Given to Matthew Hayes - 05/03/2023

was informed in a seminar that the french translators encountered titling difficulties, as ‘moral order’ in french has strong far-right resonance, for probably obvious reasons. so instead they renamed it resurrection et experience morale, which is deeply funny, to me ( )

Already a classic; heavy-going but provides a masterful introduction to Christian ethics; not for the faint-hearted but if you really want to grapple with issues this is excellent; for me, reading it aloud can help to make sense of its often dense argumentation. A summary of his reworking of the natural law tradition is found at pp85-87 and there are helpful introductions to a number of subjects including conscience (pp114-20, 190-97).

Covers:The gospel and Christian ethics -- The objective reality. Created order ; Eschatology and history ; Knowledge in Christ -- The subjective reality. Freedom and reality ; Authority ; The authority of Christ ; The freedom of the church and the believer -- The form of the moral life. The moral field ; The moral subject ; The double aspect of the moral life ; The end of the moral life.

A very important book for bringing forward all that is good about natural law and its ethics implications from creation forward to the zenith of redemptive historical history -- the Resurrection. Explores in detail the corporate and individual implications of rooting one's system of ethics system in the Resurrection. Fantastic content, but very dense. Some concrete application would have been helpful. See this review for a summary: http://onefear.wordpress.com/2007/05/26/oliver-odonovans-resurrection-and-moral-... ( )