AS MORAL beings, we sometimes feel that we ought to do something, or that we should carry out a particular duty. But, in this book by the distinguished ethicist Oliver O’Donovan, there are only two references to “ought” and one to “duty”. Although these concepts have a place, he argues, they make sense only in relation to a prior understanding of the good, and this has dropped out of sight, indeed disappeared, in most modern ethical thought.

For Aristotle, all things reach after the good, and this starting point dominated all ethical thinking in the pre-modern era; but with Kant (1724-1804), all this changed. For him, all that matters is the naked will standing above nature as a closed system of observed regularities. O’Donovan shows how on Kant’s account we have no way of prizing what we do in fact value, such as friendship or creativity. Nor does it do justice to natural, spontaneous valuing; for, on Kant’s view, the only moral actions are ones brought about by the will. Whereas for Kant moral actions are ones done on the basis of an “ought” in relation to the impersonal order of nature, true morality means recognising what is of value and ordering it aright.

So, drawing on a neglected German philosopher, Max Scheler (1874-1928), O’Donovan argues for the place of values, “real though nonmaterial, objects of knowledge independent of our valuations, not creations of the will”, which we apprehend through intuition or inspection. If we take the pursuit of the good seriously, we are led to ask what is of supreme worth and most binding on conduct, and it is this in the end, in the form of worship, which enables us to order the genuine goods of the world aright.

The second concept that, according to O’Donovan, has disappeared from modern ethical thinking is the idea of time, and so of history. If time is not to be seen as just one event following another, it implies a history: the selection of some events rather than others from a particular point of view at a particular point in time. And this raises the possibility of an end when all can be seen and known.

So it is that, when we act, we do so with a view to the future, and this implies not just the immediate future, but the fulfilment of history itself. And, if our moral endeavours and desire for the good are to be grounded, that ultimate future must be one in which they are vindicated. We cannot prove that this will be the case, because, in history, unlike nature, there is no repetition. But there can be a meaning-bearing event or series of events which offers a promise that elicits faith.

The third reality that has dropped out of modern ethical thinking is the conviction of there being persons who are moral agents. Here again, we have to take into account the whole life story of a person, not just an isolated choice or act. We know that we are persons not by an act of introspection, but in our encounters with other persons, within community. But whether persons are of the highest value and not just an epiphenomenon that flickers briefly and then disappears again depends on the future, one in which the personal is radiant.

O’Donovan asks us to take seriously the Christian understanding of creation, God’s good deed, which comes to us and for us with time. This means that creation takes a narrative form, with a beginning and an end in which the history of the whole, the history of histories, will be known.

He also includes a chapter on law, which he roots in the book of Deuteronomy. Taking issue with both Bernard Williams and Alasdair MacIntyre, he argues that Law is essential for binding society together, and that behind it is an ethical command expressed in the old idea of natural law. But law, too, for O’Donovan, also has a future orientation when it will find its fulfilment in perfected community. This perfected community comes about through the Holy Spirit, working in co-operation with us human beings, forming us in the likeness of Christ.

The book originated in the Gifford Lectures delivered at St Andrews University. The author’s deep learning and precision of analysis means that it is not a light read, and it will be of most use to specialists in the field. But his theme is, indeed, good news for all. This is that Christian theology provides the only sure foundation for our ethical reasoning, and that theology assures us that our moral endeavours will be vindicated. As St Paul said, what we do in the Lord “is not in vain”.

The Rt Revd Lord Harries of Pentregarth is a former Bishop of Oxford, and an Hon. Professor of Theology at King’s College, London. He is the author of The Re-enchantment of Morality (SPCK, 2008).

The Disappearance of Ethics: The Gifford Lectures
Oliver O’Donovan
Eerdmans £30.99*
(978-0-8028-8349-0)
*available from eerdmans.com