The Acting Person and Christian Moral Life

Summary: What may we say about the significance of particular moral actions for one’s relationship with God? In this provocative analysis of contemporary Catholic moral theology Darlene Fozard Weaver shows the person as a moral agent acting in relation to God. Using an overarching theological context of sinful estrangement from and gracious reconciliation in God, Weaver shows how individuals negotiate their relationships with God in and through their involvement with others and the world.Much of current Christian ethics focuses more on persons and their virtues and vices exemplified by the work of virtue ethicists or on sinful social structures illustrated in the work of liberation theologians. These judgments fail to appreciate the reflexive character of human action and neglect the way our actions negotiate our response to God. Weaver develops a theologically robust moral anthropology that advances Christian understanding of persons and moral actions and contends we can better understand the theological import of moral actions by seeing ourselves as creatures who live, move, and have our being in God. Quotes:develops a compelling and subtle argument about the importance of reflection on sinful actions for a Christian understanding of the moral life….She offers two different balanced and extended discussions of debates between traditionalists and revisionists, noting limitations in both accounts of the relation between action and moral agency. -Theological StudiesThe book locates itself in the contemporary currents of Christian ethical discourse and recent discussions of the doctrine of sin. Here one finds a great deal of carefully attentive discussion of the core positions and movements around which contemporary discussion revolves . . . . This excellent and important book deserves a wide reading in both academy and church. -Alistair McFadyen, University of Leeds, UK / Studies in Christian EthicsAuthor Bio: Darlene Fozard Weaver is an associate professor of theology and director of the Theology Institute at Villanova University. She is the author of Self Love and Christian Ethics and coeditor of The Ethics of Embryo Adoption and the Catholic Tradition. Table of Contents:Introduction1. Persons and Actions in Christian Ethics2. Disruption of Proper Relation with God and Others: Sin and Sins3. Intimacy with God and Self-Relation4. Fidelity to God and Moral Acting5. Truthfulness before God and Naming Moral Actions6. Reconciliation in God and Christian LifeBibliographyIndex