Subject Area
Philosophy, Theology/Religious Education, Religion
Abstract
Contemporary moral philosophy tends to treat saints as either maximally moral and thus exemplary only for those who share their ideals or as so morally excellent that they are inimitable and “Other.” Thus, the saint is practically useless as a model for plain persons. Moreover, in the case of Christian saints, modern moral theories tend not to account for their religious and theological dimensions. As a remedy, this dissertation argues for thinking about the exemplarity of saints in eudaimonist and theologically naturalist terms. Christian saints exemplify what Christians consider human flourishing, revising natural accounts of human flourishing but preserving the grammar of natural goodness. The lives of Christian saints are a normative source for Christian ethics that is intelligible to non-Christians because the grammar of natural goodness is preserved even as the account of natural goodness and human flourishing is radically revised.
Degree Date
Spring 5-13-2023
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Department
Religious Studies
Advisor
D. Stephen Long
Second Advisor
Bruce Marshall
Third Advisor
Rebekah Miles
Fourth Advisor
Edgardo Colón-Emeric
Number of Pages
248
Format
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
Recommended Citation
Clark, Brian C., "Eudaimonist Exemplarism and Saints" (2023). Religious Studies Theses and Dissertations. 35.
https://scholar.smu.edu/religious_studies_etds/35
Included in
Christianity Commons, Ethics and Political Philosophy Commons, Ethics in Religion Commons, Religious Education Commons
Notes
moral exemplarism, eudaimonism (eudaemonism), flourishing, Christian saints, communion of saints, moral sainthood, metaethics, theology, ethics, Christian ethics, ethical naturalism, theological naturalism, cumulative case argument, Saint of saints (sanctum sanctorum), Philippa Foot, J.O. Urmson, Susan Wolf, Basil Mitchell, Alasdair MacIntyre, Peter Brown, Peter Geach, St. Augustine