released 6/5/2020

“We must look to the horizon of God’s redemptive purposes if we are to grasp the full meaning of political events that pass before our eyes.” So writes moral philosopher Oliver O’Donovan. “This means that, first, theology must do its work equipped with a full array of political concepts, not just within a narrowly personal and therapeutic framework. And second: thinking about politics needs a full set of theological categories to understand its function properly.”

In a 90-minute conversation with Matthew Lee Anderson and Ken Myers, Oliver O’Donovan explains some of the central themes of his work in political theology. This discussion was held on Capitol Hill in 2013, and includes references to O’Donovan’s books The Desire of the Nations, The Ways of Judgment, and others.

91 minutes

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Moral philosopher Oliver O’Donovan discusses the first two volumes of his three-volume set, Ethics as Theology. During the interview, O’Donovan identifies important touchstones that have guided his thinking about moral reflection, including his insight in Resurrection and Moral Order (1986) that moral thinking and action proceed from, and must resonate with, the realities of the created order. O’Donovan also reflects upon the significance of the thinking moral subject as well as what form of moral inadequacy the “life of the flesh” suggests.

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