ABSTRACT

As suggested in the Preface to this study, there is a developing body of work in Christian theology and ethics which takes practice seriously as a source of theological understanding, not merely as their result or expression. Indeed, ‘practice’ has become an increasingly popular term in Christian ethics. This is due partly to the widespread appropriation by Christian thinkers of virtue ethics, following its renewal by Alasdair MacIntyre.1 Christian theologians and ethicists have perceived the need to move beyond an ethics of dilemmas, or of the application of general and abstract principles, towards greater appreciation of the ongoing practices and processes which shape a virtuous character. This approach has a strong basis in Christian tradition, especially in the premodern period.2 The new focus on practice in Christian ethics can be seen as a reworking and extension of the ancient principle lex orandi, lex credendi. Meanwhile, studies of religious practice in non-Christian and non-Western contexts have also raised questions about the modern Western tendency to treat specific ‘external’ practices as expressions of more fundamental ‘internal’ commitments or dispositions, rather than as forming or defining those commitments and dispositions.3