ABSTRACT
The study of virtue ethics points clearly to conditions necessary for the formation of virtuous character. MacIntyre sums up the importance of narrative when he says: man is in his actions and practice, as well as in his fictions, essentially a storytelling animal. According to Loughlin, narrative theology fills the gap after the widespread discrediting of foundationalism within theological circles. The sacrament of baptism offers a clear focus on both narrative and community. in baptism the individual embraces the new narrative of Christianity as normative in his or her life and in so doing joins the community of others who have done likewise. In seeking to first articulate Hauerwas' then approach to sanctification, Jung quotes his oft-repeated adage that people cannot see/know until they have been trained to see/know properly. Intellectual and political currents had sorely tested the embodied spirituality of the Caroline period in the intervening years and the church was not in great shape.
