Mealey, Ann Marie
(2005)
Revelatory Texts and Moral Lives: Reinterpreting the
Specificity of Christian Morality Through a Ricoeurian
Hermeneutic.
PhD thesis, Pontifical University, St Patrick's College, Maynooth.
Abstract
This thesis will attempt to show how the work of the French philosopher Paul Ricoeur
can help to move discussions about the specificity of Christian morality beyond the
search for specifically Christian norms and principles to emphasise the importance of
the biblical narrative in answering the ‘Who?’ of personal identity. It will also show
how Ricoeur’s work is useful in determining how the Bible can help to deepen our
understanding of the virtues by providing us with paradigmatic examples of what
virtuous behaviour looks like.
It will be argued that the similarities between a Ricoeurian interpretation of the
Glaubensethik/Autonomy debate and currents trends in virtue ethics and spirituality
make it an attractive alternative to the search for specifically Christian norms and
values. The key to understanding Christian morality is not to be found in a search for
norms and principles but in the particular way the Christian community understands
itself. Stories and practices supplement ethics with the kind of personalism that was
lacking in traditional moral theology.
The study will further demonstrate that Ricoeur’s understanding of history and
tradition can provide a way of answering to the respective concerns of the Autonomy
and Glaubensethik schools vis-à-vis tradition without showing a bias towards one or
the other. Later sections will show how Ricoeur’s work can provide us with a model
for understanding how Christians can dialogue with the rest of world without being
forced to abandon the narrative that continues to shape their lives.
| Item Type: |
Thesis
(PhD)
|
| Keywords: |
Moral Lives;
Christian Morality; Ricoeurian
Hermeneutic; |
| Academic Unit: |
St Patrick's College, Maynooth > Faculty of Theology |
| Item ID: |
5081 |
| Depositing User: |
IR eTheses
|
| Date Deposited: |
03 Jul 2014 08:01 |
| URI: |
|
| Use Licence: |
This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available
here |
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