Podcast Summary: The BEMA Podcast

Episode 485: Vice & Virtue — Prudence

Date: November 13, 2025
Host: Brent Billings (A), with Reid Dent (B) and Josh Bossé (C)
Theme: Exploring the virtue of Prudence—what it means, why it matters, and how it is rooted in biblical wisdom and lived out day-to-day.

Episode Overview

This episode initiates a discussion on the cardinal virtues with a focus on Prudence. The hosts unpack the true meaning of prudence beyond its modern connotations, relating it to biblical wisdom. Using philosophical, scriptural, and literary references such as Annie Dillard, Aristotle, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes, the group explores prudence/wisdom as the necessary bridge between knowledge and action—especially in the messy, context-dependent realities of everyday life.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Stage: The Gravity of Wisdom (00:15–03:00)

• Reid Dent opens with a provocative excerpt from Annie Dillard’s "Teaching a Stone to Talk," stressing the awe and seriousness of invoking God's presence, highlighting the need for humility and reverence in Christian life.
  • Quote [00:15]:

    “The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. ... We should all be wearing crash helmets.” (Annie Dillard, recited by B)

  • The opening frames prudence (wisdom) as a response to the “power we so blithely invoke.”

2. Deconstructing “Prudence”—Definitions and Preconceptions (03:00–06:43)

• The hosts note how prudence has become an archaic or misunderstood word—linked to being "prude" or overly fiscally cautious, which isn't the virtue intended.
• Reid traces prudence from Latin prudentia (seeing ahead) and Aristotle's Greek phronesis (mindfulness), repositioning it as the bridge between knowledge and action.
  • Quote [05:04]:

    “For Aristotle, phronesis was like the bridge between knowledge and action. … It always starts with holding in view the ends ... which are always human flourishing.”

The Three Components of Virtuous Prudence

1. Always begins with the ends (human flourishing).
2. Deliberates good/right action for the present context (contextual, not universal).
3. Requires action—moving beyond speculation.

3. Prudence vs. Temperance and Other Virtues (07:16–08:50)

• Prudence is distinguished from temperance (“knowing when to say enough”). Wisdom as “preemptive virtue” is central because all other virtues depend on it.
  • Quote [08:50]:

    “Thinkers talk about wisdom as the preemptive virtue … the ability to discern what is good and right has to be a part and parcel to other virtues.”

4. Wisdom Literature: Contradictions and Context (10:14–18:45)

• The group explores biblical “wisdom literature” by comparing proverbs and Ecclesiastes, showing how wisdom requires discerning context rather than following rigid rules.

  • Exhibits of Tension:

    • Proverbs 3: “Trust in the Lord … he will make your paths straight.”
    • Ecclesiastes 7: “Who can straighten what he has made crooked? ... no one can discover anything about their future.”
    • *Proverbs 26:4-5—*back-to-back contradictory advice on answering fools.

  • Josh notes the "tailor-made" nature of wisdom; Reid calls this “a feature, not a bug.”

  • Quote [17:18] (on wisdom literature):

    "There is a both-and-ness, not an either-or-ness."

  • Rachel Held Evans (paraphrased) via Reid:

    “Wisdom is not about knowing what is true, but knowing when it’s true.” [18:22]

5. Barriers to Wisdom—Modern Challenges (21:26–24:56)

• The greatest enemies of wisdom are a lack of listening, echo chambers, and slow-to-learn attitudes—especially in the hyper-contextless world of social media. True wisdom is hindered by “the commitment to the truth” when it becomes binary, dogmatic, and disconnected from context.
  • Josh [23:51]:

    “Whatever makes us slow to listen or incorporate new context ... cuts us off from wisdom.”

  • Brent on seeking counter-perspectives to avoid narrow wisdom.

6. Action Is Essential (25:29–28:22)

• Wisdom must move from knowledge into concrete action and cannot be reduced to theoretical or “right” answers; what is “true” may not always be “wise,” especially if wrongly applied.
  • Quote [26:20]:

    “You can say what is true in a way that somehow becomes false.”

7. “The Fear of the Lord is the Beginning of Wisdom” (29:12–36:37)

• The group discusses what this oft-quoted phrase truly means: it is not about dread or a punitive God, but an awe-filled awareness of God’s presence and significance in even the mundane. It should induce humility and a teachable posture.

  • Josh [31:20]:

    “The real deep down lack of fear of the Lord is ... [that] I can get away with this.”

  • Reid [34:28]:

    “Maybe we ought to hesitate, right, to speak the name … maybe there is real wisdom in the unwillingness to speak the tetragrammaton.”

  • Wisdom begins with humility, openness to not knowing, and refusal to presume understanding of God.

8. Wisdom is Found in the Ordinary (36:37–47:12)

• Wisdom is not just for philosophers or theologians; it is supremely practical and lived out in daily “quotidian” acts—family, work, conflict, routine. Reid and Josh discuss the importance of finding awe (not naivety) in the mundane and learning how to live “well” in small things.
  • Josh offers a “small fire” metaphor from Leviticus (41:40) for sustainable, ongoing wonder.
  • Reid contrasts modern entertainment’s “epic narrative” expectations with the humble, everyday sphere where wisdom operates.

9. Hallmarks of the Wise: Teachable and Communal (47:14–49:13)

• Wisdom is never fully possessed; true wise people are always teachable (“docile”).

  • Quote [47:27]:

    “One of the primary marks of a wise person is that they know what they don’t know and are always open to learning.”

• Wisdom grows best communally—through shared discernment and correction.

10. Final Synthesis: Wisdom as Love, Wisdom as Christ (49:13–end)

• Reid connects biblical wisdom to Christ crucified, quoting Paul in 1 Corinthians:

  • Quote [53:35]:

    “For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.”

• The episode emphasizes:

  • Wisdom is love in action.
  • Action divorced from love or context is hollow.
  • “Wisdom is if it’s the preemptor to the virtues, again, love is always the thing that all of the virtues are growing in.” [54:17]

Key Quotes and Memorable Moments

• Annie Dillard, via Reid [00:15, 55:41]:

  • “We should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares. They should lash us to our pews.”

• Josh [21:26]:

  • “Anything that makes you slow to listen or pay attention to that context ... is where we can cut ourselves off from wisdom.”

• Reid [26:20]:

  • “You can say what is true in a way that somehow it becomes false.”

• Rachel Held Evans, paraphrased by Reid [18:22]:

  • “Wisdom is not about knowing what is true, but knowing when it’s true.”

• Reid [36:17]:

  • “Maybe there is real wisdom in the unwillingness to speak the tetragrammaton.”

• Paul (1 Corinthians), read by Reid [53:35]:

  • “For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom ... we preach Christ crucified ... Christ the wisdom of God.”

Timestamps: Important Segments

• 00:15–03:00 — Annie Dillard cold open; frame of reverence, danger, awe
• 03:00–06:43 — Defining Prudence; Aristotle’s phronesis; components of prudence
• 10:14–18:45 — Contradictory wisdom passages; wisdom literature survey
• 21:26–24:56 — Barriers to wisdom: echo chambers, context, listening
• 29:12–36:37 — “Fear of the Lord”; humility, not presumption
• 36:37–47:12 — Wisdom as daily, ordinary living; sustaining wonder
• 47:14–49:13 — Docility/Teachability as wisdom’s mark
• 53:35–end — Pauline summary; wisdom as Christ crucified; love as proof of wisdom

Conclusion / Takeaways

Wisdom (prudence) is:

• The bridge between knowledge and action, requiring context-sensitive discernment.
• Animated by a humble, teachable, and reverent posture towards God and the world.
• Grown best in community, never as a solitary pursuit.
• Lived out in the everyday grit of human life, not only in high-minded philosophy.
• Completed and made meaningful by love—its fruits seen in Christlike action.

Reflection Prompt:
Rather than striving to “know the right answer,” pursue the habit of attentive, teachable humility with an eye toward fostering human flourishing—the daily art of loving and stewarding well wherever you are planted. As Annie Dillard’s words suggest: approach even Sunday mornings (and the everyday) ready for awe, humility, and transformation.

For more, revisit Annie Dillard’s passage or Proverbs 9:10—and perhaps consider, as the hosts encourage, what it might mean to spiritually “wear a crash helmet” in your daily faith.