Every Good Path: Wisdom and Practical Reason in Christian Ethics and the Book of Proverbs
Ebook
Andrew Errington brings the book of Proverbs into discussion with two significant accounts of the nature and foundation of practical reason in Christian ethics: those of Thomas Aquinas and Oliver O'Donovan. Aiming to move towards a framework for understanding Christian moral reasoning, this book develops a significant critique of aspects of Aquinas's thought and provides a major engagement with O'Donovan's moral theology.
Errington argues that the way the Book of Proverbs conceives of wisdom presents an important challenge to the Western theological and philosophical tradition. Instead of a perfection of theoretical knowledge, wisdom in Proverbs is a practical knowledge of how to act well, grounded in the reality of the world God has made. Discussing the complexities of practical reason, moral reasoning in Aquinas, world order and deliberation in the work of O'Donovan, and the place of created order in Christian Ethics, this volume is invaluable for scholars and general readers in reconfiguring moral theology.
Discusses how the way the Book of Proverbs understands wisdom can illuminate and reconfigure the structure of Christian ethics.
Sets out a coherent account of the structure of Christian moral reasoning
Provides the first scholarly engagement with the moral theology developed by Oliver O'Donovan
Develops a significant critique of Aquinas' moral theology
Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
1. The Complexities of Practical Reason in the Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle
2. The Nature and Foundation of Moral Reasoning in Thomas Aquinas
3. Practical Reason and the Ways of Wisdom
4.World Order and Deliberation in the Work of Oliver O'Donovan
5. Wisdom, Creation, and Christian Ethics
Bibliography
Index
Every Good Path is excellent. The book accomplishes the goals of both the publisher and the author. Errington includes historical figures who influenced many ecclesial backgrounds (e.g., Augustine and Aquinas). In addition to finding common ground amongst historical figures, Errington has an amicable voice in writing. Errington accomplishes the goal of the book by bringing clarity to “acting Good” in Christian ethics. Two elements stand out from the book: (1) the quality of the argument and (2) the presentation of Proverbs.
This book brings together theology, ethics and biblical studies in a fascinating synthesis around questions of how 'wisdom' should be characterized. It is a rich, profound, insightful and detailed study bringing together three elements that are all concerned to clarify the nature and foundation of practical reason and its implications for ethics: the insights of the early church fathers (mainly Augustine and Aquinas); those of modern theologian- ethicist Oliver O'Donovan; and insights from biblical 'wisdom' scholars and the book of Proverbs.
Wisdom is the focus of Every Good Path, and much wisdom evidently went into the book's construction. Here Andrew Errington brings a theological exegesis of the book of Proverbs into conversation with major figures in theological (Aquinas, O'Donovan) and philosophical ethics (Aristotle, Anscombe). Spanning so many disciplines, the precision and clarity Errington brings to his work alone makes the book remarkable.
Few, if any, recent books in Christian ethics deal with this topic as directly. Every Good Path centres on the question of how to think to action with genuinely practical knowledge, how to walk in response to the call of wisdom and require discernment 'in terms of a relation to the reality of the world' (p. 116). The book raises as many questions as it answers, but that is, perhaps, an indication that work in this field is much needed. Errington opens a new trajectory in studies on the path of wisdom.
In this original and fascinating book, Andrew Errington brings Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, the Book of Proverbs, and the work of Oliver O'Donovan into a fruitful conversation about the nature of practical reason and its role in Christian ethics.
Throughout this work, Errington shows himself to be a generous, probing and judicious reader, ... equally skilled in expounding the architecture of a text or drawing out the intricacies of a particular detail ... [H]is generous attention also includes rigorous exploration of tensions and fissures between authors and also within the work of an individual thinker.
- Title: Every Good Path: Wisdom and Practical Reason in Christian Ethics and the Book of Proverbs
- Author: Andrew Errington
- Publisher: T&T Clark
- Print Publication Date: 2019
- Logos Release Date: 2024
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9780567687722, 9780567698940, 0567698947, 0567687724
- Resource ID: LLS:9780567687722
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-05-12T04:10:54Z
Andrew Errington is Lecturer at St Mark's National Theological Centre, and Research Fellow of the Public and Contextual Theology Research Centre, Charles Sturt University, Australia.