Stanley Hauerwas - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Stanley Hauerwas is a Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

theologian and ethicist

Ethicist

An ethicist is one whose judgment on ethics and ethical codes has come to be trusted by a specific community, and is expressed in some way that makes it possible for others to mimic or approximate that judgement...

. He has taught at the University of Notre Dame

University of Notre Dame

The University of Notre Dame du Lac is a Catholic research university located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States...

and is currently the Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological Ethics at Duke Divinity School

Duke Divinity School

The Divinity School at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina is one of thirteen seminaries founded and supported by the United Methodist Church. It has 39 full time and 18 part time faculty and over 500 full time students. The current dean of The Divinity School is Richard B. Hays, who replaced...

with a joint appointment at the Duke University School of Law

Duke University School of Law

The Duke University School of Law is the law school and a constituent academic unit of Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, United States. One of Duke's 10 schools and colleges, the School of Law began as the Trinity College School of Law in 1868. In 1924, following the renaming of Trinity...

Education and influences

Stanley Hauerwas was raised in Pleasant Grove, Texas, in a working class family. He attended both Pleasant Grove (1954-56) and W. W. Samuell (1956-58) high schools. As the son of a bricklayer, Hauerwas was early on apprenticed to the craft of bricklaying under his father. The experience was extremely formative for his later life, as he himself has often compared the skill and hard work that bricklaying requires with both his own approach to theological work and the challenges of living a fully Christian life.

The Hauerwas family attended Pleasant Mound Methodist Church, where Stanley experienced Baptism, Confirmation and Communion. At the age of 15, he presented himself for ministry at a Sunday night worship service, presuming then he would be "saved".

After leaving Pleasant Grove, Hauerwas matriculated at Southwestern University

Southwestern University

Southwestern University is a private, four-year, undergraduate, liberal arts college located in Georgetown, Texas, USA. Founded in 1840, Southwestern is the oldest university in Texas. The school is affiliated with the United Methodist Church although the curriculum is nonsectarian...

, a liberal arts college affiliated with the United Methodist Church

United Methodist Church

The United Methodist Church is a Methodist Christian denomination which is both mainline Protestant and evangelical. Founded in 1968 by the union of The Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church, the UMC traces its roots back to the revival movement of John and Charles Wesley...

. He received a B.A.

Bachelor of Arts

A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

there in 1962. He was also a member of Phi Delta Theta while at Southwestern University. He went on to earn the B.D.

Bachelor of Divinity

In Western universities, a Bachelor of Divinity is usually an undergraduate academic degree awarded for a course taken in the study of divinity or related disciplines, such as theology or, rarely, religious studies....

, M.A.

Master of Arts (postgraduate)

A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...

, M.Phil

Master of Philosophy

The Master of Philosophy is a postgraduate research degree.An M.Phil. is a lesser degree than a Doctor of Philosophy , but in many cases it is considered to be a more senior degree than a taught Master's degree, as it is often a thesis-only degree. In some instances, an M.Phil...

and Ph.D.

Ph.D.

A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...

degrees from Yale University

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

. Upon delivering the prestigious Gifford Lectures in 2001, Hauerwas would also be awarded an honorary D.D.

Doctor of Divinity

Doctor of Divinity is an advanced academic degree in divinity. Historically, it identified one who had been licensed by a university to teach Christian theology or related religious subjects....

from the University of Edinburgh

University of Edinburgh

The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...

.

Following his graduation from Yale University, Hauerwas taught first at Augustana College

Augustana College (Illinois)

Augustana College is a private liberal arts college located in Rock Island, Illinois, United States. The college enrolls approximately 2,500 students. Covering of hilly, wooded land, Augustana is adjacent to the Mississippi River...

in Rock Island, Illinois, before joining the faculty at the University of Notre Dame

University of Notre Dame

in 1970. He was later invited to assume a faculty position at the Divinity School of Duke University in 1983, where he currently teaches in the area of theological ethics.http://www.divinity.duke.edu/portal_memberdata/shauerwas

Hauerwas' influences are wide-ranging, including figures as diverse as Thomas Aquinas

Thomas Aquinas

Thomas Aquinas, O.P. , also Thomas of Aquin or Aquino, was an Italian Dominican priest of the Catholic Church, and an immensely influential philosopher and theologian in the tradition of scholasticism, known as Doctor Angelicus, Doctor Communis, or Doctor Universalis...

, Soren Kierkegaard, Karl Barth

Karl Barth

Karl Barth was a Swiss Reformed theologian whom critics hold to be among the most important Christian thinkers of the 20th century; Pope Pius XII described him as the most important theologian since Thomas Aquinas...

, Ludwig Wittgenstein

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein was an Austrian philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. He was professor in philosophy at the University of Cambridge from 1939 until 1947...

, John Howard Yoder

John Howard Yoder

John Howard Yoder was a Christian theologian, ethicist, and Biblical scholar best known for his radical Christian pacifism, his mentoring of future theologians such as Stanley Hauerwas, his loyalty to his Mennonite faith, and his 1972 magnum opus, The Politics of Jesus.-Life:Yoder earned his...

, and Alasdair MacIntyre

Alasdair MacIntyre

Alasdair Chalmers MacIntyre is a British philosopher primarily known for his contribution to moral and political philosophy but known also for his work in history of philosophy and theology...

Career

Hauerwas has sometimes been associated with narrative theology

Narrative theology

Postliberal theology began as a late 20th-century development in Christian Theology. It proposes that the Church's use of the Bible should focus on a narrative presentation of the faith as regulative for the development of a coherent systematic theology...

or post-liberalism, both of which are often attached to Yale scholars Brevard Childs

Brevard Childs

Brevard Springs Childs was Professor of Old Testament at Yale University from 1958 until 1999 , and one of the most influential biblical scholars of the 20th century....

(a biblical scholar under whom Hauerwas studied), Hans Frei, and George Lindbeck

George Lindbeck

George Arthur Lindbeck is an American Lutheran theologian. He is best known as an ecumenicist and as one of the fathers of postliberal theology.-Early life and education:...

. He received his theological training at Yale University during the 1960s.

Hauerwas writes of narrative as "the necessary grammar of Christian convictions" in that Christian claims are inextricably linked to what God has done in history and to the ongoing story of God's people as they move through time. This sense of a "hypertemporal God" Hauerwas claims to have gotten from John Howard Yoder, who impressed upon him the need of always locating God's actions in the "timeliness" of the created order as witnessed by the Bible. He has explained this understanding of a people (i.e., church) constituted by their ongoing story with God in terms of a pointed and oft-repeated aphorism:

My claim, so offensive to some, that the first task of the church is to make the world the world, not to make the world more just, is a correlative of this theological metaphysics. The world simply cannot be narrated - the world cannot have a story - unless a people exist who make the world the world. That is an eschatological claim that presupposes we know there was a beginning only because we have seen the end ... [C]reation names God's continuing action, God's unrelenting desire for us to want to be loved by that love manifest in Christ's life, death, and resurrection.

Though Hauerwas believes that the strong distinction between the church and the world is a necessary mark of the Christian life, it is also a view that has drawn criticism. What he sees as a faithful way of constituting a people of God, others see as defining him as a "sectarian, fideistic, tribalist." Hauerwas collaborated with William H. Willimon

William H. Willimon

William Henry Willimon is a bishop in the United Methodist Church in the U.S., currently serving in North Alabama. He is best known as a theologian, writer, former Dean of the Chapel at Duke University, and as one of America's best known preachers...

(now a bishop in the United Methodist Church

United Methodist Church

) in 1989 to offer an accessible version of his vision of the Christian life in the book Resident Aliens: Life in the Christian Colony.

Honors

Time magazine in 2001 named him "America's Best Theologian". He responded by saying, "'Best' is not a theological category."

Also in 2001, he was invited to give the Gifford Lectures

Gifford Lectures

The Gifford Lectures were established by the will of Adam Lord Gifford . They were established to "promote and diffuse the study of Natural Theology in the widest sense of the term — in other words, the knowledge of God." The term natural theology as used by Gifford means theology supported...

at St. Andrews

University of St Andrews

The University of St Andrews, informally referred to as "St Andrews", is the oldest university in Scotland and the third oldest in the English-speaking world after Oxford and Cambridge. The university is situated in the town of St Andrews, Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It was founded between...

in Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

, which were published as With the Grain of the Universe, a text in which Karl Barth

Karl Barth

's interpretation of St. Anselm

Anselm of Canterbury

Anselm of Canterbury , also called of Aosta for his birthplace, and of Bec for his home monastery, was a Benedictine monk, a philosopher, and a prelate of the church who held the office of Archbishop of Canterbury from 1093 to 1109...

's analogy of faith featured. In 1997 he gave the Scottish Journal of Theology
Scottish Journal of Theology
Scottish Journal of Theology is a peer-reviewed quarterly academic journal of systematic, historical and biblical theology. Founded in Scotland in 1948, it provides an ecumenical forum for debate, and engages in extensive reviewing of theological and biblical literature...

lectures at Aberdeen, published as Sanctify Them in Truth (1998).

Deontological and utilitarian thought

The basic utilitarian rationalization for research on human beings is the ends justify the means. This means that any sort of research on a human being is justified by the possibility of successfully saving others. For example, all cancer research would be justified by the possibility of finding a cure for cancer, which would inevitably save the life of many others. The utilitarian argument focuses on the greatest good for the greatest amount of people or the greater good. Under the utilitarian justification it is a person's duty to sacrifice himself or herself if it would save others as long as the individual person's societal worth is less than the combined societal worth of the others. Therefore, if either a doctor or a homeless person must die to save the lives of many others, the homeless person must sacrifice himself since he is worth less to society than the doctor.

The Deontological argument against research on human beings is that persons are an ends in themselves. This means we cannot use people for any purpose. The Deontological argument relies on the belief that we should treat others as he or she would like to be so treated. Say someone was suffering from a terminal illness and they are likely to die shortly. Under deontology, research cannot be done on this person even if it means saving the lives of millions. Deontology focuses on keeping your principle at all times no matter the situation.

Understanding of experimentation

Hauerwas finds these two moral theories very limiting because they are quandary ethics, cases that rely on extreme situations. He believes that there needs to be a third reasoning that falls somewhere in between these two. He believes that the basic doctor-patient relationship should be built on trust and caring. This characterizes him as more of deontological thinker; however, he does believe in research on human beings. Hauerwas’s perspective is that there needs to be a middle ground between these two perspectives. The patient becomes dehumanized through research; however, without this research there would be little medical improvement. Hauerwas therefore believes this middle ground should focus on caring for the patient instead of curing. With this, Hauerwas believes we do not have the moral understanding to handle current medicine.

As mentioned above, Hauerwas believes that the moral issue of experimentation on humans cannot be answered from a utilitarianism versus deontological perspective. He believes that society lacks a cohesive understanding of the notions of “the good of mankind” and “the rights of the individual.” Only when this issue is solved can society come to a conclusive decision on how science should be used to serve humans needs. Therapeutic and nontherapeutic experimentation on humans are differentiated by the intent of the procedure. Therapeutic experimentation is meant to help the patient with their current needs, while nontherapeutic experimentation has no intention of helping the patient, but to collect research for the benefit of future patients. The issue becomes: should medical progress be helping the current patient or the future patient? Stanley Hauerwas believes society has no consensus of the meanings of health and illness, which contributes to the issue of how patients should be treated. Only when society comes to a universal understanding of these issues can the moral dilemma of experimentation on humans be resolved.

Informed consent

Hauerwas finds little justification for human experimentation through informed consent. He argues that a patient’s understanding of an experimental procedure will never approach that of his or her physician. He questions even the possibility of a patient reaching a state of “informed consent.” He further believes that if individuals reach such a state of “informed consent”, this does not mean individuals should consent, or fully understand the meaning of their consent. “For persons can misuse themselves even if they do so voluntarily and with full knowledge.” Individuals consenting to experimentation through the justification of the human good, turn themselves into objects for the use of the experimentation. The issue is further complicated for Hauerwas as to whom should be considered for medical experimentation. The use of prisoners only proliferates social stereotypes and denigration. He believes that informed consent is necessary for human experimentation, but it does not provide justification for our willingness to submit and participate in experimentation.

Language of rights

Hauerwas finds the language of “rights” to be disturbing as it assumes that people relate to others as strangers, and lends even the understanding of the family to that of a contractual society. He argues that being part of a family, however, is not a voluntary undertaking. As such, when one is part of a family, the kinds of responsibilities each member holds are in relation to each other. Hauerwas finds that as a parent, you have a duty to your children, not just because you brought them into existence, but because the role of parent is to ensure the children are brought up in a way that is conducive to the community’s values. Thus, the issue with “rights” language is that it attempts to prevent maltreatment of individuals to the point of exclusion of familial and communal responsibility. Hauerwas’s bottom line is that there can be no real society if its members only relate in terms of noninterference. The language of rights destroys society because we regard people as strangers instead of assuming the responsibility towards them as family and members of the community that we share.

Views on death and dying well

Hauerwas believes that there is a difference between the concept of death and the criteria for death. The concept of death “involves a philosophical judgment of a significant change that has happened in a person” and therefore “is a correlative of what one takes to be the necessary condition of human life, e.g., … the potential for consciousness”. The criteria of death, however, are “those empirical measurements that can be made to determine whether a person is dead, such as cessation of respiration or a flat EEG”. Thus, brain death is a criterion of death that may serve “as a symbol of when it is time to die”. A person must not delay death so long that it no longer possible to die a good death.

On the subject of suicide, Hauerwas challenges the claim that autonomous suicide is morally acceptable, but also wants to distinguish himself from the position that denies rational suicide. He believes that suicide can be and often is a rational decision of an “autonomous” agent, but does not agree with the notion that it is justified. He contends that suicide as an institution must be considered morally doubtful, as the life that we are given should be considered a gift bestowed upon us by God. To many, the term "rational suicide" is based on the assumption that the decision to live or die depends on whether life has a meaning or purpose. Hauerwas, however, contends that the reason we should live on, is because our lives are not ours, and as such, reminds us that there is a commitment to keep on living. Yet, while there may be times in our lives where suicide may seem rational, mere existence allows us to enjoy certain joys, such as helping another, or healing the sick, that should be enough to sustain our commitment to living.

According to Hauerwas, a “good death is a death that we can prepare for through living because we are able to see that death is but a necessary correlative to a good life." A long life may give a person more of a chance to have a good death because he may be able to get himself morally in line during that time period, but it is also possible to die well quickly if you have lived morally. A good death also requires that the death be morally in proportion with the way one lived and was sustained, and occurs in a way that allows those caring for us to see that they are sustaining us.

Partial bibliography

Many of his books are collections of essays; some are structured monographs. Among his more commonly known works are:

Vision and Virtue: Essays in Christian Ethical Reflection (1974)
Character and the Christian Life: A Study in Theological Ethics (1975)
Truthfulness and Tragedy: Further Investigations into Christian Ethics (1977)
A Community of Character (1981) ISBN 0-268-00735-7
The Peaceable Kingdom: A Primer in Christian Ethics (1983) ISBN 0-268-01554-6
Against the Nations: War and Survival in a Liberal Society (1985) ISBN 0-86683-957-7
Suffering Presence: Theological Reflections on Medicine, the Mentally Handicapped, and the Church (1986)
Christian Existence Today: Essays on Church, World, and Living in Between (1988)
Resident Aliens: Life in the Christian Colony
Resident Aliens
Resident Aliens: Life in the Christian Colony is a 1989 book by Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon which argues that Christian churches should focus on developing Christian life and community rather than attempting to reform the secular culture...

(with William Willimon) (1989) ISBN 0-687-36159-1
Naming the Silence: God, Medicine and the Problem of Suffering (1990)
After Christendom: How the Church Is to Behave If Freedom, Justice, and a Christian Nation Are Bad Ideas (1991) ISBN 0-687-00929-4
Unleashing the Scripture: Freeing the Bible from Captivity to America (1993) ISBN 0-687-31678-2
Dispatches from the Front: Theological Engagements with the Secular (1994)
In Good Company: The Church as Polis (1995)
Where Resident Aliens Live (with William Willimon) (1996)
Christians Among the Virtues: Theological Conversations with Ancient and Modern Ethics (with Charles Pinches) (1997)
Wilderness Wanderings: Probing Twentieth Century Theology and Philosophy (1997)
Sanctify Them in Truth: Holiness Exemplified (1998)
A Better Hope: Resources for a church confronting capitalism, democracy and postmodernity (2000)
The Hauerwas Reader (2001) ISBN 0-82232-691-4
With the Grain of the Universe: The Church's Witness and Natural Theology (2001) ISBN 1-58743-016-9
The Blackwell Companion to Christian Ethics (with Samuel Wells) (2004)
Performing the Faith: Bonhoeffer and the Practice of Non-Violence (2004) ISBN 1-58743-076-2
That State of the University: Academic Knowledges and the Knowledge of God (2007)
Christianity, Democracy, and the Radical Ordinary: Conversations between a Radical Democrat and a Christian (with Romand Coles) (2008)
Stanley Hauerwas on America’s God: Lecture at Church of the Incarnation, Dallas, Texas, on March 7, 2010. Retrieved Aug 13, 2010 here.
"Disciplined Seeing: Forms of Christianity and Forms of Life," South Atlantic Quarterly 109:4 (Fall 2010), 765-790 (with Brian Goldstone) http://saq.dukejournals.org/cgi/reprint/109/4/765

Hauerwas is series co-editor (with Jewish theologian Peter Ochs

Peter Ochs

Peter W. Ochs is the Edgar M. Bronfman Professor of Modern Judaic Studies at the University of Virginia, where he has served since 1997. He is an influential thinker whose interests include Jewish philosophy and theology, modern and postmodern philosophic theology, pragmatism, and semiotics...

) of Radical Traditions: Theology in a Postcritical Key, published by Westview Press/Harper Collins and SCM Press/Eerdmans, and series co-editor (with Peter Ochs and Ibrahim Moosa) of Encountering Traditions, published by Stanford University Press.

External links

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