Paul and Virtue Ethics: Building Bridges Between New Testament Studies and Moral Theology

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In Paul and Virtue Ethics, Daniel Harrington and James Keenan build upon their successful collaboration Jesus and Virtue Ethics to discuss the apostle Paul's teachings as a guide to interpret theology and ethics today. Examining Paul's writings, the authors investigate what they teach about the basic questions of virtue ethics: Who am I? Who do I want to become? And how do I get there? Their intent is not to provide stringent rules, but to awaken discovery and encourage dialogue. The book first considers the ...
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Paul and Virtue Ethics: Building Bridges Between New Testament Studies and Moral Theology

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Overview

In Paul and Virtue Ethics, Daniel Harrington and James Keenan build upon their successful collaboration Jesus and Virtue Ethics to discuss the apostle Paul's teachings as a guide to interpret theology and ethics today. Examining Paul's writings, the authors investigate what they teach about the basic questions of virtue ethics: Who am I? Who do I want to become? And how do I get there? Their intent is not to provide stringent rules, but to awaken discovery and encourage dialogue. The book first considers the concept of virtue ethics, an approach to ethics that emphasizes moral character, and Paul's ethics in particular. Next, the authors focus on the virtues of faith, love/charity, and hope as treated by Paul and Thomas Aquinas. Closing the book with reflections on the roles of other virtues (and vices) in individual and communal Christian life, the authors discuss various issues in social ethics and sexual morality as they are dealt with in Paul and in Christian virtue ethics today.
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Editorial Reviews

Theological Studies
One could not ask for better guides through Paul and virtue ethics than we have in Harrington and Keenan. The clarity of their exposition and comprehensive grasp of their fields makes this book a welcome resource for any student of Paul and virtue.
Richard M. Gula
By using virtue ethics to read Paul and by using Paul to understand virtue ethics, two prestigious scholars in their respective fields serve up a gourmet banquet that blends the flavors of scripture and ethics without losing the distinctive tastes of each. Beginners will be delighted and specialists impressed with how Harrington and Keenan put scripture and ethics in critical dialogue with each other with such facility of style. This is a book for theology students and pastors who want a better grasp of the developing theological trend in virtue ethics. It is also a book for anyone who cares about living virtuously in a serious way.
Frank J. Matera
For many years, Theologians and Exegetes have recognized the need to bridge the gap between exegesis and moral theology, but few have undertaken the task. Bringing the moral teaching of Paul and contemporary virtue ethics into dialogue with each other, Harrington and Keenan have done what others have only spoken about. Their work provides a model for developing moral theology in light of the Biblical text, and exegeting the Biblical text in light of contemporary moral theology.
Jean Porter
Catholic moral theologians are often taken to task, with some justice, for our unwillingness to engage with the theological and scriptural roots of our discipline. At the same time, recent biblical scholarship is a forbidding field for the outsider, relying as it does on a range of historical and linguistic skills that most theologians do not possess. This is one area in which interdisciplinary work is badly needed, and so this recent book by two eminent Jesuit scholars, specializing in New Testament studies and moral theology, offers a timely contribution to both fields. Written in a clear and engaging style, it comes across as a conversation between two scholars engaged in an open-ended, exploratory conversation on issues of mutual concern. While this book is intended, in part, for classroom use, its greatest contribution may well be the way in which it models and invites further interdisciplinary work among theologically minded biblical scholars, and theologians who are attentive to the scriptural roots of our faith.
M. Cathleen Kaveny
Who am I?, What do I want to become?, and How do I get there? All Christians ask these questions in light of our redemption in Jesus Christ, and no Christians has ever asked them more searchingly than St. Paul. In this deeply learned yet broadly accessible volume, Harrington (a New Testament scholar) and Keenan (a moral theologian) address these questions by forging a fruitful partnership between virtue theory and Pauline studies. They shed new light on questions ranging from the meaning of charity, to the role of the Eucharist in building up virtue, to practical matters of social and sexual ethics. It is a perfect book for an introductory course in theological ethics.
John P. Meier
In academic circles one often hears the buzz word 'inter-disciplinary.' The frequency of the word, unfortunately, rarely guarantees the realization of the value intended. Here in Paul and Virtue Ethics, we have a true model of what inter-disciplinary research should be. Two acknowledged experts in their respective fields, Daniel Harrington and James Keenan, have truly collaborated in a serious effort to grasp Paul's ethical message in his own time and place and then to bring it into dialogue with later Christian moral theology, notably that of Augustine and Aquinas. One could not ask for better guides in a complicated and contested field.
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780742599598
  • Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
  • Publication date: 11/16/2010
  • Edition description: New Edition
  • Pages: 220
  • Sales rank: 1,275,651
  • Product dimensions: 6.20 (w) x 9.10 (h) x 0.90 (d)

Meet the Author

Daniel Harrington, S.J. is professor of New Testament at the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry. He is the author of a number of books, including How Do Catholics Read the Bible? and, with James F. Keenan, Jesus and Virtue Ethics.
James F. Keenan, S.J. holds the Founders Professorship in Theology at Boston College. He is the author of several books, including Moral Wisdom and The Ethics of the Word.
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Table of Contents

Prologue xi

Part I The Shape of Christian Virtue Ethics

1 Virtue Ethics and Fundamental Moral Theology 3

The Nature of Virtue Ethics 3

Responding to Criticisms regarding Virtue Ethics 8

Virtue Ethics on Tomorrow's Landscape 12

2 The Shape of Paul's Christian Virtue Ethics 15

Paul's Christian Virtue Ethics; Philippians 3:10-11 15

Who Was Paul? 17

Paul's Conversion and Call 19

Paul's Jewish Eschatological Consciousness 21

What Did Paul Hope For? 24

3 The Human Condition before and after Christ: Pauline Perspectives 29

Life before and after Christ: Romans 7:24-8:2 29

Sin, Death, and the Law 32

The Lament of the Enslaved 34

New Life in Christ Jesus and in the Holy Spirit 36

4 Conversion and the Human Condition: Theological Perspectives 41

Artistic Representations 41

The Absolute Priority of God's Love and Action 43

The Absolute Priority of Jesus Christ 46

The Response to Love 47

5 The Many Contexts of Paul's Ethical Teachings 49

The Christian Theological Context: Romans 12:9-16 49

Indicative and Imperative 52

The Last Judgment 54

Other Influences|56

6 Experience and Conscience in Theology Today 61

An Illustration 63

An Application 65

Conscience 67

The Voice of Conscience 68

Formation of the Conscience 69

Part II The Theological Virtues: Paul and Thomas Aquinas

7 Faith: Pauline Perspectives 75

The Three Theological Virtues: 1 Thessalonians 1:2-4 75

Faith as a Pauline Virtue 78

8 Faith: Theological Perspectives 83

Thomas Aquinas 84

Summa Theologiae 86

Thomas in the Summa on Faith 86

The Assent of Faith 87

9 Love: Pauline Perspectives 91

Faith Working through Love 91

Love in Biblical Perspective 91

Love as a Pauline Virtue 92

10 Charity: Theological Perspectives 95

Thomas in the Summa on Charity 95

11 Hope: Pauline Perspectives 99

What Paul Hoped For 99

Hope in Biblical Perspective 99

Hope as a Pauline Virtue 100

12 Hope: Theological Perspectives 103

Thomas in the Summa on Hope 103

Applying the Insights of Thomas (and Paul) 105

Part III Other Virtues and Christian Life

13 Virtues and Vices: Pauline Perspectives 109

Lists of Vices and Virtues: Galatians 5:19-23 109

More Lists 112

Extrabiblical Examples 113

Deuteropauline Lists of Virtues 115

A Deuteropauline Household Code 117

Godliness as a Christian Virtue 118

14 Virtues and Vices: Theological Perspectives 121

The Specificity of Christian Theological Ethics 121

Pauline Virtues beyond Faith, Hope, and Charity 125

15 Ethics in a Communal Setting: Pauline Perspectives 129

An Egregious Offense: 1 Corinthians 5:1-5 129

Paul's Letters as Social and Pastoral Communications 131

A Communal Crisis of Conscience 133

Discerning the Spirit in Community 135

The Strong and the Weak at Rome 137

16 Ethics in a Communal Setting: Theological Perspectives 141

Humility as a Biblical Virtue 141

Augustine and Thomas Aquinas on Humility 143

Contemporary Emphasis on Humility 146

17 Communal Ethics and the Eucharist 149

The Lord's Supper: 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 149

Christians and Pagan Worship: 1 Corinthians 10 150

A Scandal Pertaining to the Eucharist: 1 Corinthians II 151

18 Eucharist and Virtue 153

The Shift to Relational Self-Understanding 153

Worship as the Embodied Practice of Fundamental Moral Theology 155

The Moral Practices of the Liturgy of the Word 156

The Moral Practices of the Eucharist 158

Part IV The Virtues and Social and Sexual Issues

19 Social Ethics: Pauline Perspectives 163

Stay As You Are: 1 Corinthians 7:21-24 163

Problems for Philemon and Paul 166

Church and State 169

Social Institutions within the Church 172

Deuteropauline Household Codes 173

20 Social Ethics: Theological Perspectives 179

Seven Points for Consideration 179

A Closer Look at Hospitality 183

21 Relationships and Sexual Ethics: Pauline Perspectives 189

Marriage as the Usual Pattern: 1 Corinthians 7:1-7 189

Other Teachings in 1 Corinthians 7 191

"No Longer Male and Female"? 197

Sexual Immorality/Fornication 197

Gender Roles 198

Incest 199

Prostitution 199

Homosexuality 200

Paul's Sexual Ethic 200

22 Relationships and Sexual Ethics: Theological Perspectives 203

Chastity 203

More Virtues for Human Relationships 204

Developing a Relational Sexual Ethics out of These Cardinal Virtues 206

Epilogue: Paul, Dietrich, Martin, and Bernhard 211

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) 211

Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968) 212

Bernhard Häring (1912-1998) 213

Index 217

About the Authors 225

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