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Beyond virtue ethics : a contemporary ethic of ancient spiritual struggle / Stephen M. Meawad.

By: Material type: TextTextSeries: Moral traditions seriesPublisher: Washington, DC : Georgetown University Press, [2023]Description: 1 online resource (x, 229 pages)Content type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 1647123135
  • 9781647123130
Subject(s): Additional physical formats: Print version:: Beyond virtue ethicsDDC classification:
  • 241/.042 23/eng/20221107
LOC classification:
  • BJ1249 .M295 2023
Other classification:
  • online - EBSCO
Online resources:
Contents:
Introduction : Ethics, Anthropology, and Patristics -- Which Virtue Ethics? Which Problems? -- A Case for Spiritual Struggle -- Onward and Upward : The Perpetual Godwardness of Spiritual Struggle -- Asceticism as Godward Spiritual Struggle Applied to the Body -- Sacred Reading as Godward Spiritual Struggle Applied to Scripture -- Conclusion: Embodied Ethics and Inevitable Tensions
Summary: "This book develops a contemporary model of spiritual struggle aimed at perpetual ascent to and in God. Spiritual struggle in this project, which ultimately shifts the emphasis from virtue's acquisition to its pursuit, is defined as the exertion of effort in all conceivable dimensions-physical, emotional, psychological, intellectual, and spiritual-with intent to attain a semblance of, knowledge of, and intimacy with Jesus Christ in community, for God and for others. Gregory of Nyssa's theory of epektasis assumes a basic three-tiered conception of perpetual ascent, beginning with purification and detachment from fleshly passions, strengthening the soul by increasing in similitude to God, and ending with unity with God, that is, with inexpressible and transformative experience of God. God-the infinite, the Good, and the Paragon of virtue-functions as the orienting principle of this perpetual ascent, mitigating the issues of the unity of the virtues and the self-centeredness and self-effacement of virtue. This book goes on to provide two of many potential concrete instantiations of this suggested model. The first is the application of this model to the body, which in turn will have implications for contemporary sexual ethics. The second is a reintegration of ethics and Scripture through the contemporary application of an ancient Patristic lectio divina"-- Provided by publisher.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction : Ethics, Anthropology, and Patristics -- Which Virtue Ethics? Which Problems? -- A Case for Spiritual Struggle -- Onward and Upward : The Perpetual Godwardness of Spiritual Struggle -- Asceticism as Godward Spiritual Struggle Applied to the Body -- Sacred Reading as Godward Spiritual Struggle Applied to Scripture -- Conclusion: Embodied Ethics and Inevitable Tensions

"This book develops a contemporary model of spiritual struggle aimed at perpetual ascent to and in God. Spiritual struggle in this project, which ultimately shifts the emphasis from virtue's acquisition to its pursuit, is defined as the exertion of effort in all conceivable dimensions-physical, emotional, psychological, intellectual, and spiritual-with intent to attain a semblance of, knowledge of, and intimacy with Jesus Christ in community, for God and for others. Gregory of Nyssa's theory of epektasis assumes a basic three-tiered conception of perpetual ascent, beginning with purification and detachment from fleshly passions, strengthening the soul by increasing in similitude to God, and ending with unity with God, that is, with inexpressible and transformative experience of God. God-the infinite, the Good, and the Paragon of virtue-functions as the orienting principle of this perpetual ascent, mitigating the issues of the unity of the virtues and the self-centeredness and self-effacement of virtue. This book goes on to provide two of many potential concrete instantiations of this suggested model. The first is the application of this model to the body, which in turn will have implications for contemporary sexual ethics. The second is a reintegration of ethics and Scripture through the contemporary application of an ancient Patristic lectio divina"-- Provided by publisher.

Description based on online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on April 03, 2023).