Abstract
Having had the opportunity—and so, also the privilege—to work together closely with Peter Sedgwick in the Third Phase of the Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) since 2011, I have first-hand experience of his indisputable competence in the history of moral theology in general, and that of Anglican moral theology, in particular. For more than a decade or so, in my various encounters with him—both in private conversations as well as at public meetings—he has demonstrated an acute sense of the history of morals at his finger-tips, and that too, with meticulous attention to the detail. Thus, Sedgwick is also one of those very few contemporary moral theologians that I know of who would feel at home in his grasp of the decisive historical developments not only within the Anglican communion but also within the Roman Catholic moral tradition with all the intricate nuances that are invariably linked to them. It is with such credentials that he sets about in this challenging work to establish that there indeed is an Anglican moral theology with its own exclusively Anglican identity, thanks mainly to Hooker and the Carolines. Thus, in his very opening chapter, Sedgwick is clear on his understanding of the sense of Anglican moral tradition when he writes, ‘It is the deepest conviction of this book that what is offered is not a set of historical studies from 1530 to 1690. Instead, the book seeks to show that there is an Anglican tradition of moral enquiry … This understanding developed because of the sources, scriptural, patristic and medieval, which shaped that understanding’ (p. 2).
In view of Alasdair MacIntyre's claim that there are genealogies as opposed to other forms of descriptive enquiry in philosophy, Sedgwick intends to establish that ‘this book is a genealogy of Anglican moral theology’, and he has been very successful in doing so. He convincingly claims: ‘The tumultuous years between 1530 and 1690 are its origins’ (p. 2). In this book, he has effectively identified and highlighted ‘the origins of the Anglican equivalent of Roman Catholic moral theology’ (p. 3).
The book consists of eleven chapters. The first chapter opens with a fine resumé of contemporary Christian moral theology as a whole, with an excellent analysis of various Christian moral traditions/ramifications (mainly of Anglican and Roman Catholic). Sedgwick shows in this discussion how they relate to one another without damaging the identity of any particular Christian tradition. Sedgwick's skill in conveying the Christian essence of diverse moral traditions without diluting or exaggerating any of them is on display here. In short, the opening chapter is a fine, impartial theological history of Christian morals in general.
In the second chapter, we encounter a comprehensive discussion on the perpetual issue of historical definition. Therein, the history of moral theology is pitted face to face with historiography of the Cambridge school. Here the author highlights for the reader the path he himself intends to tread in writing the origins of Anglican moral theology. From chapters three to five one finds a succinct presentation of the development of Christian morals from the biblical times to the Middle Ages. Here, Sedgwick has been careful not to leave out any of the pivotal historical elements that would eventually contribute to the development of moral theology as a separate science in the post-Tridentine era.
Just as the Anglican tradition, from the sixteenth century onwards, followed sources of moral theology shared across the Western Christian traditions in its own unique way with its own faith interpretations (quite often in contrast to the Roman Catholic tradition, cf. p. 158), so also this book from chapter 6 onwards deepens in specificity. It catalogues the foundations of the Christian ethics of the Reformers, considering Martin Luther, along with William Tyndale and William Perkins, respectively. In chapter 7 there is a direct treatment of the emerging moral theology tradition which we can call Anglican, standing apart with its own identity, but Sedgwick uses his wide repertoire of knowledge of the history of Christian ethics that spans across the churches and communities to present it in a lively inter-denominational dialogue, mainly with Roman Catholic historical events and developments. From this point, what Sedgwick calls ‘the Anglican genealogy’, takes over. Thus, we have an enriching discussion on the contribution of William Perkins which marks the transition to Anglican moral theology proper, more fully developed with the contributions of Richard Hooker. Because of the thorough preparation for this discussion, the contextual and historical dimensions of this development are exquisitely charted. So, for example, in the fourth chapter there is a rich discussion of how the two principal Medieval sources of Anglican moral theology—Peter Abelard and Thomas Aquinas—heavily influenced Richard Hooker, ‘the great counterweight to the Reformed thinking of Perkins’ (p. 119). In chapter 9, Sedgwick picks up this thread by comparing and contrasting Aquinas and Hooker, and in the process, providing a very rich analytical contribution. Such discussions are not only ‘new’ moral theological revelations to a Roman Catholic reviewer as the present one, but they are also immensely educative.
The book has a meticulously arranged index of authors and the historical issues they were involved in. Sedgwick also provides an exhaustive bibliography of primary and secondary sources used in writing this work (pp. 355–401), which in itself an indication as to the profundity of the work. Interestingly, it consists of Anglican and non-Anglican (mainly Roman Catholic) authors, thus highlighting the fact that the author has tapped all sources available to him in retracing the origins of Anglican moral theology. In this sense, this book can be rightly perceived as an ecumenical effort in constructing a broader history of Christian morals than its explicitly stated main purpose of tracing out the origins of Anglican moral theology might lead one to expect.
This is the first well-researched and detailed scientific work that I know of which shows how the Anglican moral theological tradition as a separate discipline originated between the years 1530 to 1690 with its own identity. Strictly speaking, even Roman Catholic moral theology, as a separate theological discipline, also originated around the same period, that is, after the Council of Trent (1545–1563). What we read in this work up to the Reformation era (i.e., from Chapters 3 to 5) is obviously valid also for the historical developments within Roman Catholic moral theology, and so this serves also as a fine Reader of the history of Christian morals as a whole, especially for those who research or are interested in knowing about the origins of moral theology in Western Christianity in the sixteenth century—a span which covers three-quarters of the Church's existence, after all! Throughout, Sedgwick successfully highlights parallel developments in both the Roman Catholic and Anglican moral traditions, while giving his objective critical comments on them.
Although in general, this genre can be dry and unattractive to an ordinary reader, in this particular book, the vivid descriptions of the events and their invariable link to the down-to-earth pastoral realities keep a reader fully absorbed in the contents. Running through this work one notices the traces of what Sedgwick calls ‘the Anglican habitus’ which, according to him, ‘is about the pastoral accommodation to the realities of society and culture in which it is set’ (p. 9). His overall portrayal of the predominantly pastoral nature of Anglican moral theology reinforces the contemporary efforts of Christian morals—not only of Roman Catholic but also of other ramifications of Christian morals—to be more pastoral. In that sense, the book also serves as an ecumenically fraternal challenge to all those followers of Christ who have got lost in exclusively theoretical morals to come down from their lofty speculative pedestals to the lived reality.
One of the characteristics of Sedgwick that emerges in this book is the fact that in spite of its profound theological contents, the author's ability to adopt a reader-friendly and descriptive-narrative style keeps the reader fully absorbed in its contents. Thus, it succeeds in being a resource also for those theologically non-professional readers who wish to enhance their own general knowledge of the development of Christian morals. This work complements, and in fact, fills some gaps in other histories of moral theology written thus far, by introducing and foregrounding events and persons who had been instrumental in the development of Anglican moral theology, which have tended to not be taken into serious consideration previously by non-Anglican scholars.
In tracing the origins of Anglican moral theology and presenting them in a systematically/historically arranged order, this book is a path-breaker. There are, invariably, a few areas in which it could have done better. For example, in chapter 5, when Sedgwick discusses the influence of Ockham's Nominalism on Christian moral theology in the aftermath of High Scholasticism, he could have profitably used the fine published works by the renowned Roman Catholic Redemptorist moral historian Louis Vereecke (who is widely acknowledged as an authority on this matter and to whom Sedgwick makes a few references on other matters) to further enhance this work. Also, a couple of the sub-titles of this work could have been formulated in a way to correctly reflect the contents beneath. For example, in chapter 3 entitled ‘After Augustine: Jerome and the Dark Ages’ on page 74 could easily be misleading—as if Jerome was responsible for the ‘dark ages’! But for such minor matters, the book as a whole is indispensable in the library shelves of any serious student, researcher, teacher or professor of theological ethics.
The book is scientifically well-founded, featuring meticulous references to solid, reliable and objective sources. The reading of most of the detail-studded footnotes themselves is quite an enriching experience for those interested in the historical roots of the discipline of Anglican moral theology. These rich references serve any reader as yet another means by which to engage the history of Christian morals in general. Since it is a given that any serious scholar in moral theology cannot afford to ignore her own historical roots, this work of Sedgwick is a must-read for all who are interested in moral theology.