Theology and Action: After Theory in Christian Ethics

Rating:
Summary: How should we name our actions?
Review: Pinches seeks to give an account, via a reading of Thomas Aquinas, of how human actions should be named. He is reacting against contemporary action theory, which divorces action descriptions from their human contexts. So he begins with critiques of action theory, monism in protestant ethics, and proportionalism and physicalism in contemporary Catholic moral theology. He then begins a constructive account of action, an account that is dependent upon Aquinas. Pinches claims, with Aquinas, that all human acts are moral acts. He then recommends a system of classifcation of moral acts, which develops in us a set of notions that allow us to judge acts and name them. He also tackles the issue of non-action as sin. In the end, there is no one overarching principle of morality. Rather there are stories that are embodied, which make us virtuous.

In order to act rightly, one must first see the world rightly and then speak rightly. In other words, how we see the world and speak about our place in the world determines how we live. If you want to understand, from a Thomistic perspective, how to speak rightly about moral acts, this is the book for you. Although dry in sections, it is overall a wonderful book. As a protestant, I was thrilled with the perspective of the book. Pinches is clearly knowledgable of both protestant ethics and Catholic moral theology. If you are interested in ethics, especially virtue ethics, this is a must read.