Thoughts on the Moral Life

Photo by Randy Fath on Unsplash

[Evangelical Catholicity was the theme for this year’s annual meeting of the Wesleyan Theological Society held in March 2024 at Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville, TN. A panel discussion in the ecumenism section took seriously the notion of Wesley’s sermon “Catholic Spirit” (34th of Wesley’s Standard Sermons) in their assessment of Bishop Robert Barron as an ecumenical conversation partner for contemporary Wesleyan-Methodists. Bishop Barron’s ministry extends past his parishes with a well-established social media presence through Word on Fire, a ministry dedicated to proclaiming Christ in Culture (wordonfire.org). Drawing from Matthew Levering’s recent publication, The Theology of Robert Barron, participants on the panel engaged particular interests in Levering’s book that have application to ecumenical dialogue and Christian mission. This article is adapted remarks from panelist, Tammie Grimm, practical theology professor at Wesley Seminary, Marion, IN.]

The moral life is experienced and made known through the ordinary, everyday encounters and decisions a person makes in their life. It is dependent upon what we know, think, and believe about the world. Acclaimed theologian and Roman Catholic Bishop Robert Barron is concerned about the moral lives of Christians and the ways in which we engage contemporary culture. To explore the moral life as understood in the thought and vision of Bishop Barron is to understand what he holds to be true about the importance and centrality of God and Jesus Christ, the Roman Catholic tradition, and evangelism. Prolific author and fellow Roman Catholic, Matthew Levering accomplishes this task by considering those scholars who have been most influential in shaping Barron’s ideas which are, fundamentally, his ministry interests and concerns. Barron is an accomplished scholar, reading widely and deeply, yet, he never loses sight of the fact that his study is in service to the Church and to those who nurtured, formed, and catechized within. Can there be a better end to our academic pursuits in the Wesleyan-Methodist tradition than to be concerned with the lives and formation of Christian disciples?

It is appropriate that Levering’s discussion on the moral comes several chapters into his book, The Theology of Robert Barron, because the topics prior to examining Barron’s ideas regarding the moral life (the importance and centrality of God and Jesus Christ, the Roman Catholic tradition, and evangelism) are built as a result. However, not in the way a scaffold builds, with successive layers of the argument constructed atop each other, as the whole structure reaches ever higher. Rather, what is happening is more like an Amish barn raising in which four—somewhat separate—but not wholly dissimilar projects are carefully framed and laid out according to—and on—their own merits. Then, the moment comes when the walls are raised and it’s evident that these various projects, still distinct and different, now reinforce each other. These framed walls become the boundaries in which the Christian’s moral life is found and will dwell.

It is well within reason that barn raising is not the first image that springs to mind when considering the Christian moral life. Still, the Amish barn raising helps demonstrate important points Levering makes about Barron’s understanding of the moral life. Namely, that the moral life 1) is participatory in nature and necessarily involves a practical project, 2) there is a peculiar particularity inherent to the project, and 3) that the whole of the project seeks and progresses towards an established end. Additionally, Levering demonstrates throughout the chapter how deeply influenced Barron is by Stanley Hauerwas. And as Hauerwas skillfully, even if provocatively, brings together thought from Methodism, Catholicism, and Anabaptism, working with an Amish barn just makes good ecumenism sense.

Regarding the participatory nature of being involved in a practical project - an Amish barn raising is at once participatory and practical. It involves the whole community—men and women, girls and boys—because a barn is a necessity — and not just for the farmer. Barns are integral to the existence and flourishing of the community. It is important that farmers have well made barns. Therefore, the community is invested in making sure farming families are properly outfitted. The moral life, for Barron, is necessarily worked out in Christian community — the Church. This is classic Hauerwas: that the moral life of the Church is being and becoming “a community capable of forming virtues sufficient to witness to God’s truth in the world” (A Community of Character, 3). The Christian moral life is collectively realized through the patient teaching and instruction that only occurs as generations of folks join together in patterning their lives after Jesus Christ. Together, the church contributes towards the flourishing of the community as they encourage and exhort each other in their various endeavors. Of course, communities do not exist automatically. They require the collective and cooperative action of individuals. 

Action must be stressed here, because the Christian moral life is not some thought experiment. It is experienced and comes to fruition through the lives we lead. In other words, the Christian moral life is given context and contours through faithful discipleship. In order to grow in Christian character and identity, we must participate in those Christian practices, spiritual disciplines, or what we Wesleyans refer to as “means of grace.” We do so regularly and often. A consequence of “doing good” is the opportunity to habituate those virtues that foster Christian character. And while we might participate in any number of spiritual disciplines or practices as individuals, they are never purely private in God’s economy. They may — and should — have meaning in our own life. However, they are not meant for any of us alone, but for the benefit and building up of the Christian community to which we belong and for the sake of the world. To be a Christian disciple is to live a moral life — to follow through with what we believe and think about who Jesus is and how we act and conduct our lives Christianly in the world.

This leads to the second point: the particularity that distinguishes both a barn built by an Amish community and the Christian moral life. An Amish-built barn defies all modern day prefabricated sensibilities. It is custom built. Boards can’t simply be switched out and traded one for another. Likewise, the virtues that we esteem as Christians can’t be universalized for all times and places. There is no abstract categorical imperative. Christian virtues must be Christianly considered because they derive their sense and intelligibility in the example of Christ. Once again, one can hear Hauerwas’s voice buzzing in their ears: knowing scripture is essential to being Christian! We need to be rooted and established in the Christian story found in scripture that we may live authentic Christian lives that are different than the rest of the world. Christian ethics necessarily needs to be consistent with a way of life that is actually lived by Christians who trust in the crucified Jesus. This goes for the entire catalog of virtues that are particular —and peculiar—to the Christian life whether they be the fruits of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control) or a litany of other virtues Christians esteem; hope, humility, obedience, forgiveness, suffering, and courage. Each of these virtues— and especially those that the world might champion—will look different than the world’s understanding because we follow a crucified Lord.

The third point is the holistic nature to the project that presses ever onwards towards being fully itself. An Amish barn raising is an amazing thing to watch. It involves the whole community doing a variety of different jobs all at once that might seem chaotic but is actually well choreographed. Of course, the construction of an Amish barn is, at some point, finally declared as complete. But, as renovation shows prove, just because it was built like a barn and resembles a barn, does not mean it is a barn. It can be fashioned into a home, an art studio, a winery, an event space, or even a space to sell retail. It is really not a barn unless it does the things barns do: contribute to the agricultural health of a farm. Therefore, it will require on-going maintenance; keeping it clean, dry, ventilated, pest-free, safe for both livestock and/or the harvested crops that occupy it and the humans that use it in order for it to be the barn it was built to be that it can contribute to the flourishing of the community. The barn’s construction has had a particular end in mind all along - that it would fulfill its purpose and be a barn. The Christian moral life requires a teleological conception of human existence that there is something to strive for — not just to be saved, but to be saved to the uttermost—to be like Jesus—the pursuit of sanctification. For Barron, to put God in the center of all things, to make God the highest value is the essential prerequisite to a properly ordered and spiritual life. And, that perspective is thoroughly consistent with a Wesleyan-Methodist understanding of life. Sanctification, being perfected in the love of God, just as Jesus loved, is “the grand depositum” of the people called Methodist. We are called to be like Christ, not just for a moment, but to know Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit and to let God’s light shine through us into a dark and hurting world that it might also come, taste, see, and know the goodness of God and seek it for themselves.

Tammie Grimm is Assistant Professor of Congregational Formation at Wesley Seminary, Indiana Wesleyan University, in Marion, Indiana. She serves on the Editorial Board of Firebrand.