released 11/5/2025

In this first of three lectures given in November 2001, Oliver O’Donovan presents two “puzzles” one encounters when engaging in moral reasoning: the first concerns the value of collective reasoning about ethics — particularly political ethics — when only a small number of individuals actually takes action; and the second concerns the value of debating the ethics of decisions made in the past. Calling on the wisdom of St. Augustine, O’Donovan reminds his listeners that all knowledge participates in the eternal Logos of God and is rooted in love, not disinterested moral judgement. Praising the “sovereign uselessness of moral reflection,” he argues that the good is worth knowing for its own sake, not only as it relates to action. He then explains that moral reasoning is a shared enterprise: it helps us, together, to clarify our goods and our loves, thereby shaping us into an authentic community — a people. 

This lecture is provided courtesy of the Henry Stob Lecture Series at Calvin Theological Seminary. The second lecture in this series may be found here and the third lecture here.

52 minutes

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