R. Douglas Geivett

The virtuous person is often highlighted in the Scriptures; in fact, in the wisdom literature of the Old Testament the virtuous person (or a specific virtue) is contrasted with the foolish person as the individual contemplates a path or decision. In the book Being Good: Christian Virtues for Everyday Life, what is typically seen as the three primary Christian virtues – faith, hope, and love – are discussed by various authors. Discussed along with faith the virtues of open-mindedness, wisdom, and zeal; along with hope, contentment and courage are considered; and finally, along with love the various authors contemplate compassion, forgiveness, and humility. The editors, Michael W. Austin and R. Douglas Geivett, have put together a wonderful study of virtue in which each individual author must have been given the instruction to not only discuss the assigned virtue, but to also include what the author might consider as methods or means by which the virtue might be cultivated. Included at the end of each chapter are “Questions for Further Reflection,” and the work finishes with an “Index of Names and Subjects,” and an “Index of Scripture References.”

An interesting motif that seems to occur in the writing of several authors, when discussing the formation of a specific virtue, is brought to light formally in Steve L. Porter’s consideration of the virtue of contentment. When considering contentment, Porter discusses a prominent theory associated with the formation of virtue “stemming from Aristotle” and “what might be called formation by emulation” (134). The theory, in a nutshell, describes the process of virtue formation in finding a model which can be studied and imitated. Further, the internalization of the process of formation by emulation is reinforced when the individual asks or imagines what the virtuous person would do in a situation and then attempts to do the same. “By the intentional practice of virtuous actions, w become habituated in the virtues” (135).

This thought, that the development of virtues is linked to an exemplar in some fashion, is also repeated by other authors as when R. Douglas Geivett discusses the virtue of forgiveness. Leading up to a discussion of forgiveness as seen in the teaching of Jesus, Geivett makes the statement that “we learn virtue best form those who exhibit virtue” (206). Of course, the primary passage used is found in the Lord’s Prayer, with a secondary passage of Matthew 18:15-19 being considered to show the pattern of how reconciliation and forgiveness might be achieved in a practical matter. Jason Baehr, in the consideration of open-mindedness, also discusses the use of modeling in learning. When speaking about the process by which a person might become open minded, Baehr notes that “to a very significant extent we get our ‘values’ and other normative standards from the company we keep” (48). Therefore, the process by which the virtue is cultivated is to surround ourselves with those that exhibit the virtue (in this case open-mindedness), and further to avoid those that exhibit the opposite of what the individual opts to develop.

This is an important consideration to highlight since it is noted in the “Introduction: Virtues and the Good Life” that having virtues is an essential part of the abundant life that the Christian seeks to achieve. This means that for Christians to function at their optimal level, the individual would operate as a virtuous creature. Which begs the question, how does one learn to be virtuous? In harmony with the idea of virtue formation by emulation, the editors point to the fact Jesus Christ is the perfect embodiment of virtue. In all Jesus did he exhibited the moral virtues that we seek to achieve. “We follow his example, not in doing the precise acts that he did, but in cultivating the same virtues he had and in acting form those virtues in whatever we do” (3). This is therefore the foundation of the work, that since Christians seek to become virtuous an understanding of the various virtues is indicated, and the perfect model of those virtues is Jesus Christ.

This review has not sought to examine the work of any one specific author or any one virtue, but it suffices to say that the various writers in the book attempt to examine their specific virtue in such a way as to inform the reader and stimulate the thought processes. There seems to be times when the theological gives way to the philosophical (although surely an argument could be made of the interrelatedness of the two when the philosophical position presented is presented by Christians), but overall the work seems thoroughly grounded in scholarly application of Scriptural principles. One certainly appreciates the efforts of both Austin and Geivett to present a relevant and applicable work about Christian virtue.

Thanks to the web page Reading Length, reading this book at an average pace of 200 wpm means the reader should spend approximately 7 hours and 25 minutes.

Quotes from the work:

“The entrustment central to faith in God requires a definite commitment to God, and this commitment demands a human decision to yield oneself to God, relative to God’s authoritative will and promises.” (18).

“Since good conduct is, in large part, a matter of living virtuously, development of all the other virtues discussed in this book is essential to gaining wisdom.” (70)

“Thus Aquinas identifies the pursuit of goodness, for human beings, as that movement towards and transformation into becoming like the God-man himself, Jesus Christ. That end alone will ultimately fulfill, complete, and perfect those who bear the imago Dei.” (97)

“For courage to point beyond itself, for love to ‘endure all things,’ there must be some good we love even more than the suffering and pain we fear.” (155)

“The basic reason that compassion is an obligatory matter of justice, apart from the biblical injunctions, is that human beings have great value as image-bearers of God.” (194)

“History and Christian tradition show that beings with intellect and will have a tendency, or rather temptation, to seek to become like God by means of their natural powers.” (259)… (plus d'informations)

Practice What You Preach

It is ironic that a book about being good should have to justify itself to its Christian audience. Yet this is exactly what the editors of this collection of essays on the virtues feel compelled to do in their introduction. That’s because “being good” and “virtue” don’t resonate with large segments of the church. Many of its leaders are actually suspicious of the terms. They raise the specter of ethics, and, goes the standard argument, “Christianity is not about ethics; rather, it is about a relationship with Christ.”

To this the editors reply that they while they “applaud any resistance to reducing Christianity to an ethical system,” they are concerned that Christian antipathy toward ethics “is itself unchristian.” For, they insist, though “Christianity is not merely about ethics . . . it does essentially include ethics,” by which they mean of course virtue ethics. One would think that should be obvious, given that virtue ethics is about how people ought to live their lives. Surely the Christian faith and a relationship with Christ should have a significant bearing on that. "The Christian, as a follower of Jesus, should seek to embody the moral and intellectual virtues of Jesus Christ, our Lord,” and model his or her life on him.

Such an understanding of spiritual formation and the Christian life arouses not only antipathy but sometimes outright rejection. Take the pastor of a large urban church with an educated and cultured congregation, someone who in addition is a best-selling author and has gained a reputation for an intelligent and reasoned approach to faith. He declares point blank in his latest book that an emphasis on ethics is incompatible with the gospel. Focusing on being good distracts people from recognizing their sin and thereby experiencing God’s grace. It can only breed self-righteousness. Being saved must be the only focus.

Not that these critics are against being good. They talk all the time about love, compassion, forgiveness, humility, and the other qualities Being Good examines and tries to help the reader to develop. What they oppose is just that: trying to develop them. They effectively oppose, on the grounds just cited, any concerted moral and intellectual effort on the part of the Christian to actually acquire these qualities and try to live them out in the real world. Any attempt, in short, to seriously practice what they preach.

When being good is said to detract from being saved, you know you have a problem. That problem is of course the wide and persistent gap between what Christians profess to belief and the way they live their lives. Gifted Christian leaders and celebrities abound, note the editors, but there’s a shortage of “living models of unequivocal virtue.” They add that Christians are routinely charged with hypocrisy “perhaps especially because of inconsistencies in the lives of prominent Christians.” Perhaps especially. But, as is widely acknowledged, ordinary Christians don’t fare any better when it comes to living out their faith.

Nor is this disconnect limited to those parts of the church that take issue with the virtues tradition in Christianity. Attend the services of those which historically are identified with that tradition and you will seldom hear more than a well-meaning but tired exhortation to virtue, usually some platitude about love.

Being Good: Christian Virtues for Everyday Life, is about practicing what Christianity preaches. It’s a much needed resource for Christians who long for concrete, practical, and substantive guidance on how to live out their faith on a daily basis. This doesn’t mean the book is of interest only to Christians, however. Anyone who seeks spiritual growth and practical help in daily living will find much that is useful in it. We all strive for happiness, and for two and a half millennia being good has been widely considered the path to being happy, and the virtues the human qualities which make both possible.

A helpful definition of the concept derived from the book describes the virtues as character traits or developed dispositions to think, believe, desire, feel, act, respond, perceive, or be motivated in certain ways in successful pursuit of the good. The chapter on compassion explains that “Virtues are conducive to human flourishing because God designed human beings such that they function best when possessing and exemplifying the virtues.” They “are excellences because they reflect the perfect character of God.”

The book offers many such explanations, all of which help to shed light on what is a fairly complex concept. Ultimately, however, it is only through a growing understanding and practice of specific, individual virtues that the concept can be fully grasped and translated into consistent action.

Being Good presents an in-depth, carefully thought out, and well-written exploration of eleven of these. The theological virtues of faith, hope, and love head each of its three sections. A set of virtues is then discussed in the context of each one of these. Thus open-mindedness and wisdom are discussed in the context of their relation to faith and how we arrive at knowledge and understanding; contentment and courage as it relates to hope and how we deal with adversity or unsatisfactory circumstances; and compassion, forgiveness, and humility as they are informed by love.

These virtues are discussed broadly with reference to the virtues tradition and the contributions of psychology and other disciplines, and more narrowly in terms of their specifically Christian features. James Spiegel’s chapter on wisdom, for instance, will consider the Aristotelian as well as the Scriptural view of this virtue, also bringing in William James and more recent thinkers like Alvin Plantinga into a discussion that tries “to identify some of the moral-psychological mechanisms at work behind the Biblical theme that God grants wisdom and understanding to the humble.” Such discussions are challenging but rewarding, with the theoretical always pointed to the practical.

The book’s inclusion of open-mindedness, zeal, and contentment are of particular interest because these are seldom written about. In the case of open-mindedness the interest is magnified by the fact that this is not commonly considered a Christian virtue, either by Christians or by their critics. Jason Baehr makes a convincing case that it is, presenting Bible-based reasons why Christians more than anyone else ought to practice it.

Zeal, on the other hand, is more often considered a vice than a virtue, and a characteristically religious one at that. Authors Horner and Turner face a high hurdle convincing the reader otherwise, even when zeal is associated less religiously with being a zealot and more secularly with being passionate. They acquit themselves well, though one may remain skeptical. Still, it is a rich discussion, and those of us who have an issue with passion (not enough of it, or too much, or misdirected) can gain some useful insights.

As for contentment, treating it as a virtue is controversial in that practically nobody else does in the virtues tradition. Steve Porter gives the following “rough characterization” of it: “contentment is the psychological state or disposition of being at peace with one’s circumstances.” It’s a characterization that invites attention, for while happiness is not always possible, contentment may very well be. Peace, serenity, tranquility, and equanimity are all related qualities. Porter shows how contentment is the “breeding ground” for such virtues as patience, acceptance, gratitude, generosity, kindness, and compassion.

This last, compassion, is another virtue that merits special mention, though for totally different reasons. Compassion is not only not controversial and the subject of much writing, it is quite popular. But more often than not it is seen mainly as a social virtue, to be expressed toward the sick, the poor, and others who may be different and distant from us. Michael Austin writes that the scope of compassion includes the sufferers up close, the people we live with and encounter every day. It is for our spouses, our parents, our children, and our friends that we most frequently have the opportunity to show compassion, and for whom we are often least likely to do so.

Being Good deserves to be read more than once, and some chapters are worthy of concentrated study. In the latter category I would include, in addition to the five already mentioned, the chapters on hope, courage, and humility.

The book follows in the footsteps of a very small group of contemporary works on the virtues. Three of these are mentioned by the editors. They are Robert C. Roberts’ Spiritual Emotions: A Psychology of Christian Virtues; James S. Spiegel’s How to be Good in a World Gone Bad: Living a Life of Christian Virtue, and Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung’s Glittering Vices: A New Look at the Seven Daily Sins. I would add William C. Mattison’s Introducing Moral Theology: True Happiness and the Virtues, and Peter Kreeft’s Back to Virtue.

These works are part of a recent revival of interest in the virtues, a revival which as we’ve seen is not welcome by all. Suspicion of the virtues goes way back, and its story is revealingly told in Putting On Virtue: The Legacy of the Splendid Vices. Jennifer Herdt traces the historical debate surrounding the virtues and shows how distrust of acquired virtue starting with Augustine leads to the rejection of graced human agency and the rise of the modern ethical sensibility, which asserts the radical independence of the individual and turns virtue on its head, valuing pride and authenticity above all.

St. Francis is said to have urged his followers to preach all the time, and when necessary to use words. What he had in mind can be gathered from his well-known prayer, where he asks God for the grace to bring peace, love, forgiveness, harmony, truth, faith, hope, light, joy, comfort, and understanding wherever he goes. He asks in effect for the grace to make grace an integral part of his being and of his life, that through the stable and consistent practice of the virtues he may help to bring God’s grace to all.

Being Good shares in this understanding of the relation between virtue and grace. Those of us who hope to grow in both and bridge the gap in our own lives between what we believe and what we practice will find the book a valuable and enduring guide. It will help us to be active participants in the process of sanctification, a term and a concept that for all practical purposes has disappeared from Christian discourse.… (plus d'informations)