In Truthfulness and Tragedy Stanley Hauerwas provides an account of moral existence and ethical rationality that shows how Christian convictions operate, or should operate, to form and direct lives. In attempting to conceptualize the basis of Christian ethics in a manner that will render Christian convictions morally intelligible, the author casts fresh light on traditional theoretical issues and articulates the distinctive Christian response to contemporary concerns such as suicide, medical ethics, and child care. The first section of the book deals with methodological issues: the meaning and nature of practical reason, obligation claims, natural law, and self deception, and the affinity of story and ethics. It focuses on the relation of truthfulness and tragedy and the need for a story-a set of religious convictions or "grammar of theology"-that does justice to the tragic character of human existence. The second section addresses substantive issues: suicide, euthanasia, and the value of survival; the moral limits of population growth; the definition of "person" for medical reasons; and social involvement and Christian ethics. The overall theme is the need for a community in which truthfulness is a way of life. In the final section, devoted to the problem of how to care for disabled children, the implications of the author's ethical position are given concrete expression. He discusses the assumptions underlying the willingness to have children, criteria for humanness, medical ethics, and how truthful communities deal with suffering. In Truthfulness and Tragedy Stanley Hauerwas extends and clarifies the ethical position set forth in his earlier books Character and the Christian Life and Vision and Virtue.

About the Author

Stanley Hauerwas is Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological Ethics at Duke University. He is the author of numerous books, including Christians among the Virtues, In Good Company, Suffering Presence, and Character and the Christian Life, all published by the University of Notre Dame Press.

Richard Bondi has taught at the University of Notre Dame, at Marquette University, and at the Candler School of Theology of Emory University. He is the author of Leading God's People: Ethics for the Practice of Ministry.

David B. Burrell, C.S.C. is the Theodore Hesburgh C.S.C. Professor emeritus in Philosophy and Theology.

Reviews

"These essays, which focus upon particular issues such as population control, euthanasia, the relations of the Church to politics, and the care of the [mentally challenged], all show clearly how attention to Christian convictions in the narrative context which shapes our lives is necessary to bring to light the features of those issues which are crucial for the formation of our moral judgments and practices." -Theological Studies

"The distinctive aspect of the approach taken in Truthfulness and Tragedy is the use of 'story' to provide canons of rationality for ethics. . . . The truthfulness of our theological and ethical convictions is best determined by how they relate to and resolve the dilemmas of our existence." -Christian Century

" . . . A book that should be welcomed by all who care about the moral life. . . . This gleaning of Hauerwas's thought to date gives added support to his reputation as one of the most consistently provocative ethicists working today." -*Worldview *

"The essays include discussions of the nature and methodology of Christian ethics as well as discussions of more particular issues such as suicide, population control, and care for the retarded." -Horizons

Book Information
ISBN 9780268018320
Author Stanley Hauerwas
Format Paperback
Page Count 264
Imprint University of Notre Dame Press
Publisher University of Notre Dame Press
Weight(grams) 381g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 15mm