released 6/3/2025

In September 2007, moral philosopher Oliver O’Donovan gave a series of lectures at the University of New South Wales on moral wakefulness. In this, the first of the lectures, O’Donovan uses the metaphor of waking to discuss the concept of moral sensibility. After an examination of how the concept is used in Scripture, he explains what it means for a human being to be wakeful — that is, attentive — to the world, the self, and time. O’Donovan illustrates the consequences of attending to one of these three spheres without adequate attention to the others. Moral wakefulness unites attentiveness to all three. If moral reasoning hinges upon interaction with the way things really are, with the world as it is in reality, then inattention is “culpable ignorance.” In conclusion, O’Donovan describes how the New Testament virtues of faith, hope, and love renew our attention to the world, the self, and time.

This series of lectures — titled “Morally Awake: Admiration and Resolution in the Light of Christian Faith” — is provided courtesy of New College, at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. Listen to the second lecture here and the third lecture here.

60 minutes

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