Book Review: Renewing Moral Theology: Christian Ethics as Action, Character and Grace

Abstract

Renewing Moral Theology: Christian Ethics as Action, Character and Grace. By Daniel A. Westberg. Downers Grove, 111.: IVP Academic, 2015. 281 pp. $25.00 (paper).Daniel Westbergs most recent offering is intended for the general reader interested in the discipline of Christian moral theology. It stands apart from other works in the field, however, not least because it combines two distinctive elements: it is at once Thomistic and Anglican. This may strike some readers as an odd pairing, but in fact it reflects a prominent stream of twentieth-century Anglican theology. The author deftly situates his project within this stream while also taking it in a slightly new direction. While he relies on Thomas Aquinas's moral theology as a starting point, he gracefully draws upon Anglican divines and numerous contemporary authors to weave an updated tapestry for Christian moral reflection. One of the many merits of this book is that it rises above the level of a popular introduction without becoming overly technical. It displays deep familiarity with centurieslong debates in moral theology without assuming that the reader shares this familiarity.The text is neatly divided into two parts. Part 1 is comprised of chapters that touch on some of the more theoretical and foundational aspects of Christian ethical reasoning (action, character, sin, grace, conversion, and law). Chapters 2 through 5 draw upon Westberg's earlier, more technical work and provide a clear and accessible analysis of practical reason and how we ought to understand human actions. Part 2 is devoted to analyses of the virtues, with each of the seven classical virtues receiving its own chapter. Each of these succinct treatments contains helpful everyday examples and concludes with suggestions for further reading. Reading the text from beginning to end, it becomes clear how the author's Anglican and Thomistic commitments work together to provide cohesion to the book's sixteen chapters.While this distinct set of commitments provides coherence to the overall project, there are some areas in which it leads to an inevitable tension. One example pertains to Westbergs treatment of sin. The inclusion of an entire chapter on the subject is admirable and fills a significant lacuna in much contemporary moral theology. An immediate difficulty arises, however, when one attempts to rehabilitate the Thomistic distinction between mortal and venial sins outside of a context in which sacramental confession is regularly practiced, let alone mandated. Westberg is well aware of this reality, and he does not go so far as to suggest that the mortal/venial distinction should become a normative principle of pastoral practice, as it has been in the Roman Catholic Church. …