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When people traditionally

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study ethics,

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they often tell you there are

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two major categories

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for doing ethics.

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There's ethics of deontology

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and ethics of teleology.

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Deontology means a

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duty based ethic.

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There are things you've

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got to do. Go do them.

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And in ethics of teleology is

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you got to figure out what

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you're trying to accomplish,

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then make sure that that

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happens. In other words,

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the ends justify the means.

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Now, given these two options,

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most Christians conclude, well,

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clearly,

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we have to do an ethics

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of deontology.

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We've got these commandments

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we need to do.

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That's what we need to be

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focused on. But actually

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traditionally if you

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go back there

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S another way of thinking about

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ethics which has often been

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called virtue ethics.

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And virtue ethics is as old as

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Aristotle which puts us way

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back before Christ.

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It's been around for a long time

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but it kind of fell out of use

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and out of favor and kind of

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just disappeared during the time

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of the Enlightenment and just

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kind of was shunted

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away and lost.

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During the Middle ages

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it was quite popular.

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But then in 1984 a guy named

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Alastair McIntyre wrote a book

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called After Virtue and he

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brought virtue right smack back

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into the spotlight with a rather

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significant book challenging the

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lack of morality and the lack

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of moral foundations in the

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contemporary world.

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And After Virtue does just this

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fantastic job of making us

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realize there's got to be

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something more as a foundation.

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Now what McIntyre did then

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essentially he sort of gave

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voice to concern that was very

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widespread and he became one of

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the sort of crystallizing

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moments in bringing a lot

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of these things to

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shape and many others now have

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started to join in this

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kind of discussion.

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And it has been called

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corporately virtue ethics.

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So what virtue ethics is

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interested in doing is not so

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much thinking about what are the

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duties we're supposed to do or

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what are the ends we're trying

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to accomplish as much as saying

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what does it mean to be a person

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of virtuous character?

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And so virtue ethics is much

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more interested in not asking

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questions about if you're

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in a tough situation,

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what should you do?

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As in what kind of person are

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you in every situation.

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So virtue ethics is not

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interested in the overcrowded

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lifeboat scenario, for example.

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So you have a lifeboat which

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can handle twelve.

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You got 20 people shoved

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into this lifeboat,

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who gets thrown overboard?

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Those are the kinds of questions

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that utilitarians ask.

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Those are the kinds of questions

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that deontological ethics tries

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to use this duty to figure out.

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But an ethics of virtue says we

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don't need to deal with these

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kinds of strange sorts

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of situations.

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We need instead to deal with the

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concrete realities of practical

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life, which is,

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I'm faced with just

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mundane living.

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With how to take care of family,

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I'm faced with how to deal with

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people at work and how do I

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handle these situations.

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And virtue ethics says you

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handle those situations by being

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a person of character,

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by being a person of virtue.

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And we work on cultivating

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virtues,

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we work on cultivating

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character,

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so the character of the person

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becomes very important. Now,

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McIntyre also did a tremendous

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favor to the academic world in

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world of ethics by introducing

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some key terms and bringing them

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back into the discussion.

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And three of these really

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critical terms for him

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are community,

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narrative and practice.

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And you're going to be

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encountering those words quite a

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bit as you think about ethical

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issues in the light of virtue

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ethics community deals with the

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group of people who are in

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agreement about what it is

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they're trying to accomplish.

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They agree on the purpose of,

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of life,

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the goal of what it means to

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be human and to be living,

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and they work together

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in these things.

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Obviously the church is a pretty

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good example of a community.

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Narrative is the story

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of that community,

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the history of that community.

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The things that have gone

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on in the past.

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The things that are going

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to go on in the future.

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And just that story that

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is being told.

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The story of Scripture,

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God's work in God's world,

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is very much a narrative of our

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community, of the Church.

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And then this third

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term is practices.

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And practices are the rituals or

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the behavior or the

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corporate group

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things that are done together

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which enhance the narrative and

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tell the narrative and retell it

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shape and form habits into

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the people to form,

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character and help to form the

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community. So a practice,

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for example,

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in our context of the church,

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would be worship itself.

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Worship as a practice.

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Those three terms are kind of a

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critical part of the vocabulary

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and the lexicon of

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virtue ethics,

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and you should be a little bit

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familiar with some of those

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ideas to be able to appreciate a

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little more what's going

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on in virtue ethics.

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So that's the contemporary

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world of virtue ethics.

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Just quick overview and it

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should help you to grasp

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a little better about.

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What we mean by virtue ethics.