this<\/em> life.\u00a0 Judging from the topics Christian ethicists write about (on our blog, economic parity, discussion against the death penalty) seeking social justice for all in this life seems paramount, far removed from Levering\u2019s\u00a0 accounts of what Jesus did when he descended to hell, or whether humans have spiritual souls.\u00a0 And this view of ethics as related to this-world issues is supported by some of the predominant views of ethics espoused in business, engineering, health and legal professions.\u00a0 In the professions, ethics often tends toward a utilitarian calculus, a weighing of this-worldly pleasures against pains, where the right decision becomes one of choosing the avenue aimed toward the most pleasure, for the most people.<\/p>\nEcclesiologically and academically, however, Christian ethics as a field has seen a shift over the past thirty years, toward a focus on virtue.\u00a0 Setting virtue front and center has also necessitated a recovery of the understanding of theological virtues like faith, hope and love, and this is where a this-worldly\/other-worldly dichotomy makes little sense.\u00a0 Love, as the crowing virtue in Thomas\u2019s work, is best understood as something practiced in this life, but hoped for in all its fullness and glory at the\u00a0eschaton<\/em>, when God will be all in all, and when we shall see God face to face.<\/p>\nHere, then, is where readers interested in moral theology questions will find Levering\u2019s clear, well-thought-out book of immense importance.\u00a0 Using his usual interlocutor, Thomas Aquinas, alongside probing some of the best arguments about hell, the soul, and death (from people like NT Wright, Gary Anderson, and Nancey Murphy) Levering seeks to bring \u201ca robust recovery of apocalyptic teaching.\u201d (citing Richard Hays, 1).\u00a0 Part of the book\u2019s significance is that we must grapple with the limits of material, human, this-worldly knowledge, and be humble enough to recognize that ethics for Christians cannot really be about fixing the world.\u00a0 As Levering writes, \u201cHuman desire cannot rest in these limited goods [wealth, fame, power, health, pleasure and so on]; we seek communion with \u2018the universal fount itself of good.\u2019\u201d (111)\u00a0 The material world becomes fulfilled in God; \u201ctime, space and matter will not continue as they are now.\u201d (124)<\/p>\n
One of the key words there is \u201cfulfillment,\u201d a word Levering uses often.\u00a0 A focus on the\u00a0eschaton<\/em> does not mean a rejection of our bodies, or this world, but rather hope in something better.\u00a0 In a world that despairs that this life is\u00a0all<\/em> there is, Levering suggests that the task of Christians is to witness to God, who is fulfilling all things.\u00a0 So \u2013 Christian ethics is not about finding \u201cthe\u201d answer to human conundrums, but about witnessing to the resurrected Jesus.\u00a0 Stances that seem confusing in our utilitarian-minded world \u2013 like Christian non-violence or parents who chose not to abort children that will have significant disabilities \u2013 become clear in the light of Jesus\u2019 resurrection.<\/p>\nThis book is a wonderful reminder and invitation, especially during Holy Week, to consider our fate, as Christians bound up together in Christ\u2019s life, death and resurrection.<\/p>\n
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Jana M. Bennett is Assistant Professor of Theological Ethics<\/em> in the <\/em>Department of Religious Studies at the University of Dayton, and a contributor to the blog <\/em>Catholic Moral Theology<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Readers interested in moral theology questions will find Matthew Levering\u2019s clear, well-thought-out book of immense importance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":938,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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As a moral theologian, I usually read all books, theological or otherwise, through the lens of what people in my field discuss.\u00a0 So it is with this book.\u00a0 The questions Matthew Levering raises in\u00a0