Christian Grace and Pagan Virtue : The Theological Foundation of Ambrose's Ethics

Ambrose of Milan (340-397) was the first Christian bishop to write a systematic account of Christian ethics, in the treatise De Officiis, variously translated as "on duties" or "on responsibilities." But Ambrose also dealt with the moral life in other works, notably his sermons on the patriarchs and his addresses to catechumens and newly baptized. There is a vast modern literature on Ambrose, but only in recent decades has he begun to be taken seriously as a thinker, not just as a working bishop and ecclesiastical politician. Because Ambrose was one of the few Latin Christian writers in antiquity who knew Greek, another major area of Ambrose scholarship has been the study of his sources, notably the Jewish philosopher Philo, and Christian writers such as Origen of Alexandria.
In this book, Warren Smith examines the neglected biblical, liturgical and theological foundations of Ambrose's thought on ethics. Earlier studies have found little that was distinctively Christian in Ambrose's image of the virtuous person. Smith shows that though, like the pagans, Ambrose emphasized moderation, courage, justice, and prudence, for him these characteristics were shaped by the church's beliefs about God's salvific economy. The courage of a Christian facing persecution, for example, was an expression of faith in Christ's resurrection and the church's eschatological hope. Eschatology, for Ambrose, was not pagan wisdom clothed in pious language, but the very logic upon which virtue rests.

Ambrose of Milan (340-397) was the first Christian bishop to write a systematic account of Christian ethics, in the treatise De Officiis, variously translated as "on duties" or "on responsibilities." But Ambrose also dealt with the moral life in other works, notably his sermons on the patriarchs and his addresses to catechumens and the newly baptized. Despite vast modern literature on Ambrose, it is only in recent decades that he has begun to be regarded as a serious thinker, not just as a working bishop and ecclesiastical politician.

J. Warren Smith's study examines a neglected dimension of Ambrose: the biblical, liturgical, and theological foundations of the bishop's thought on ethics. Earlier studies have found little that was distinctly Christian in Ambrose's image of the virtuous person. Like the pagans, Ambrose favored moderation, courage, justice, and prudence; and because Ambrose was one of few Latin Christian writers in antiquity who knew Greek, scholars have also focused on his sources, such as the Jewish philosopher Philo and the Christian writer Origen of Alexandria. Smith finds that Ambrose's thought on ethics was based not only in these sources or in pagan virtues, but in the church's beliefs about God's salvific economy. The courage of a Christian facing persecution, for example, was an expression of faith in Christ's resurrection and the church's eschato-logical hope. Eschatology for Ambrose was not pagan wisdom clothed in pious language, but the very logic upon which virtue rests.