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The Disappearance of Ethics: The Gifford Lectures
The capstone lectures of esteemed ethicist Oliver O’Donovan
What is the future of ethics? Oliver O’Donovan addresses a discipline in crisis in The Disappearance of Ethics . Based on the 2021 Gifford Lectures, this book contends that contemporary ethics has lost its object (good), frontier (time), and agent (person).
O’Donovan traces the development of these concepts from Greek philosophy through early Christianity, the Enlightenment, and into the modern era. Engaging with a range of thinkers including Aristotle, Augustine of Hippo, Max Scheler, Karl Barth, and more, O’Donovan shows how ethics has lost its heart and how the field can regain its purpose. He completes his lectures by integrating theology and philosophy to recover ethics. Contemplating theological concepts such as creation, divine law, and justification undergirds ethics by generating “existential wonder.”
With characteristic warmth and scholarly precision, O’Donovan reinvigorates ethical argument with theological insight. Scholars and students of Christian ethics will find his lectures equally provocative and inspiring.
What is the future of ethics? Oliver O’Donovan addresses a discipline in crisis in The Disappearance of Ethics . Based on the 2021 Gifford Lectures, this book contends that contemporary ethics has lost its object (good), frontier (time), and agent (person).
O’Donovan traces the development of these concepts from Greek philosophy through early Christianity, the Enlightenment, and into the modern era. Engaging with a range of thinkers including Aristotle, Augustine of Hippo, Max Scheler, Karl Barth, and more, O’Donovan shows how ethics has lost its heart and how the field can regain its purpose. He completes his lectures by integrating theology and philosophy to recover ethics. Contemplating theological concepts such as creation, divine law, and justification undergirds ethics by generating “existential wonder.”
With characteristic warmth and scholarly precision, O’Donovan reinvigorates ethical argument with theological insight. Scholars and students of Christian ethics will find his lectures equally provocative and inspiring.
167 pages, Hardcover
Published January 18, 2024
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57 people want to read
About the author
Oliver O'Donovan
48 books58 followersOliver O'Donovan FBA FRSE (born 1945) is a scholar known for his work in the field of Christian ethics. He has also made contributions to political theology, both contemporary and historical.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 12, 2024
Interesting lectures and ideas
July 25, 2025
In the spirit of purpose of the Gifford Lectures, here are some of this book's most striking claims regarding "natural" theology/morality:
"To narrate the events of the past as revealing a meaning in the will of God is the work of prophets, not of moralists. What moral reason can do, however, is to recognize the shape of a purposefully formed history when it is shown one. In the prophetic narrative of history it can recognize the purpose and the promise it anyway had to assume. Which is one supporting reason for the suggestion I threw out in the first lecture, that nowhere more clearly than in Ethics do we see what a ‘natural theology’ may be" (p. 100).
"So we open the door to a faith in the moral fulfillment of history, or the historical fulfillment of morality. A natural theology, if it takes that faith seriously, can conceive of the occurrence of a decisive moment when the moral form of history becomes clear, a moment of disclosure that both fulfills and promises fulfillment. A moral philosophy can, and perhaps must, reach the view articulated by Scheler, that ‘the person’ is conceivable only concretely, as a particular historical person bound into a particular historical community of persons. This train of thought brings natural theology and moral philosophy as close to a Christology as could be imagined within the limits of abstract thought. But they cannot form a Christology. They can speak of what may or must in principle be the case somewhere and somehow, if the supposition of a faith in history is valid. They can formulate the idea of a decisive moment of moral history and of a particular person appearing uniquely within it. But to speak of Christ is to do more than form the idea of a kind that can have only one instance; it is to identify the one instance. Christology requires an ostensive demonstration, a ‘Look here!’ that lies beyond the repertoire of the moral philosopher or natural theologian. It requires a narrative theology to fill the empty form with substance" (pp. 123–24).
"Once we have taken the measure of history, the innocence of a ‘natural’ social morality, content with such fragmentary reasons as the practical context provides, is no longer open to us. It was never more than a preparation for the historical experience of life directed by God’s purposes. In the accomplishment of those purposes we are summoned to believe. If we cannot believe in it, we are bound at least to imitate it with pseudohistorical realizations of morality in ersatz kingdoms of heaven conceived in materialist or political terms" (p. 136).
"The ‘moral argument’ for God, the soul, and eternal life thus conforms precisely to the shape of the other classic arguments: forms of intelligibility that the world offers are questioned about the reality that lies behind them. The practical question is then, can we live with such unresolved questions?… The conclusion of the moral argument is, of course, that same ‘God of the philosophers’ who is famously (and perhaps too destructively) derided by Pascal. The moral argument does not somehow get us past the logic of history and revelation, which is that if God is to be known, God must disclose himself. What the God of the philosophers amounts to is a kind of conceptual map-reference, by which the revelation of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, when such is given us, may be plotted onto experience. It is the location of a reasonable expectation and hope. So the promise of a goal of history that positive theology lays claim to is a promise Ethics knows how to welcome and locate. There is no exceeding the limits of apologetics; Ethics can rid religious belief of apparent moral irrelevance, but it cannot clothe it in necessity. Yet to those who know themselves called to believe as they live, and to live as they believe, the conceptual support that it can offer is not negligible"
(pp. 150–51).
Pages 117–20 are an excellent appreciation of natural law with a provocative theory for its decline.
On page 142 O'Donovan says that "most of the political weakness of our civilization" derives from social contract theories and names Rawls, lol.
There was also this bonus unexpected and brutal critique of MacIntyre (especially by academic and British standards) in a footnote: "I leave to others the decision on how consistent Ethics in the Conflicts of Modernity is with MacIntyre’s more celebrated earlier writings. But there are clearly some familiar features. His ‘human flourishing,’ a more complicated cousin of animal flourishing, is frankly naturalistic and leaves no room to see morality as a developing historical culture, with its roots in law and its fulfillment in the Spirit. Supplying ‘Morality’ with a historical Sitz im Leben in early modern mercantilism, he denies the role of tradition in early modern civilization, and especially the role of religious tradition, which intellectual historians have been inclined to emphasize. He ignores whatever of antiquity is not Aristotle, especially the development of law in the Mediterranean basin and its elaboration by the rabbis and Jesus of Nazareth. He ignores the vast predominance of law-based morality in the Western Middle Ages, not least in Thomas Aquinas, whom he continues to invoke selectively as the best exponent of Aristotle and (implausibly) the source of his own ideas" (p. 112).
"To narrate the events of the past as revealing a meaning in the will of God is the work of prophets, not of moralists. What moral reason can do, however, is to recognize the shape of a purposefully formed history when it is shown one. In the prophetic narrative of history it can recognize the purpose and the promise it anyway had to assume. Which is one supporting reason for the suggestion I threw out in the first lecture, that nowhere more clearly than in Ethics do we see what a ‘natural theology’ may be" (p. 100).
"So we open the door to a faith in the moral fulfillment of history, or the historical fulfillment of morality. A natural theology, if it takes that faith seriously, can conceive of the occurrence of a decisive moment when the moral form of history becomes clear, a moment of disclosure that both fulfills and promises fulfillment. A moral philosophy can, and perhaps must, reach the view articulated by Scheler, that ‘the person’ is conceivable only concretely, as a particular historical person bound into a particular historical community of persons. This train of thought brings natural theology and moral philosophy as close to a Christology as could be imagined within the limits of abstract thought. But they cannot form a Christology. They can speak of what may or must in principle be the case somewhere and somehow, if the supposition of a faith in history is valid. They can formulate the idea of a decisive moment of moral history and of a particular person appearing uniquely within it. But to speak of Christ is to do more than form the idea of a kind that can have only one instance; it is to identify the one instance. Christology requires an ostensive demonstration, a ‘Look here!’ that lies beyond the repertoire of the moral philosopher or natural theologian. It requires a narrative theology to fill the empty form with substance" (pp. 123–24).
"Once we have taken the measure of history, the innocence of a ‘natural’ social morality, content with such fragmentary reasons as the practical context provides, is no longer open to us. It was never more than a preparation for the historical experience of life directed by God’s purposes. In the accomplishment of those purposes we are summoned to believe. If we cannot believe in it, we are bound at least to imitate it with pseudohistorical realizations of morality in ersatz kingdoms of heaven conceived in materialist or political terms" (p. 136).
"The ‘moral argument’ for God, the soul, and eternal life thus conforms precisely to the shape of the other classic arguments: forms of intelligibility that the world offers are questioned about the reality that lies behind them. The practical question is then, can we live with such unresolved questions?… The conclusion of the moral argument is, of course, that same ‘God of the philosophers’ who is famously (and perhaps too destructively) derided by Pascal. The moral argument does not somehow get us past the logic of history and revelation, which is that if God is to be known, God must disclose himself. What the God of the philosophers amounts to is a kind of conceptual map-reference, by which the revelation of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, when such is given us, may be plotted onto experience. It is the location of a reasonable expectation and hope. So the promise of a goal of history that positive theology lays claim to is a promise Ethics knows how to welcome and locate. There is no exceeding the limits of apologetics; Ethics can rid religious belief of apparent moral irrelevance, but it cannot clothe it in necessity. Yet to those who know themselves called to believe as they live, and to live as they believe, the conceptual support that it can offer is not negligible"
(pp. 150–51).
Pages 117–20 are an excellent appreciation of natural law with a provocative theory for its decline.
On page 142 O'Donovan says that "most of the political weakness of our civilization" derives from social contract theories and names Rawls, lol.
There was also this bonus unexpected and brutal critique of MacIntyre (especially by academic and British standards) in a footnote: "I leave to others the decision on how consistent Ethics in the Conflicts of Modernity is with MacIntyre’s more celebrated earlier writings. But there are clearly some familiar features. His ‘human flourishing,’ a more complicated cousin of animal flourishing, is frankly naturalistic and leaves no room to see morality as a developing historical culture, with its roots in law and its fulfillment in the Spirit. Supplying ‘Morality’ with a historical Sitz im Leben in early modern mercantilism, he denies the role of tradition in early modern civilization, and especially the role of religious tradition, which intellectual historians have been inclined to emphasize. He ignores whatever of antiquity is not Aristotle, especially the development of law in the Mediterranean basin and its elaboration by the rabbis and Jesus of Nazareth. He ignores the vast predominance of law-based morality in the Western Middle Ages, not least in Thomas Aquinas, whom he continues to invoke selectively as the best exponent of Aristotle and (implausibly) the source of his own ideas" (p. 112).
June 17, 2024
The Gifford Lectures were established in 1887 at the four ancient universities of Scotland—St Andrews, Glasgow, Aberdeen, and Edinburgh—to promote the study of natural theology. Speaking at a Gifford is one of the most prestigious honors in Scottish academia. While not every lecture series gets a book treatment, many do, and The Disappearance of Ethics is the second to be published by William B. Eerdmans.
Based on Oliver O’Donovan’s 2021 lecture (which was done via Zoom due to the Coronatimes), the book makes the case that contemporary ethics has become lost, having misplaced its object (what is good), its frontier (the aspect of time), and its agent (people). If all of this seems a little heady, then buckle up because this is a prestigious academic lecture series has no problem living in academic prose.
O’Donovan is a British priest and academic, who served as professor of moral and pastoral theology at Oxford for nearly 25 years, then did a further seven as professor of ethics and practical theology at Edinburgh. He’s a past president of the Society for the Study of Christian Ethics and associate director of Centre for Theology and Public Issues. His magnum opus is a trilogy called Ethics as Theology, also published by Eerdmans between 2013-2017. I say this only to note that when it comes to the field of Christian ethics, O’Donovan has been a fixture for forty years.
And that’s why, when he proclaims the disappearance of ethics, no matter how academic or scholarly he might make it sound, we should be alarmed. Where has ethics gone? By this, O’Donovan doesn’t necessarily mean that people lack character. It’s not a “kids these days” man angrily shaking his fist about how things were better in his day. Rather, it’s a lament that Christian theology and thinking have neglected the study of ethics and that has impacted our moral reasoning. The revitalization of ethics will come with a revitalization of theology and commit to live as Spirit-indwelt beings in this world.
So there is only question left: Why read the book if you can just listen to the lectures for free? And yes, it’s true that the Gifford lectures are freely available. However, there are those who learn better through reading than listening. Reading is a more active skill than listening. Second, this book has been edited, expanded, and annotated to ensure a more robust product. But perhaps most importantly is that, given that Dr. O’Donovan gave his 2021 lecture via Zoom, the video and audio quality is, well, less than desirable. I usually listen through the Giffords but this one definitely suffered from an inability to have any sort of production value.
In the end, The Disappearance of Ethics makes its case well. O’Donovan is thorough and compelling. The question that remains is if we can make the necessary changes to bring back what has been lost.
Based on Oliver O’Donovan’s 2021 lecture (which was done via Zoom due to the Coronatimes), the book makes the case that contemporary ethics has become lost, having misplaced its object (what is good), its frontier (the aspect of time), and its agent (people). If all of this seems a little heady, then buckle up because this is a prestigious academic lecture series has no problem living in academic prose.
O’Donovan is a British priest and academic, who served as professor of moral and pastoral theology at Oxford for nearly 25 years, then did a further seven as professor of ethics and practical theology at Edinburgh. He’s a past president of the Society for the Study of Christian Ethics and associate director of Centre for Theology and Public Issues. His magnum opus is a trilogy called Ethics as Theology, also published by Eerdmans between 2013-2017. I say this only to note that when it comes to the field of Christian ethics, O’Donovan has been a fixture for forty years.
And that’s why, when he proclaims the disappearance of ethics, no matter how academic or scholarly he might make it sound, we should be alarmed. Where has ethics gone? By this, O’Donovan doesn’t necessarily mean that people lack character. It’s not a “kids these days” man angrily shaking his fist about how things were better in his day. Rather, it’s a lament that Christian theology and thinking have neglected the study of ethics and that has impacted our moral reasoning. The revitalization of ethics will come with a revitalization of theology and commit to live as Spirit-indwelt beings in this world.
So there is only question left: Why read the book if you can just listen to the lectures for free? And yes, it’s true that the Gifford lectures are freely available. However, there are those who learn better through reading than listening. Reading is a more active skill than listening. Second, this book has been edited, expanded, and annotated to ensure a more robust product. But perhaps most importantly is that, given that Dr. O’Donovan gave his 2021 lecture via Zoom, the video and audio quality is, well, less than desirable. I usually listen through the Giffords but this one definitely suffered from an inability to have any sort of production value.
In the end, The Disappearance of Ethics makes its case well. O’Donovan is thorough and compelling. The question that remains is if we can make the necessary changes to bring back what has been lost.
July 13, 2024
There is a lot of things to say about this book. For now though, I will just say the section on anxiety and hope as they relate to desires and our experience as creatures of time and our expectation of goodness -- or lack thereof for the anxious heart -- is immensely beneficial. I will consistently return to this as a very significant moment on how to discuss anxiety in my own life and the lives of those around me.
O'Donovan is very interested in helping us develop a sense of coherence in our moral lives, especially as those lives struggle to find and pursue goodness in time towards a beautiful outcome.
While I feel my lack of knowledge on certain thinkers like Kierkegaard and Scheler who show up in this, it is helpful to at least get started in contemplating some of these issues. May God help us to learn to become moral agents with a clear moral horizon as we fix our eyes on the proper moral objects.
O'Donovan is very interested in helping us develop a sense of coherence in our moral lives, especially as those lives struggle to find and pursue goodness in time towards a beautiful outcome.
While I feel my lack of knowledge on certain thinkers like Kierkegaard and Scheler who show up in this, it is helpful to at least get started in contemplating some of these issues. May God help us to learn to become moral agents with a clear moral horizon as we fix our eyes on the proper moral objects.
April 2, 2025
Really good.
July 24, 2025
A difficult book that will need a second read. I think I 'get it', but we'll see...
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews