Virtue ethics is a compelling way of describing how God forms Christians into the sort of people who live virtuously. Rather than utilitarian or deontological ethics, virtue ethics focus on the formation of the person who makes ethical decisions. Stanley Hauerwas has followed this perspective for years, so it’s not surprising to see him, along with Samuel Wells editing this volume.

For Hauerwas and Wells, the Christian is primarily formed through worship.

Worship is the time when God trains his people to imitate him in habit, instinct, and reflex. (25)

If this is the case, than worship must be central to any discussion of Christian ethics. This book does precisely that.

The overall objective is to take worship from being a curiosity in ethical discussion to being considered so significant that it is taken for granted in every debate and permitted to generate questions that shape the whole discipline. (10)

So far so good. Christian worship is the source for formation into the virtuous life whereby Christians are formed and empowered to make ethical choices. The problem comes with Hauerwas and Wells’ limited view of worship.

In this Blackwell Companion, Christian worship is expressed exclusively in the liturgical traditions of the church. This perspective infuses every chapter to the point where it almost becomes comic. Need a perspective on creation care? Explore the passing of the peace. How about Cloning? Explore the meaning of baptism. Are you interested in war or genetically modified foods or marriage or …. ? It’s found in the Eucharist, of course.

I’m not suggesting that these traditions have nothing to provide ethical discussion, but viewing Christian liturgy as the source of all ressourcement for theological ethics is myopic at best. Furthermore, what about Christian traditions that are not rooted in such liturgical traditions? Do they have anything to add to ethics?

All that said, there are many helpful chapters in this book. My personal quotation file grew substantially after reading! That said, the narrow view of worship combined with an insistence that all ethical formation comes from that source undermines the ambitious goal of this volume, that “years from now, this book will be seen as a milestone for Christians” (xiii).

Hauerwas, Stanley and Samuel Wells, eds. The Blackwell Companion to Christian Ethics. Blackwell Publishing, 2006.