Jesus and Virtue Ethics: Building Bridges between New Testament Studies and Moral Theology

by Daniel J. Harrington

Jesuits Daniel Harrington and James Keenan have successfully team-taught the content of this landmark study to the delight of students for years. In this book they take the fruits of their own experiences as theologians, writers, teachers, mentors, and friends to propose virtue ethics as a bridge between the fields of New Testament Studies and Moral Theology. Answering the call of the Second Vatican Council for moral theology to 'draw more fully on the teaching of Holy Scripture,' the authors examine the virtues that both flow from Scripture and provide a lens by which to interpret Scripture. By remaining true to both the New Testament's emphasis on the human response to God's gracious activity in Jesus Christ and to the ethical needs and desires of Christians in the twenty-first century, the authors address key topics such as discipleship, the Sermon on the Mount, love, sin, politics, justice, sexuality, marriage, divorce, bioethics, and ecology. Covering the entire sweep of ethical teaching from its foundations in Scripture and especially in Jesus' life, death, and resurrection to its goal or 'end' with the full coming of God's kingdom, the authors invite readers more deeply into an appreciation of the central biblical themes and how, based on the themes, Catholic Christian moral theology bears on general ethical issues in culture. Complete with reflection questions and suggestions for further reading, this book is essential reading for professors, students, pastors, preachers, and interested Catholics.

Genres: Theology, Christianity, Philosophy

192 pages, Hardcover

First published October 28, 2002

About the author

Rev. Father Daniel J. Harrington, SJ, was a professor of New Testament studies and chairman of Biblical Studies at Boston College’s School of Theology and Ministry. He received a PhD in biblical languages and literatures from Harvard University. A past president of the Catholic Biblical Association, he wrote more than two dozen books about the Old Testament and the New Testament.

Reviews

[Sagely]

I first picked up this volume for a theologicaly methods class. I doubt I actually read much of it then (I can only find scattered underlinings in the first few chapters). But I felt drawn to read it properly now.

JVE is written from a distinctively Roman Catholic perspective, by Jesuit faculty at Boston College. It would be great for an introductory undergrad course on New Testament ethics. In fact, it seems that book grew out of just such a course team taught by Keenan and Harrington. Each chapter concludes with something like the discussion questions they may have posed at the end of each class.

While a decent book, the title is somewhat misleading. Neither a focus on Jesus nor on virtue ethics run consistently to the end of the volume. Jesus predominates the first few chapters, but quickly fades away, and virtue ethics lasts as a reference point for another chapter or two. The final chapters draw on a broad range of the Christian theological tradition, scripture, and ethical theories to discuss case studies (divorce, homosexuality, celibacy, abortion, ecology) from a Catholic perspective. By the final chapters, John Paul II figures more prominently than Jesus.

Not that this ruins the book (though it does have a certain un-admitted theology of the body bent). Overall, I think this books serves as a fine conversation starter--if these are the conversations you wish to have. It points to a number of resources that students can draw on. But by no means does it perform constructive ethics or put down new footings for the bridges it hopes to build. Bad title, decent book.

[Patti Clement]

Although conceptually I agree with virtues being a logical topic to provide the bridge between biblical scholars and moral theologians, I found this book very difficult to read. Academic language got in the way. If not required to complete for my Moral Theology course, I would not have finished the book because the authors did not engage me.