Stephen Meawad: Virtue Ethics, Scripture, and Early Christianity: Patristic Sacred Reading as a Transformative Struggle

The oft-cited exhortation from Vatican II to utilize Scripture more seriously in moral theology has since spurred many theologians, ethicists, and biblical scholars to consider potential ways to adhere to this directive. In this paper, I will offer a solution to the problem of the divorce of Scripture and ethics, grounded in Orthodox Christian and Patristic Scriptural methodologies and simultaneously in an Orthodox model of spiritual struggle within Nyssen’s framework of epektasis, or perpetual ascent. The transformative power of Scripture remains largely untapped in methodological discourse. Thus, the suggestion in this paper is that applying to Scripture the ethos of spiritual struggle and the tripartite model of epektasis—detachment, strengthening, and union—will allow for the direct formation and transformation of Christians in community. The goal is to demonstrate that the consideration of an Orthodox Christian model of spiritual struggle and epektasis when applied to a Christian practice (in this case Scripture reading), can serve as a basis for an ethic of virtue. Additionally, Patristic exegetical approaches to Scripture—including the centrality of Christ as the interpretive key to Scripture; the importance of holistic, typological, and allegorical readings of Scripture; and the need for openness, purity, and community, among others—will serve as the foundation for more concrete ways to approach Scripture for its ethical application. What will begin to emerge is a pragmatic, virtue ethical practice of “ Patristic sacred reading” in which Scripture serves as an ethos, a former of character, and a portal to unity with God.