and weakens our resolve." (p.57). This does not mean that believers do not experience fear, but that they have learned to master their fears (p.10).
In the last chapter, Rigney discusses the way men and women can be courageous in ways that are specific to their sex. Both will have opportunities to be bold and fearless, but not in the same way. This was a surprising addition to the conversation, but enlightening and helpful.
Personally I would have rather read more about practical application at the end of the book rather than observations from Shakespeare, but it's a small quibble in an otherwise en-"couraging" book.
August 14, 2023
Very encouraging! Loved his definitions of courage, cowardice, fear, and boldness
September 11, 2023
This was a good book. Clear and concise. As with all short books like this I would have loved more on some topics that seemed rushed but for what it was it was solid. Recommended
June 17, 2024
We were made to be courageous 🎵
Good little one by Joe (bonus points for Narnia refs)
Good little one by Joe (bonus points for Narnia refs)
March 7, 2025
Awesome book.
March 23, 2024
Excellent and concise. His chapter on courage displayed in the sexes is worth the read.
October 1, 2023
Courage has been eclipsed by cowardice in our culture. Christian courage in particular is lacking in men and women. Joe Rigney’s book, Courage: How the Gospel Creates Christian Fortitude is filled with encouragement and challenge for anyone who has ears to hear.
The author rivets the attention of his readers on three qualities that explode off the pages of Philippians chapter 1 - boldness, courage, and fearlessness. Rigney develops the cultural context in the first century and challenges readers to emulate the courage of Paul and the first-century Christ-followers.
The important principle that runs throughout the book is this: “Seeing courage spreads courage. Seeing boldness awakens boldness. Seeing fearlessness overcomes fear.” In other words, as Rigney writes, “Courage is contagious. Boldness spreads. Fearlessness is infectious. And when these virtues are caught, Christ is magnified.”
Rigney rightly says that Christians tend to preach aspects of Scripture that are agreeable to people but neglect more difficult topics. These topics, the argument goes are in the realm of “discipleship” and should be avoided in order to prevent offending anyone. (If I deposited a dime every time I heard something similar in the church, I’d be very wealthy). The author opposes this approach to the Christian life:
When we call people to repent of their sins and idolatries, we cannot avoid the ones that we know will make them angry … You can’t preach the gospel to a practicing homosexual and not call him away from practicing homosexuality. You can’t preach the gospel to contemporary egalitarian progressives and not call them away from their commitment to a false view of human nature and marriage and men and women and sex.
Courage, then, should be a regular part of the Christian life. This courage is enabled by the Holy Spirit and grows when other believers participate and encourage us to be bold, even in the face of adversity or persecution.
Courage: How the Gospel Creates Christian Fortitude is a much-needed book as believers have been marginalized and discouraged from boldly declaring the truth of God’s Word. It is a clarion call to Christians to pick up the mantle of leadership and be instilled with boldness, courage, and fearlessness.
I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review.
The author rivets the attention of his readers on three qualities that explode off the pages of Philippians chapter 1 - boldness, courage, and fearlessness. Rigney develops the cultural context in the first century and challenges readers to emulate the courage of Paul and the first-century Christ-followers.
The important principle that runs throughout the book is this: “Seeing courage spreads courage. Seeing boldness awakens boldness. Seeing fearlessness overcomes fear.” In other words, as Rigney writes, “Courage is contagious. Boldness spreads. Fearlessness is infectious. And when these virtues are caught, Christ is magnified.”
Rigney rightly says that Christians tend to preach aspects of Scripture that are agreeable to people but neglect more difficult topics. These topics, the argument goes are in the realm of “discipleship” and should be avoided in order to prevent offending anyone. (If I deposited a dime every time I heard something similar in the church, I’d be very wealthy). The author opposes this approach to the Christian life:
When we call people to repent of their sins and idolatries, we cannot avoid the ones that we know will make them angry … You can’t preach the gospel to a practicing homosexual and not call him away from practicing homosexuality. You can’t preach the gospel to contemporary egalitarian progressives and not call them away from their commitment to a false view of human nature and marriage and men and women and sex.
Courage, then, should be a regular part of the Christian life. This courage is enabled by the Holy Spirit and grows when other believers participate and encourage us to be bold, even in the face of adversity or persecution.
Courage: How the Gospel Creates Christian Fortitude is a much-needed book as believers have been marginalized and discouraged from boldly declaring the truth of God’s Word. It is a clarion call to Christians to pick up the mantle of leadership and be instilled with boldness, courage, and fearlessness.
I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review.
January 16, 2025
4.0 Stars
Joe Rigney has written an incredibly helpful engagement with the Christian virtue of "Courage." In this book Rigney explains what courage is, which is boldly facing persecution, suffering or ridicule in sight of a greater joy, and then explains how Christians can cultivate courage. Rigney bases the bulk of his book on passages in Philippians in which Paul encourages Christians to have boldness in facing persecution. Rigney's book is very helpful, primarily because of it's brevity and it's topic. There are few Christian books out there dealing with Christian virtue and Rigney's book is a needed addition. Especially as the current culture secularizes more and more, Christians need to be more diligent to cultivate this important character trait. This is a great book and especially because of it's brevity Christians have no reason to dive into this book!
Joe Rigney has written an incredibly helpful engagement with the Christian virtue of "Courage." In this book Rigney explains what courage is, which is boldly facing persecution, suffering or ridicule in sight of a greater joy, and then explains how Christians can cultivate courage. Rigney bases the bulk of his book on passages in Philippians in which Paul encourages Christians to have boldness in facing persecution. Rigney's book is very helpful, primarily because of it's brevity and it's topic. There are few Christian books out there dealing with Christian virtue and Rigney's book is a needed addition. Especially as the current culture secularizes more and more, Christians need to be more diligent to cultivate this important character trait. This is a great book and especially because of it's brevity Christians have no reason to dive into this book!
October 5, 2023
3.5 stars. A helpful little book, though nothing groundbreaking. I disliked his chapter on how courage manifests differently in the sexes. While I agree that the virtue of courage may be "inflected" differently by the sexes, I do not think that the primary way that women express courage is through submission/obedience to their husbands. Rigney spends most of the section on womanly courage on Sarah, who showed deference and respect to Abraham by calling him "lord." Of course, I agree that Sarah is a paragon of virtue and displays the "beauty of a quiet and gentle spirit" that Peter lauds. However, I don't think that Sarah really illustrates the virtue of courage (though she certainly illustrates others), at least the way that Rigney defines it. Frankly, I wish that way that womanly courage was described wasn't so... uh... lame.
December 5, 2024
This is a very good Protestant treatment of courage- Accessible, deeply biblical, and filled with good illustrations. What stood out about the book to me was the authors appropriation of virtue ethics throughout. This isn’t something one finds in a lot of Protestant thinking and it deeply thickened the material and concepts.
January 11, 2024
Really good stuff here.
June 18, 2024
The best of a great little series. Short book, but full of powerful biblical exhortations for Christians to have a courage anchored in the Lord.
January 29, 2025
This short little book was clear and helpful for me as I preached a short sermon series on courage at our church. It’s accessible, practical, and gospel-centered.
April 1, 2024
Another good entry in the Growing Gospel Integrity series. "Christian courage is a desire-driven, glad-hearted treasuring of Jesus as the greatest good in the face of looming danger or death."
January 5, 2024
1.5/5 ⭐️ (I think this is one of the longest reviews I’ve written)
I want to be clear: complementarianism is not inherently sexist. You can be a complementarian who loves and cares about women and who has a different interpretation of scripture than I do and that doesn’t make you an unloving, unkind misogynist.
While I fall on the egalitarian side of the isle, I read complementarian authors fairly regularly, in fact the other authors in this series are complementarian; I found their books insightful and not at all a reductionist view towards women.
This book, well, I feel differently. Now I’d like to start with what I felt the author did well. He made some good points!
I liked in the Defining Courage chapter, how he talked about virtues, I felt that was a great explanation that I’ll definitely use in the future. Also when he talks about our greatest danger being God, I thought that was great! I also liked this quote: “This gospel is the fountain of Christian courage. It is the source of holy boldness and fortitude. And this gospel courage has two distinct movements—boldness before God and boldness before men.” I think that summarized the majority of this book!
I don’t feel like the author was concise which took away from his points. Most of the book wasn’t new info.
He began to lose me as he lumped in egalitarianism with progressive theology and said we need to call it out as sin (which believe it or not you CAN be egalitarian without subscribing to progressive theology).
The book has a bias against women and a cultural view on women that paints them as weak. I can’t help but feel like women were an afterthought while writing this. Most of his examples and explanations were overtly masculine (even when they didn’t need to be!). I think (genuinely - I don’t mean this to be insulting) he wrote this book expressly for men and then realized he needed to add something since this is a part of a larger body of work that is for both sexes.
While I can say that I appreciate the courage (*ba dum tiss*) that it takes to talk about differences between men and women, I can also say the author did an objectively bad job.
When he shifts from talking about men to women’s differences in how they display courage he actually says “Women, children, and the weak are able to cultivate and display Christian courage in their stability of soul and patient endurance of evil.” Like my brother in Christ are you well??? Why do men get pages of praise while women are lumped in with CHILDREN AND THE WEAK?? That actually made me laugh it was so ridiculous. He also really only talks about womens courage in the context of “marry, submit, bear children, and be quiet” - “what about single women?” you might be asking (apparently they don’t exist?)
He also gives Sarah as the most lengthy example (how she submits to Abraham) instead of using more applicable texts like Deborah, Mary, Esther, or Ruth. He does briefly mention Jael (and he talks about Abigail - again as quietly submissive) but it’s very telling that Sarah’s his main example from the Bible. He also gives Shakespearean examples (only in how those women submit and are gentle). He then makes a weird, side point in how it’s “unseemly” for women to fight in battle (when talking about Narnia) unless they have no other choice, and points to how Lucy fighting in battle wasn’t actually courage - no, no! - her courageous act was submitting to Peter. Overall, he pigeonholed examples to fit his narrative - disappointing when he could’ve found more robust examples of courage than just “submit!”
Submission isn’t a bad thing in fact it’s a very very good thing, but it’s not the ONLY thing and it’s disappointing that this author gave such a half-hearted attempt at addressing feminine courage - I’d rather he not attempt at all.
I don’t think the author hates women and I agreed with some of his ideas and loved how he emboldened men to be courageous in this book. But I do think he has too simple and too low (not LOW but lower than it should be) a view of us as image bearers and as his sisters in Christ, and I think some of his ideas of how women operate are more fiction than fact and I think he (as a Christian man) has a duty to do better.
I want to be clear: complementarianism is not inherently sexist. You can be a complementarian who loves and cares about women and who has a different interpretation of scripture than I do and that doesn’t make you an unloving, unkind misogynist.
While I fall on the egalitarian side of the isle, I read complementarian authors fairly regularly, in fact the other authors in this series are complementarian; I found their books insightful and not at all a reductionist view towards women.
This book, well, I feel differently. Now I’d like to start with what I felt the author did well. He made some good points!
I liked in the Defining Courage chapter, how he talked about virtues, I felt that was a great explanation that I’ll definitely use in the future. Also when he talks about our greatest danger being God, I thought that was great! I also liked this quote: “This gospel is the fountain of Christian courage. It is the source of holy boldness and fortitude. And this gospel courage has two distinct movements—boldness before God and boldness before men.” I think that summarized the majority of this book!
I don’t feel like the author was concise which took away from his points. Most of the book wasn’t new info.
He began to lose me as he lumped in egalitarianism with progressive theology and said we need to call it out as sin (which believe it or not you CAN be egalitarian without subscribing to progressive theology).
The book has a bias against women and a cultural view on women that paints them as weak. I can’t help but feel like women were an afterthought while writing this. Most of his examples and explanations were overtly masculine (even when they didn’t need to be!). I think (genuinely - I don’t mean this to be insulting) he wrote this book expressly for men and then realized he needed to add something since this is a part of a larger body of work that is for both sexes.
While I can say that I appreciate the courage (*ba dum tiss*) that it takes to talk about differences between men and women, I can also say the author did an objectively bad job.
When he shifts from talking about men to women’s differences in how they display courage he actually says “Women, children, and the weak are able to cultivate and display Christian courage in their stability of soul and patient endurance of evil.” Like my brother in Christ are you well??? Why do men get pages of praise while women are lumped in with CHILDREN AND THE WEAK?? That actually made me laugh it was so ridiculous. He also really only talks about womens courage in the context of “marry, submit, bear children, and be quiet” - “what about single women?” you might be asking (apparently they don’t exist?)
He also gives Sarah as the most lengthy example (how she submits to Abraham) instead of using more applicable texts like Deborah, Mary, Esther, or Ruth. He does briefly mention Jael (and he talks about Abigail - again as quietly submissive) but it’s very telling that Sarah’s his main example from the Bible. He also gives Shakespearean examples (only in how those women submit and are gentle). He then makes a weird, side point in how it’s “unseemly” for women to fight in battle (when talking about Narnia) unless they have no other choice, and points to how Lucy fighting in battle wasn’t actually courage - no, no! - her courageous act was submitting to Peter. Overall, he pigeonholed examples to fit his narrative - disappointing when he could’ve found more robust examples of courage than just “submit!”
Submission isn’t a bad thing in fact it’s a very very good thing, but it’s not the ONLY thing and it’s disappointing that this author gave such a half-hearted attempt at addressing feminine courage - I’d rather he not attempt at all.
I don’t think the author hates women and I agreed with some of his ideas and loved how he emboldened men to be courageous in this book. But I do think he has too simple and too low (not LOW but lower than it should be) a view of us as image bearers and as his sisters in Christ, and I think some of his ideas of how women operate are more fiction than fact and I think he (as a Christian man) has a duty to do better.
December 6, 2024
I honestly have a hard time rating this book. There are many great truths in it, but it felt like Rigney was going through the motions. No deep insights or theology in it (it honestly felt like he was under a contract and had to pump something out).
This book is part of a series and Sinclair Ferguson's book on "Worthy" was a much more thought out examination of the topic (even though I believe Ferguson's was shorter).
The most difficult part of "Courage" was the stereo type of men being "first into the breach." Men's courage is shown in facing danger and overcoming (which it CAN BE)...but then women's courage is shown in their submission. I think men AND women's courage can be shown in our submission to God's call...but Rigney's main thrust was that women have courage when they submit to even ungodly men. He uses a Shakespeare play as an example.
The book isn't all bad, and reading other bits of Rigney's works, I don't think he was meaning this the way it came out, but it was just odd. I also still recommend the "Growing Gospel Integrity" series as a whole.
This book is part of a series and Sinclair Ferguson's book on "Worthy" was a much more thought out examination of the topic (even though I believe Ferguson's was shorter).
The most difficult part of "Courage" was the stereo type of men being "first into the breach." Men's courage is shown in facing danger and overcoming (which it CAN BE)...but then women's courage is shown in their submission. I think men AND women's courage can be shown in our submission to God's call...but Rigney's main thrust was that women have courage when they submit to even ungodly men. He uses a Shakespeare play as an example.
The book isn't all bad, and reading other bits of Rigney's works, I don't think he was meaning this the way it came out, but it was just odd. I also still recommend the "Growing Gospel Integrity" series as a whole.
January 4, 2025
This is a wonderful short read. Starting with the classical definition of courage, which reflects common virtues, to that of the bible, it really does highlight the beauty of this virtue and its fundamental place in shaping who we are and helping us to properly pursue the good in our lives. I especially also appreciated the bit about how courage is contagious. A few key quotes:
“Courage laughs loudest in the midst of the trial.”
“Courage is a kind of glad-hearted stability and manifest hopefulness in the face of hardship. Lewis elsewhere identifies laughter and gaiety and wholeheartedness as “the natural accompaniment of courage," whether in war or elsewhere.”
And one from Henry V: “In peace there's nothing so becomes a mann
As modest stillness and humility:
But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger;”
Something that i needed to read and hope to grow in.
Much recommended.
“Courage laughs loudest in the midst of the trial.”
“Courage is a kind of glad-hearted stability and manifest hopefulness in the face of hardship. Lewis elsewhere identifies laughter and gaiety and wholeheartedness as “the natural accompaniment of courage," whether in war or elsewhere.”
And one from Henry V: “In peace there's nothing so becomes a mann
As modest stillness and humility:
But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger;”
Something that i needed to read and hope to grow in.
Much recommended.
December 16, 2025
A good book on courage and how this virtue should be present in Christians. Rigney does a good job of outlining the virtue and then applying it to the Christian. A Christian can have courage when it comes to other people, because they know that God is in control and they fear the one who can destory body and soul and not just the body. The Christian can also have courage when it comes to God, even rightly fearing God, because they know they can approach the throne bodly through Jesus Christ. I also appreciated how Rigney applied courage to leadership- quoting from C.S. Lewis's The Horse and His Boy as well as saying "Because both courage and fear are contagious, a leader knows that there are times when he bust put on the brave face, when he must encourage those in his care by open expressions of hopefulness and joy."
November 13, 2025
Well this is an incredibly helpful little book. I especially appreciated the explanation of virtues in the classical sense, definitions of courage and fortitude, and contrast of cowardice. “Courage and the Sexes” was my favorite chapter. Strong conclusion as well. I appreciated the biblical examples and those from Shakespeare and Narnia.
“Courage laughs loudest in the midst of the trial.”
“Courage is a habit of heart and mind that overcomes fear by clinging to (or reaching for) what is good in the face of hardship, pain, and danger.”
“If God is for us, who can be against us?”
“Courage laughs loudest in the midst of the trial.”
“Courage is a habit of heart and mind that overcomes fear by clinging to (or reaching for) what is good in the face of hardship, pain, and danger.”
“If God is for us, who can be against us?”
November 21, 2023
An excellent book on a virtue that is sorely missing among Christians today. He lays out a persuasive case for what Christian courage looks like. There numerous definitions of courage throughout the book. These definitions overlap, but give a good view of courage from various angles. He also discusses masculine courage and feminine courage and how they are similar, but vary in some ways. Rigney's writing is always clear and Biblical.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews