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Join us at 7 p.m. on Tuesday November 27th at the Rattlesnake Bar and Grill with the presentations beginning at 7:30 p.m for the first talk in this Nov/Dec series, “Got Virtue? The Liberating & Mirthful Depth of Christian Belief.”

Is it possible to become a virtuous person? If so, how do you obtain the virtues in your life? Or to put in another way, how do you “get virtue”? It’s an old question, one that, for example, the philosopher Aristotle dealt with extensively in the Nicomachean Ethics around 350 B.C. He articulated and expanded upon an intuition that is held by many people, namely that virtue is acquired through habit, that is, through practicing the virtues until they form a virtuous character.  For many people such a path to a virtuous life, however, seems long, difficult, and perhaps even the cause for despair in light of the experience of moral failure. In this series we look at how Jesus Christ, who came into the world “full of Grace and Truth” (Jn. 1:14) in pursuit of you and your good, changes your assumptions about the pursuit of virtue. Join us to be “surprised by virtue” in light of the liberating Gospel of Grace.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

“Small Talk on Three Knotted Theological Virtues: Humility, Gratitude, and Generosity”

Rev’d Dr. Malcolm A. Reid, Assistant Rector and Director of Outreach at Christ the Redeemer Anglican Church, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Gordon College

Beginning with the early Fathers much has been written on the unity of the virtues.  Whatever word is used the idea is to ponder how the virtues are not just interrelated and interdependent—knotted– but also how they enrich each other in our existential experience of them. This talk is a thought experiment on how this may be true and enlightening of three indispensible theological virtues, humility, gratitude and generosity.

Fr. Malcolm is Assistant Rector and Director of Outreach at Christ the Redeemer Anglican Church. From 1968 to 2007 he taught in the philosophy department at Gordon College.  He serves on the boards of the Anglican Relief and Development Fund, Pittsburg, PA, and Uganda Christian University Partners, Dallas, TX.  He was born and raised in New Zealand and,with his wife Dolly, returns each January or February to swim and fish, read and write, and visit old friends.