The Character of Virtue
Letters to a Godson
- Christian Living
- Publisher: Eerdmans
- Published: 2021
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Publisher's Description
Timeless wisdom from a renowned theologian on living well From the fairy godmother’s pumpkin coach to Herr Drosselmeyer’s nutcracker, godparents have long been associated with good gifts. But in The Character of Virtue theologian and ethicist Stanley Hauerwas offers his real-life godson something far more precious than toys or trinkets—the gift of hard-won wisdom on life and the process of maturing. In each of sixteen letters—sent on the occasion of Laurence Wells’s baptism and every year thereafter—Hauerwas contemplates a specific virtue and its meaning for a child growing year by year into the Christian faith. Writing on kindness, courage, humility, joy, and more, Hauerwas distills centuries of religious thinking and decades of self-reflection into heartfelt personal epistles that are both timely and timeless. An introduction by Samuel Wells—Laurence’s father and Hauerwas’s friend—tells the story behind these letters and offers sage insight into what a godparent is and can be.
Endorsements (8)
“Bound to become a classic, Stanley Hauerwas’s wise, gentle, and compassionate letters to his godson are, in fact, timeless teachings from a great spiritual master to all of us.”
“Seeing Stanley Hauerwas’s treatment of the virtues through the eyes of Sam Wells’s growing son, reflecting one minute on vast reaches of truth and the next on close-up political and personal challenges, all with a light touch and characteristic Texan grit—this is a treat. A book to read and savor.”
“Hauerwas’s marvelous letters in The Character of Virtue are not only wisdom for those growing in the faith; they are also a model for how all of us can come alongside parents in the hard but good work of raising children in the faith.”
“A distillation of Stanley Hauerwas’s thought, and a distillation of love—these letters should find a home on your bookcase. But make sure that it is easily accessed, as you’ll want to take The Character of Virtue down often, flip it open to any page, and immerse yourself in its loving, bracing wisdom.”
“In this series of intimate and luminous reflections, annual letters to a godson, Stanley Hauerwas lifts up a rich array of virtues. He does so not in order to exhort their cultivation but to display how they ride on the back of compelling practices and forms of life that we discover along the way.”
“Emerson thought that achieving aversion from conformity might require the enabling attentiveness of an older friend. These letters show how a godparent can embody the same emancipatory, upbuilding aspirations in a distinctively Christian idiom, exhibiting exactly the virtues that it sets itself to discuss.”
“I think I’m supposed to say that this book shows ‘a gentler side of Stanley.’ But as far as I am concerned, there was never any other. Typically, for Hauerwas, it combines theoretical exposition with a direct, interpersonal context. . . . What we have here is an exemplary short summa of the practical Christian virtues in the form of an enactment of the crucial virtue of godparenthood.”
“This is an invaluable, one-off book in both form and content. . . . A central insight is that our virtues are pulled out of us by our loves—pets, games, politics included, all explored with abundant humility, humor, and passion.”
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