About this title: Hauerwas reinterprets the role of Christian ethics and Christian community in a world that, he contends, has lost sight of the fundamentals of its faith.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press
Date Published: 1981-10
ISBN-13:9780268007355ISBN:0268007357
Description: Good. Good title in good condition. Pages are tight. Pages contain some highlighting and/or underlining throughout. Covers show some shelf wear and bumping. Satisfaction guaranteed. If item not as described, return for refund of purchase price. read more
Description: Pub by University of Notre Dame Press, 1981. Hardcover with DJ. Light cover wear, fading. DJ rubbed at edges. Binding good, pages clean. Very Good + book in Very Good DJ. ISBN: 0-268-00733-0. read more
Binding: PAPERBACK
Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press
ISBN-13:9780268007355ISBN:0268007357
Description: Fair. 0268007357 TITLE: Community Of CharacterAUTHOR: Hauerwas, SISBN 10: 0268007357ISBN 13: 9780268007355BINDING: PaperbackPUBLICATION DATE: 1986PAGES: 298DESCRIPTION: This volume will have extensive marking/highlighting and-or bent pages and-or dinged pages/corners and-or weak/broken hinges and-or library stickers, stamps, or pouches and-or mildew and-or water damage. This volume will be usable but won't be pretty. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press
ISBN-13:9780268007355ISBN:0268007357
Description: Good. 0268007357 Good condition. May have some markings & or shelfwear. All pages intact. Used items may not include extras such as infotrac, CD or other web access codes. read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press
Date Published: 1981
ISBN-13:9780268007331ISBN:0268007330
Description: Fine. Fine, Pages clean and bright. Binding tight, Cover clean and shiny. No remainder marks, very minor shelf wear, no surprises. Same day shping. read more
"Hauerwas states his thesis well in the introduction when he says, "Though this book touches on many issues it is dominated by one concern: to reassert the social significance of the church as a distinct society with an integrity peculiar to itself. My wish is that this book might help Christians rediscover that their most important social task is nothing less than to be a community capable of hearing the story of God we find in the scripture and living in a manner that is faithful to that story."(1)
Hauerwas develops his thesis in three interdependent parts. In the first part, he not only demonstrates the necessity of narrative in the formation of any community or polity, but also describes the kind of narrative in which Christian communities are to be shaped. He states that our narrative finds its center in the story of Jesus, not the state, and that our understanding of the authority of the canon is crucial. He says, canon "is not an accomplishment but a task... (68) and the issue is not just one of interpretation but of what kind of people can remember the past and yet know how to go on in a changed world" (67). In part two, he helps the reader understand the necessary interrelation of narrative and character and how the virtues are "finally dependent on our character for direction, not vice versa" (143). Hauerwas makes it extremely clear that if the theoretical arguments posed in the first two parts are to be taken seriously, it must be reflected in a praxis that is faithful to God, and so he makes his theology practical by applying his theory to the areas of family, sex and abortion.
While reading Hauerwas is a task - it takes an enormous amount of concentration to follow his complex arguments and there isn't always a clear sense of direction - it is a task that I found worthy of my time and energy.
Through reading Hauerwas, I have been able to see more clearly how the presuppositions that we hold, knowingly or unknowingly, are based on the dominant narrative by which we live. I was reminded again how much I have been shaped by the American story. I was also reminded of how our understanding of character and narrative deeply influence our ability to develop the virtues necessary to live a life that is faithful to God's story. As Hauerwas so aptly puts it, "The kind of character the Christian seeks to develop is a correlative of a narrative that trains the self to be sufficient to negotiate existence without illusion or deception" (132)."
"i will go a long way with Hauerwas, esp regarding the importance he gives to Aristotelian/ virtue ethics, but for all the words in this book, i don't feel like i ever got an argument for the link between narrative and character formation..."
"Though I agree with much, Stanley is just not that good of a writer. It is unecessarily difficult to read. He takes aim at liberal democracy (not the democracy of democrats, but the democracy of our great experiment) as a philosophical system which not only cannot produce people of virtue, but actually undermines it. It is a philosophy with no story, which has freedom as its highest good. Such a philosophy gives no resource or reason to live virtuously. The church therefore, must learn to tell and order their lives around the true story of God's kingdom in Christ."
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