Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics and Protestantism
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The present article examines the philosophical ethics of Protestants teaching in higher education during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and their reception of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, 1.6. Two theses are illustrated. First, the survey of fourteen commentaries shows clear parallels with the medieval interpretation of the Ethics, which the Protestant authors creatively expanded. Thus, the continuity of Protestantism with the earlier tradition of Christian philosophy is substantiated in this specific case for a representative group of authors. Second, over against the prejudices according to which Protestantism simply censured ethics and subsumed it into moral theology, this article shows that, in truth, Aristotle was still the fundamental philosophical reference in a topic as central as the definition of happiness, and that the Platonic "theological" alternative was not considered appropriate for a philosophical discipline.
A Bibliography of Early Modern Protestant Ethics, ca. 1520-1750 (updated Aug. 27, 2020)
This is is a working bibliography of primary and secondary sources on early modern Protestant ethics, including both philosophical and theological works. Contents: (1) Works on Nicomachean Ethics and Ancient Moral Philosophy 1. Commentaries on Nicomachean Ethics 2. Synopses and Introductions to Nicomachean Ethics 3. Commentaries and Introductions to Ancient Moral Philosophy 4. Editions of Classical Works (Published in Protestant Regions) (2) Systematic Works 1. Systems of Ethics 2. Works on Natural Law 3. Polemical Works 4. Medieval and Roman Catholic Works (Published in Protestant Regions) (3) Commentaries and Loci on the Decalogue (4) Cases of Conscience and Treatises on Particular Ethical Problems (5) Secondary Sources
Reformation and Renaissance Review, 2019
The place of the Nicomachean Ethics as the standard textbook for the teaching of ethics remained unaltered during the Reformation and post-Reformation era. This article presents a survey of this tradition in both its Lutheran and Reformed trajectory, and it deals with the elements of the medieval and the Renaissance traditions of Aristotelian commentary that permeate Protestant Aristotelianism. Finally, it discusses the way in which the Aristotelian understanding of practical philosophy was received by these early modern Protestants.
Perichoresis, 2022
The Protestant reception both of Aristotle and of the concept of natural law have been the object of renewed attention. The present article aims at a cross-fertilization of these two recoveries: did a specifically Aristotelian approach to natural law (among other important sources) play a significant role in classical Protestant thought? The article answers this question by means of a review of the Protestant commentaries on Aristotle's natural law-passage in Nicomachean Ethics V, 7. Reformation and post-Reformation scholars sometimes offered original readings of this text, but above all they cultivated the various approaches to the passage that had been developed during the medieval period.
The Moral Philosophy of the Protestant Reformation
The Cambridge History of Moral Philosophy, 2017
This is Ch 6 in The Cambridge History of Moral Philosophy. I survey Luther and Calvin's theologically inspired moral philosophies, paying special attention to their criticisms of scholasticism, the connections between their ethics and their moral psychologies, and their concerns about eudaimonism.
A detailed summary of the major contours of Weber's "Protestant ethic thesis." Includes an evaluation and an examination of recent research on the influence of ascetic Protestantism.
Law, Virtue, and Protestant Ethics
Routledge eBooks, 2022
Protestant ethical reflection has long been associated with an emphasis on divine law. We are in the midst of an important retrieval of traditions of reflection on natural law and the virtues within Protestant thought, however. Despite characteristic Protestant emphases on the Fall and on justification by faith alone, we are now in a position to see how much continuity there is between Catholic and Protestant ethics, notably when it comes to natural law and virtue ethics. While important historical work remains to be done, the challenge is not solely to arrive at a more adequate historical account. We must also consider where that leaves Protestant thinkers when it comes to the possibilities for productive engagement in highly pluralistic social and political contexts. Can a more adequate appreciation of past forms of Protestant ethical thought better equip us to engage in the pluralistic contexts of the present? I believe that it can be helpful in identifying a productive path forward, even if it cannot provide any shortcuts through the complex particularities surrounding discussions of concrete issues. It suggests, specifically, the possibility of a positive rapprochement with contemporary Aristotelian naturalism, theologically construed. In what follows, therefore, I offer a brief overview of what I take to be the state of the question concerning natural law and virtues in the early Reformation and Reformed Orthodoxy, before turning to a more constructive project: that of suggesting a path forward that emerges through engagement with contemporary Aristotelian naturalism. My hunch is that this kind of engagement offers the most promising avenue for contemporary Christian reflection on law and virtue. In the mid-to late-20th century, it was common to claim that Protestantism embraced divine command morality over against natural law. 1 Even 1 I take the following four paragraphs from Jennifer A. Herdt, "Natural Law in Protestant Christianity," in The Cambridge Companion to Natural Law Ethics, ed. Tom Angier (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019), 155-7. Reprinted with permission.
"Who knows what is good for man?" - The Significance of the Old Testament for Protestant Ethics
In Protestant ethics, the Old Testament is often regarded primarily as a collection of moral rules whose main content is summarised in the Decalogue (I.). By contrast, the present paper aims to draw attention to the many calls to ethical reflection in the Old Testament. Examples include (II.) the knowledge of good and evil, (III.) the problem of implementing that which is recognised to be good in one’s way of life, (IV.) the moral significance of emotions and intuition, (V.) the problem of guilt (and sin) and how to process it, (VI.) the question of the justice of the course of the world, (VII.) the relationship between morals and law, (VIII.) morals and culture, and (IX.) morals and reli-gion. (X.) Accordingly, Protestant ethics (assisted by historical-critical research on the Old Testa-ment) should read the Old Testament less as a moral textbook than as a source of ethical learning.