Beyond orthodoxy and orthopraxy, there is a third description of faith that has increasingly come to occupy my attention. This word is "orthopathy." Orthopathy concerns "right passions" and "right affections." The emotional, passionate, affectional, and motivational life of the Christian has a particular shape, character, and orientation. I mention motivations as emotions are what drive or draw us toward a goal. For example, in some activity or life-defining goal we describe our investment as "pursuing our passions." We pursue what we are passionate about. Orthopathy, therefore, gets down into the deep motivational structures of our lives. In the Bible, orthopathy is located in the "heart" and, as Jesus says, it is from the heart where good and evil comes.
Also, many of the imperatives of the Christian life aren't really behaviors but address our emotions. The arena is internal and affectional. The ask is for orthopathy. Love your enemies. Do not be anxious. Rejoice in the Lord always. Forgive. Such commands address our passions.
And finally, there is the Augustinian notion that all sin is, in the end, malformed desire, a twisted love. If so, spiritual formation is primarily, to coin a new word, orthopathic, the right ordering of our passions and affections.
So, if you've never heard of it before, I wanted to set before you this trio. There is orthodoxy, orthopraxy, and orthopathy. Right belief, right practice, and right passion.
