Abstract

This book fills a vacuum in our understanding of the Eastern Church by revealing themes, persons, and insights that offer resources for a contemporary moral theology. Reviewing the Eastern tradition from patristic times to the present, Woodill shows its relevance to contemporary virtue ethics and identifies both differences and similarities between Orthodox and other - Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish - virtue ethics. Woodill's study centers on the fundamental elements of classical Greek ethics: telos, practice, virtue, community, narrative, and mentoring. He analyzes the ancient Greek fathers and the writings of modern Orthodox ethicists Stanley Harakas, Vigen Gurolan, and Christos Yannaras to show how those elements relate to the process of Christian transformation. He then demonstrates how the movement from creation to redemption contains an implicit virtue ethic.