Christian Virtue Ethics Research Articles

Financial disclosure manipulation: a virtue ethics perspective

PurposeFinancial disclosure manipulation is unethical and unlawful because it leads to less transparent reporting and harmful economic decisions based on misleading information. The purpose of this paper is to provide a summary and synthesis of research covering financial disclosure misrepresentation via impression management (IM). Ultimately, this report proposes that virtuous managers may be well-suited to provide transparent, objective disclosure. By extension, virtuous managers may oversee profitable firms and improve capital market efficiency. Suggestions for future research are presented.Design/methodology/approachThis is an academic literature review covering financial disclosure manipulation. The findings are viewed through the lens of Christian virtue ethics (CVE).FindingsIM studies commonly focus on specific methods used to mislead disclosure readers. Antecedent and mitigation strategies are less commonly noted in the research. This paper presents and analyzes IM tools and antecedents. Mitigation approaches are considered through the lens of CVE. This report proposes that virtuous managers may be well-suited to provide transparent, objective disclosure. By extension, virtuous managers may oversee profitable firms and improve capital market efficiency.Originality/valueThis present study focuses on the antecedents of IM in financial disclosures and introduces a novel perspective to financial disclosure mitigation – CVE. Financial disclosure authors and readers, researchers, financial regulators and accounting standards setters may be interested in the findings presented in this study.

Natural Sciences and/in Moral Theology: The Case of Free Will

The issue of free will, supporting moral responsibility in various accounts of Catholic moral theology, is in a particular way situated at the crossroads of theological and non-theological disciplines. Because of its connection to philosophy, as well as to natural and empirical sciences, the topic enjoys growing interdisciplinary attention. Early studies in cognitive neuroscience of volition, inspired by the experiment of Libet (1983), suggest that free will is an illusion because our conscious intentions do not cause corresponding actions: these are initiated earlier by the unconscious brain processes. While this seems to conflict with fundamental anthropological and ethical assumptions, a closer look renders such a worry immature. The more traditional, pre-modern notion of what willing, intending and choosing actually means – and how does it relate to us having free will or not – proves largely intact by the Libet-style argumentation. At the same time, new developments within a multidisciplinary science of volition highlight several aspects of freedom and agency that could be central to the way humans produce actions and control their lives. Implications from these studies might provoke some reformulations on the side of theological ethics. They might also set forth some particular schools and traditions, such as Christian virtue ethics, as theologically preferable. All this on the condition that a kind of knowledge coming from natural sciences – which often already contains a measure of (theological) interpretation– can be seen as both relevant and integrable in theological methodology and insight. Anthropological and ethical realms strike as particularly suitable for such integration: the essential embodiment of personal agency definitely deserves more attention, also for clarifying its free and indeed moral predicate.

SEC enforcement targets: a Christian virtue ethics perspective

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide a summary and synthesis of US Securities and Exchange Commission accounting and auditing enforcement release (AAER)-based research on financial misreporting firms and the firms’ management. Christian virtue ethics (CVE) is used as a framework for this review. Suggestions for future research are presented.Design/methodology/approachThis is a review of the academic literature covering AAERs. The findings are viewed through the lens of CVE.FindingsSeveral financial misconduct studies use samples developed from AAER targets. These studies commonly focus on specific characteristics of AAER targets. This paper presents and analyzes characteristics of AAER targets and considers how CVE may mitigate fraudulent reporting.Research limitations/implicationsThe main limitation of the research is that the literature review is confined to studies of financial fraud that use an AAER-based sample. Nevertheless, the sample is sufficient to provide insight into the common characteristics of AAER target firms and related entities. The benefits of CVE are considered. This study has relevant implications for investors, regulators and researchers concerned with financial reporting quality, fraud, regulatory oversight and business ethics.Originality/valueThis paper provides a set of AAER target features and considers how CVE may mitigate financial fraud. Financial regulators, accounting standards setters and researchers may be interested in the findings presented in this study.

Dreher, Rod. The Benedict Option. A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation. New York: Sentinel, 2017, 262 pp.

Rod Dreher’s last book, The Benedict Option, is written as a call for Christians who feel that “Western society is post-Christian and that absent a miracle, there is no hope of reversing this condition”. A conservative himself, Dreher urges Christians to give up politics—specifically, Republican politics—focusing instead in developing Christian communities. Following Alasdair MacIntyre’s thought, Dreher sees liberal democracies as the battleground between two traditions of thought: emotivist liberalism and Christian virtue ethics. Given that the former has the upper hand, the latter can only survive, Dreher affirms, by promoting tight local communities living Christianity passionately. The model of this community is found in the rule of Benedict of Norcia, who revitalized monkish life in the sixth century. The rule of Benedict promotes the sanctification of everyday life, balancing manual work and prayer with the help of asceticism and discipline. Dreher’s book is an attempt to transpose the monkish rule to the lives of contemporary laypeople.

Book Review: Reformed Virtue after Barth: Developing Moral Virtue Ethics in the Reformed Tradition

Reformed Virtue After Barth: Developing Moral Virtue Ethics in the Reformed Tradition. By Kirk J. Nolan. Columbia Series in Reformed Theology. Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox Press, 2014. xiii + 192 pp. $30.00 (cloth).Since the publication of Alasdair MacIntyres After Virtue in 1981, virtue ethics has flourished beyond its philosophical and Roman Catholic heritage. Although many Protestants, like Stanley Hauerwas (and often following his lead), have found ways of appropriating this mode of ethical discourse, many in, or influenced by, the Reformed tradition remain highly skeptical about it. This makes such a study significant.Kirk J. Nolan approaches his task by looking at the objections raised by Barth to Thomas Aquinas's theology, and attempting to formulate a version of virtue ethics after Barth. As well as hoping to broaden the appeal of these [Reformed virtue-ethical] accounts as much as possible (p. 5), Nolan considers his approach will have two contributions to make to Christian virtue ethics more widely: its emphasis on the relationality implicit in the Barthian emphasis on God's covenant with all people; and its prophetic witness regarding the sinfulness of fallen humanity (pp. viii-ix).In the opening chapter, The Reformed Tradition on Moral Virtue, Nolan looks at John Calvin's theology, the Westminster Confession, and Jonathan Edwards's theology. Although he is aware each of these can be understood as having virtue-ethical aspects, Nolan considers their willingness to impose morality on other citizens as problematic today and finds Barth's challenge to Constantmianism more helpful (p. 35).In chapter 2, Objections, Nolan looks in more detail at the difficulties he sees for virtue ethics in Barth s Christocentric anthropology and Barth's rejection of the analogia entis as well as the notion of habitual grace. Nolan explores the issue of the analogia entis via Barths engagement with Erich Przywaras Thomism. He finds because of the decisive break between Creator and creation humans are dependent on Gods selfrevelation for knowledge of the Creator, which means that human consciousness is not a valid starting point (p. 50). This has implications for Nolans version of virtue ethics, which will not rely on natural law. Equally, Barth's appropriation of Luther's notion of the Christian as simul justus et peccator means he rejects claims grace could become a matter of habit or something a human could possess. This understanding will lead to a formulation of virtue ethics which ignores the acquired virtues and which not imply a route to divinization.These are issues Nolan addresses further in chapter 3, Objections Overcome. Unsurprisingly, he draws on William Werpehowslti's work on Barth, which has sought to show Barth allows for continuity of character and a narrative history of Gods engagement with the agent, as well as a notion of practical wisdom. In evaluating Werpehowsld's claims, Nolan asks: is it faithful to Barth, and does it comply with the Reformed tradition? …

Breakdown of the Teleological View of Life?

In response to Alasdair MacIntyre’s and Brad Gregory’s claim—that the Reformation’s concept of morality in terms of obedience to divine commandments has been a major factor in a catastrophic breakdown in modernity of the teleological view of life and the virtues—this essay aims both to correct this criticism and to reread Calvin from the perspective of virtue ethics. Calvin’s utterances about the nature of the law, virtue, the self before God, one’s calling in the world, natural law and reason appear to be much more in alliance with a teleological, virtue ethical view than MacIntyre suggests. This opens up the possibility of a fruitful interplay between a Reformed account of law and Christian virtue ethics.

The goal of Christian virtue ethics: From ontological foundation and covenant relationship to the Kingdom of God

This article examined what constitutes Christian virtue ethics and its goal of highest human good. Christian virtue is a reality that is ontologically rooted in the grace of God through the atonement of Christ to envision the final good of creation. This view is drawn on the tripartite division of faith, hope and love as well as Paul Tillich’s ontological focus on the acclaimed quality of the virtue of love in relation to, and unity with, the virtues of power and justice as the ultimate reality in the divine ground for human existence. Christian believers must reunite the virtues which are received from God and by which Christians transformed in reality as new beings in the pursuit of the supreme goodness. Michael Horton’s covenantal model revealed a human being’s encounter with God, not only meeting, but recognising a stranger (a genuine ‘otherness’) under a covenant that was initiated by the grace of God with an awareness of his presence that was always immanent. A covenantal approach is used to describe the divine ‘presence’ and ‘absence’ as ethical and relational in getting the right conception and direction for our purpose from God. It also deals with the question of how our moral life is related to God and fellow humans toward the final goodness which is the highest good of the Kingdom of God. This article concluded with the coming rule of God’s imminent Kingdom as the true ultimate end of human beings and the eschatological fulfilment of humanity in goodness. The emphasis of the eschatological ethics lays on the theocentric futurity of the Kingdom directing Christians to the goal of the ultimate ideal and shaping the present existence of a Christian life.Hierdie artikel ondersoek Christelike deugde-etiek en die doelwit van die hoogste menslike heil. Christelike deug is ’n realiteitsontologie wat veranker is in God se genade deur die versoening van Christus om sodoende die uiteindelike heil van die skepping te visualiseer. Die siening is gebaseer op die drieledige verdeling van geloof, hoop en liefde. Verder is dit gebaseer op Paul Tillich se ontologiese fokus op die prysenswaardige deug van liefde in verhouding en in eenheid met die deugde van mag en geregtigheid as die uiteindelike realiteit van die mens se bestaan. Christen-gelowiges moet die deugde wat hulle van God ontvang en waardeur hulle vernuwe word, versoen met die realiteit as nuwe wesens wat na die hoogste heil soek. Michael Horton se verbondsmodel wys dat die menslike konfrontasie met God nie net ’n ontmoeting is nie, maar ook die herkenning van ’n vreemdeling, ’n gans Andere, binne ’n verbond wat deur die genade van God geïnisieer word. Daar bly ’n bewustheid van sy teenwoordigheid wat altyd immanent is. ’n Verbondsbenadering beskryf die goddelike ‘teenwoordigheid’ en ‘afwesigheid’ as eties en relasioneel tot die verkryging van die regte verstaan van God self. Die verbondsbenadering gee ook ’n begrip van hoe ons morele lewe tot God en ons medemens verbind is tot die finale heil wat uiteindelik die heil van die Koninkryk van God inhou. Die artikel sluit af met die toekomstige regering van God se immanente Koninkryk as die ware uiteinde van die mens en die eskatologiese verwesenliking van goedheid. Die klem van eskatologiese etiek lê in die teosentriese toekomsgerigtheid van die Koninkryk − wat vir Christene die rigting na die doel van die uiteindelike ideaal aandui en wat die huidige bestaan van ’n Christen bepaal.

Moral Exemplars in the Analects: The Good Person is That by Amy Olberding (review)

Reviewed by: Moral Exemplars in the Analects: The Good Person is That by Amy Olberding Michael Ing Moral Exemplars in the Analects: The Good Person is That. By Amy Olberding. New York: Routledge, 2012. Pp. x + 232. Hardcover $125.00, ISBN 9780415897051. In Moral Exemplars in the Analects, Amy Olberding offers a self-reflexive and thought-provoking interpretation of the Analects. Scholars of China will find her book valuable in that it provides a holistic reading of the Analects that preserves the tensions in the text. Ethicists will find it valuable in that it furthers discussion on the role of emulating paradigmatic figures in moral development. Olberding characterizes her project as an attempt to "discern a governing logic that renders the Analects' compelling moral sensibility intelligible as moral theory" (p. 1). The difficulty of interpreting the Analects, Olberding explains, is that the text does not offer an explicit moral theory. Instead it reads more like a "moral manual" —a "compendium of practical and direct moral advice" (p. 3). The difference between a moral manual and a moral theory is that a moral theory explains why the instructions a manual offers might be successful. In more detail, Olberding draws from the work of her colleague, Linda Zagzebski, who defines moral theory as "an abstract structure that aims to simplify, systematize, and justify our moral beliefs and practices" (p. 6). This leaves the task of articulating a moral theory of the Analects largely to the interpreter. Olberding proceeds on this basis to provide a careful account of a moral theory that on the one hand is sensitive to the concerns of a modern ethicist, and on the other remains faithful to the Analects as a culturally situated text. She begins this process by noting a primary concern in the text with emulating exemplars. Borrowing an analogy of learning from the Analects where Confucius gives a student one metaphorical corner of a square, expecting him to return with the other three, Olberding explains, "the people the text describes . . . constitute the 'one corner' from which we can infer [the other three]" (p. 10). Employing this analogy, Olberding offers an account of exemplarism as the remaining corners of the Analects' moral theory. Exemplarism, in short, is a theory about how emulating paradigmatic figures leads people to be moral. It explains, systematizes, and justifies the pre-theoretical ability that people have to identify good models of morality (p. 24). While this involves thinking about particular acts and individuals in more general, and often abstract, concepts (such as virtue), Olberding stresses the fact that exemplars are not merely illustrations of abstract concepts; rather they "source" the concepts—meaning [End Page 439] that they serve as a means for creating abstract concepts but also continue to remain personally significant for the moral actor and theory (pp. 42 and 102-103). In other words moral exemplars "are not merely important, but [are] indispensable and necessary " to the Analects' ethical vision (p. 11). It should also be noted that several aspects of Olberding's theory of exemplarism come from Zagzebski, who develops a theory of exemplarism in the context of Christian virtue ethics. Zagzebski appears frequently in Olberding's book. Exemplarism, in Olberding's view, is effective in interpreting the Analects for at least three reasons: (1) it can be inferred from the Analects itself; (2) it provides the most coherent account of the text's explicit claims and its silences (where "silences" refers to gaps or omissions in concepts important for a moral theory such that secure conclusions about them cannot be drawn—in the Analects these include human nature, a model for human flourishing, and a clear sense of ren 仁) (pp. 43-44); and (3) it brings the Analects into contemporary discussions of moral theory. The first half of Moral Exemplars sets out to explain how the Analects can be read as an exemplarist text. Chapter 2 recounts an "origins myth" for the Analects. In this origin myth "biography" and "philosophy" converge in the figure of Confucius (p. 19). Philosophically, Confucius points to examples of moral individuals and seeks to explain why they are good. Biographically, the authors of the Analects situate Confucius in the forefront of these...

Virtue Ethics: Natural and Christian

The article seeks to give an account of Christian virtue ethics. To this end, it first examines virtue and natural virtue ethics deriving from the Aristotelian tradition and its contemporary incarnation. It then considers Christian virtue ethics deriving from the following of Jesus the Christ, and compares and contrasts this virtue ethics with natural virtue ethics. It concludes by offering an account of virtues necessary to human flourishing in the contemporary world.

The Integration of Law and Virtue: Obedience in Aquinas's Moral Theology

The recent recovery of the Aristotelian/Thomistic notion of virtue is generally seen as the antithesis of a legalistic approach to morality. As a result, the importance and role of law tend to be ignored by virtue ethicists, while related concepts such as duty and obedience get little attention. The author seeks to demonstrate the central significance of law, and a certain primacy of the virtue of obedience, in Aquinas's understanding of a specifically Christian virtue ethics.