Improvisation: The Drama of Christian Ethics - Softcover

Samuel Wells

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1587430711 ISBN 13: 9781587430718

Publisher: Brazos Press, 2004

Synopsis

In Improvisation, Samuel Wells defines improvisation in the theater as "a practice through which actors seek to develop trust in themselves and one another in order that they may conduct unscripted dramas without fear." Sounds a lot like life, doesn't it? Building trust, overcoming fear, conducting relationships, and making choices--all without a script.

Wells establishes theatrical improvisation as a model for Christian ethics, a matter of "faithfully improvising on the Christian tradition." He views the Bible not as a "script" but as a "training school" that shapes the habits and practices of the Christian community. Drawing on scriptural narratives and church history, Wells explains six practices that characterize both improvisation and Christian ethics. His model of improvisation reinforces the goal of Christian ethics--to teach Christians to "embody their faith in the practices of discipleship all the time."

About this title

From the Back Cover

Improvisation establishes theatrical improvisation as a model for Christian ethics, helping Christians embody their faith in the practices of discipleship. A new afterword by Wesley Vander Lugt and Benjamin D. Wayman explores the book's reception and ongoing significance.

"[A] fresh, engaging approach to Christian ethics."
--Gayle Gerber Koontz, Christian Century

"This book is a treasure, a genuine contribution to the field of Christian ethics. In it Wells offers a constructive account of Christian ethics that critiques quandary ethics on the one hand and postliberal ethics on the other. He argues persuasively that the Christian practices of worship, especially baptism and Eucharist, can be helpfully thought of in terms of theatrical improvisation. Such a rethinking uncovers resources in these practices that might otherwise be missed, resources that can guide the church as it seeks to live faithfully in the world."
--L. Roger Owens, Modern Theology

"This book is conversant both with academic issues and with the liturgical and pastoral practices of congregational ministry. . . . Wells's account represents a significant advance for the discipline of Christian ethics."
--David S. Cunningham, Theology Today

"Wells provides us with skills for the imagination that we might live more faithful (and humorous) lives as Christians. This extraordinarily sophisticated book can be read for profit by those well schooled in the literature of theology and ethics, but more important, this book will satisfy those who hunger and thirst for an account of what it means to live as a Christian in our day."
--Stanley Hauerwas, Duke Divinity School

"This is one of the most relevant, stimulating, and lucid books on Christian ethics to appear for some time. It provides an excellent introduction to current debates in Christian ethics while making its own vivid and sometimes controversial contribution. It is in many places profound and original, and it deserves to be widely read and discussed."
--Duncan B. Forrester, University of Edinburgh

"Bold, creative, and yet showing a deep mastery of his craft, Wells charts a fresh course for Christian theological ethics that is at once artful, contemporary, and faithful both to the Bible and to the best of Christian ethical reflection. This is a very important book."
--Michael Hanby, Baylor University

About the Author

Samuel Wells (PhD, University of Durham) is vicar of St. Martin-in-the-Fields Anglican Church at Trafalgar Square in London. He previously served as dean of the chapel and research professor of Christian ethics at Duke University. He is the author of Transforming Fate into Destiny: The Theological Ethics of Stanley Hauerwas and coedited, with Stanley Hauerwas, The Blackwell Companion to Christian Ethics.

About this edition

• Publisher: Brazos Press
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 1587430711
• ISBN 13: 9781587430718
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 236