Cochran, Elizabeth Andrew. “Jesus and the Cardinal Virtues: a Response to Monika Hellwig.” Theology Today Volume 65 (2008), pp. 81-94
- Looks at the idea that Christians should explore how a consideration of the cardinal virtues can help the church to understand and articulate its public witness.”
- If the virtues are, as Aristotle says, rooted in an understanding of human nature independent of faith, this would give the church a natural common ground with moral thinkers outside the Christian faith.
- By contrast, Augustine is committed to the idea that we only understand the virtues by seeing them expressed in Christ.
- God is the Good, so any goodness must approximate God
- The virtues are those character traits that help us to lead a more faithful life, since a life spent in imitation of God is a “good life.”
- We know what God is like by looking at Christ, so a life lived in imitation of Christ is a life spent in pursuit of the good. We have no knowledge of what God is like, and thus no idea of how to live, apart from this revelation.
- So to fulfill our human nature, we cannot simply look at human nature from various angles and conclude that the virtues are those habits that fulfill our human needs; our knowledge gathered in this Aristotelian manner would be only an examination of fallen human nature by corrupted human reason. Instead, we must look to Christ; living the virtues as revealed in his life will fulfill our own lives.
- Aristotle is committed to the idea that the virtues are interconnected, but not simply one. Augustine believes the virtues are ultimately one thing, and thus vice is ultimately one thing.
- Humility is seen in God’s Incarnation; God humbled Himself in becoming a human being for our sakes.
- Humility is seen in the life of Jesus as a humble person who submits entirely to God
