Humility and Human Flourishing

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael W. Austin
Keyword(s):  
Virtue Ethics ◽  
New Testament ◽  
Family Life ◽  
Religious Pluralism ◽  
Moral Virtue ◽  
Spiritual Disciplines ◽  
Analytic Philosophy ◽  
Moral Theology ◽  
Spiritual Life ◽  
Human Flourishing

In many Christian traditions, humility is often thought to play a central role in the moral and spiritual life. In this study of the moral virtue of humility, the methods of analytic philosophy are applied to the field of moral theology in order to analyze this virtue and its connections to human flourishing. The book is therefore best characterized as a work in analytic moral theology, and has two primary aims. First, it articulates and defends a particular Christian conception of the virtue of humility. It offers a Christological account of this trait, one that is grounded in the gospel accounts of the life of Christ as well as other key New Testament passages. The view of humility it offers and defends is biblically grounded, theologically informed, and philosophically sound. Second, this book describes ways in which humility is constitutive of and conducive to human flourishing, Christianly understood. It argues that humility is rational, benefits its possessor, and contributes to its possessor being good qua human. It also examines several issues in applied virtue ethics. It considers some of the ways in which humility is relevant to several of the classic spiritual disciplines, such as prayer, fasting, solitude, silence, and service. It considers humility’s relevance to issues related to religious pluralism and tolerance. Finally, the book concludes with a discussion of the relevance of humility for family life and how it can function as a virtue in the context of sport.

Contemporary Applications

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael W. Austin
Keyword(s):  
Family Life ◽  
Religious Pluralism ◽  
Social Ethics ◽  
Spiritual Disciplines

This chapter examines how the Christian virtue of humility is applicable to issues in personal and social ethics. It demonstrates several ways in which humility can be robustly action-guiding. The chapter also explores some of the ways in which humility is relevant to many of the classic spiritual disciplines, such as prayer, fasting, solitude, silence, and service. Next, it considers humility’s relevance to issues concerning religious pluralism and tolerance. It concludes with a discussion of the variety of ways in which humility is essential for a flourishing family life and its status as a virtue in the context of sport.

Salvation and Childbearing

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alicia D. Myers
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Family Life ◽  
Pastoral Epistles ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Roman World ◽  
Feminine Virtue

Augustus’s prioritization of family life to promote his own masculinity resulted in a simultaneous emphasis on motherhood in the Roman world. Not only did motherhood advertise a man’s masculine purposing of his woman/wife, but it was also a legitimate path to increased agency for free(d) women. Situated in this context, New Testament and other early Christian traditions offer varying constructions of “feminine virtue,” some of which prioritize or assume motherhood and others of which downplay or even reject it. This chapter examines these themes in the Pastoral Epistles, New Testament household codes (Col 3:18–4:3; Eph 5:21–6:9; 1 Pet 2:9–3:12), the Acts of Thecla, Acts of Andrew, and the Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas. In their sustained wrestling with and formations of Christian gender(s), these writings present salvation as masculinization for all followers of Christ, but they disagree on whether motherhood should be a part of this process.

scholarly journals Anglican moral theology today

2021 ◽  
pp. 000332862110206
Author(s):  
Peter Sedgwick
Keyword(s):  
Moral Virtue ◽  
Social Ethics ◽  
Moral Theology ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Common Life ◽  
Divine Grace ◽  
Deep Appreciation ◽  
Moral Enquiry ◽  
The Church

Anglican moral theology is a genealogy, in MacIntyre’s use of this concept. It is a tradition that is handed on from one generation to another, practically and theoretically. Moral theology is part of the tradition of moral virtue, practiced by Christians, in local communities, families, and of course the church. What is distinctive in Anglicanism was that after 1580 there emerged an Anglican tradition of moral enquiry, which recognized the Protestant emphasis on scripture and a quite different role for the clergy, alongside a deep appreciation of the old, pre-Reformation tradition of moral theology. Today, the Anglican exemplary tradition also incorporates debates on sexuality, gender, and questions of identity. In social ethics, postcolonial voices show both the idolatry of political life and how our common life can be a locus of divine grace. Anglican moral theology is both very vibrant and deeply pluralist today.

scholarly journals Concepts of Ethics and Their Application to AI

2021 ◽  
pp. 19-33
Author(s):  
Bernd Carsten Stahl
Keyword(s):  
Virtue Ethics ◽  
Human Flourishing ◽  
Ethical Evaluation ◽  
Ai Ethics ◽  
Profit Maximisation

AbstractAny discussion of the ethics of AI needs to be based on a sound understanding of the concept of ethics. This chapter therefore provides a brief overview of some of the key approaches to ethics with a particular emphasis on virtue ethics and the idea of human flourishing. The chapter reviews the purposes for which AI can be used, as these have a bearing on an ethical evaluation. Three main purposes are distinguished: AI forefficiency, optimisation and profit maximisation, AI forsocial control and AI for human flourishing. Given the focus on human flourishing in this book, several theoretical positions are introduced that provide insights into different aspects and ways of promoting human flourishing. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the currently widespread principle-based approach to AI ethics.

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