Renewing Christian intellectual life in the world's research universities
In-depth scholarly responses exploring links between the theology and specific research areas.
University of Melbourne
Central banks are charged with maintaining price stability. Strictly speaking, if prices were stable, they would neither rise nor fall. In practice, prices rising slowly but predictably are less damaging to the economy than prices falling at any rate. So the practical equivalent of price stability i…
Jennifer Herdt’s Theology Brief on The Virtues reflects on the value of virtue ethics for Christians, the breadth of sources from which virtues may be derived, and the challenges that they raise. Among the virtues discussed by Herdt, the three theological virtues of Faith, Hope, and Love are relevan…
Yale University
To respond to Jennifer Herdt’s compelling plea to restore consideration of virtue and character formation to academic discourse and practice, I argue that literature can play a crucial role in this undertaking. I argue further, however, that it often does so in ways that complicate our understanding…
Yale University
My career has been that of a professor of philosophy. Jennifer Herdt’s fine essay, “The Virtues,” has led me to reflect on the virtues essential to the flourishing of the philosophy classroom, virtues that I have tried over the years to cultivate in my students and virtues that I have myself tried t…
American Bar Foundation
Since 2005 I have been engaged in empirical research on struggles for basic legal freedoms in China. At the intersection of sociology, law and politics, this research has ranged across many of China’s cities and provinces. It has included hundreds of interviews, analysis of media and online material…
University of Otago
In her Theology Brief The Virtues , Professor Herdt explores the idea of the virtues of social practices and institutions. Just as the church and its varied practices can be conducive to the development and sustenance of virtues, so too we can consider whether institutions support the virtues of tho…
University of Hong Kong
Legal issues often involve the resolution of moral dilemmas. Law has its limitations, its areas of discretion or ambiguity. The extent to which just and fair decisions can be made depends not only on how good and comprehensive the law is, but also on how legal professionals interpret and practice th…
Harvard Medical School
Dr. Herdt’s beautiful discussion of the virtues clarifies and resonates with my own recent thinking as a Christian academic psychiatrist. Virtues have been historically neglected within psychiatric practice. Reasons include concerns about scientific objectivity, realistic expectations, and therapeut…
Harvard University School of Public Health
Questions of virtue do not routinely arise in public health contexts. Supposed connections between virtue and health have sometimes come under criticism for effectively “blaming the victim” for poor health (Sloan, 2011; Willen, 2022). While acknowledging this concern, in this commentary, I will sugg…
We suspect that most economists, both academic and professional, if asked to comment on the role of the virtues in economics, would look somewhat surprised to be asked, as the virtues do not figure in the standard frameworks of economics as currently practiced. The exception might be those whose tra…
The Australian National University
The global humanitarian system is a multi-billion-dollar enterprise aimed at expressing universal solidarity and meeting human need. Herdt’s Theology Brief on the role of virtues prompted a number of reflections about this system, the various people who donate to it, work for it, and receive goods f…
Fundación Universitaria Seminario Bíblico de Colombia
I work with an organization called Scholar Leaders (SL) that cultivates theological leaders and Christian seminaries from around the globe. Three aspects of Prof. Herdt’s essay struck chords with the work of Scholar Leaders, aspects which correspond to our desire to support the ecclesial, inter-reli…
University of Edinburgh
There was a time in the last century when expansive claims were made for “virtue”. Dissatisfied with a modern ethics that had reduced morality to decision-making, moralists in search of a wider understanding of human morality looked back to Aristotle, and paid special attention to his treatment of v…
No disciplinary briefs in that discipline.
