The Mormon Monk

In June 2010, when the Tea Party was still an emerging political force, I read a book that did more to help me understand that movement and late twentieth-century/early twenty-first century political and economic debate than years of news consumption and reading. The funny thing is, I didn't pick up Anne Heller's  Ayn Rand and the World She Made  because I wanted to understand Ron Paul and the Libertarian movement, Alan Greenspan, or the Tea Party. I picked it up because I happen to love her most famous novels,  The Fountainhead  and  Atlas Shrugged  (I don't really care for  We, the Living  or  Anthem ). Heller's title ostensibly refers to the fictional worlds that Rand created and lived in, but-- as NPR recently suggested --the world in which we live is more and more a world made after the image of Ayn Rand. Chances are that you've heard of Ayn Rand, notwithstanding the academy's scorn for her books. You've likely heard her name because ...

Courage is a glamorous virtue. We celebrate biblical heroes like Deborah and David--men and women of action who defied the odds and came off conquerors. Other virtues, if not exactly glamorous, are at least associated with marvelous blessings. We all want to have the faith of Mahonri Moriancumer, who moved mountains; the wisdom of Solomon, who confounded liars and the learned; and the purity of Enoch, who took a whole city to heaven. Courage, faith, wisdom, purity: these are among the most attractive, desirable virtues. Patience is not. I know what you are thinking. You want to be more patient. But why? What great blessing will attend your patience? Patience will not move mountains, no one will collect your patience into proverbs, and patience probably will not inspire the Lord to translate you ahead of time. After all, if you have learned to wait patiently, why would he prioritize  your  return? Job's name is synonymous with the virtue of patience, but I know no one who as...