Table Of ContentPraise for
Happiness and the Christian Moral Life,
Third Edition
“In the age of Pope Francis, Wadell provides an ideal introduction to Chris-
tian ethics for students. This book situates ethical dilemmas within the larger
context of the search for meaning and happiness and would provide a great
anchor for an undergraduate course. Wadell is obviously a seasoned instruc-
tor who anticipates the questions young adults bring to the study of ethics.
He meets students where they are and challenges them to embrace the quest
for a virtuous life. Like Pope Francis, he speaks of the beauty of Christian life
and insists that joy is essential to Christian discipleship.”
—Julie Hanlon Rubio, St. Louis University
“Perhaps the greatest value of this third edition of Paul Wadell’s provocative,
inviting, and elegantly written book, Happiness and the Christian Moral Life, is
the insight it offers into the very nature of God as the source and satisfaction
of our longing for love, peace, and an enduring happiness.”
—Scott Geis, Christian Brothers University
“In this new edition, Paul Wadell has substantially improved what was al-
ready a very fine book. While maintaining an engaging and down-to-earth
style throughout, Wadell ably leads readers toward a sophisticated Christian
understanding of the relationship among freedom, happiness, and the culti-
vation of virtue. Theologically rich, yet accessible and clear, Happiness and
the Christian Moral Life would serve very well as a foundational text for an
introductory undergraduate course in Christian ethics.”
—Christopher P. Vogt, St. John’s University
“Paul Wadell’s Happiness and the Christian Moral Life is the clearest and
most accessible introduction to Christian virtue ethics I know of. Wadell
makes Aristotle, Augustine, and Aquinas come to life in a beautiful, com-
pelling way that can capture the imagination of even the most resistant
undergraduate reader.”
—Joel James Shuman, King’s College
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“Wadell’s new edition of Happiness and the Christian Moral Life: An Introduc-
tion to Christian Ethics is a fresh, enticing, and engaging entrée into Christian
moral theology that will quickly ‘Friend’ and win a ‘Like’ from undergradu-
ates. From Wadell’s pen flows a rich fundamental moral theology that is a
formative guide for virtuous Christian living. Once again Wadell demon-
strates his skill as a masterful teacher and scholar by including important
additions, clarifications, and explanations to the chapters of his original,
dynamic, and compelling work.”
—Dawn M. Nothwehr, Catholic Theological Union
“Happiness and the Christian Moral Life provides an extensive and wonderfully
engaging introduction to deep thinking about the moral life. I have never
read an introduction to Christian ethics which more warmly invites readers
into the profoundly interconnected consideration of virtue, friendship, nar-
rative, and happiness, or which more richly deserves a new edition. The wel-
coming tone and high precision with which we are invited by Paul Wadell to
think about the Christian moral life as ‘learning to be happy’ is effective in
its approach and transformative in the challenging questions it poses to the
reader. This edition takes Wadell’s masterful ability to draw one into bone-
deep reconsiderations of ethics through new connections between virtue and
narrative, temporal happiness and eschatological fulfillment, communities of
friendship and moral development, infused virtues and the natural law, and
vocation and daily life. Sitting at the feet of this gentle, confessional, con-
templative, and humorous voice for ten chapters is an aesthetic experience,
yet always insightfully tied to the daily practice of Christian discipleship.”
—Carter Aikin, Blackburn College
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Happiness and the Christian Moral Life
An Introduction to Christian Ethics
Third Edition
Paul J. Wadell
Rowman & Littlefield
Lanham • Boulder • New York • London
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Published by Rowman & Littlefield
A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706
www.rowman.com
Unit A, Whitacre Mews, 26-34 Stannary Street, London SE11 4AB, United Kingdom
Copyright © 2016 by Rowman & Littlefield
First edition 2008. Second edition 2012.
Scripture texts in this work (as in the first and second editions) are taken from the
New American Bible with Revised New Testament and Revised Psalms. Copyright © 1991,
1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, D.C. Used by
permission. All rights reserved. No portion of the New American Bible may be reprinted
in any form without permission in writing from the copyright holder.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by
any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval
systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who
may quote passages in a review.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Wadell, Paul J., author.
Title: Happiness and the Christian moral life : an introduction to Christian ethics / Paul
J. Wadell.
Description: Third Edition. | Lanham : Rowman & Littlefield, 2016. | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016010113 (print) | LCCN 2016011951 (ebook) | ISBN
9781442255166 (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781442255173 (pbk. : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9781442255180 (electronic)
Subjects: LCSH: Christian ethics. | Christian life. | Happiness—Religious aspects—
Christianity.
Classification: LCC BJ1251 .W2155 2016 (print) | LCC BJ1251 (ebook) | DDC
241—dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016010113
™
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Printed in the United States of America
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To my brothers- and sisters-in-law
John Tierney, Neal Augustus, Carl Duncan II, Jill Wadell,
Patrick Docter, Steve Collard, Kristan Wadell, and Gabrielle Wadell
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Contents
Preface to the Third Edition ix
Preface to the First Edition xiii
Chapter 1 F inding a Path for Life: The Quest for Goodness
and Happiness 1
Chapter 2 F inding a Story Worth Handing On: Narrative
and the Moral Life 29
Chapter 3 N ot Going It Alone: Friendship and Community
in the Christian Moral Life 61
Chapter 4 S kills for Living Wisely and Well: Virtues and the
Quest for Happiness 85
Chapter 5 E very Person’s Truth: Made in the Image of God,
Called to Do the Work of God 115
Chapter 6 Freedom: Exploring a Dangerous Topic 139
Chapter 7 F alse Steps on the Path to Happiness:
Losing Our Way and Finding It Again 161
Chapter 8 D oing What the Good Requires: Conscience
and Prudence in the Moral Life 181
vii
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viii • Contents
Chapter 9 T he Gift That Makes All Gifts Possible:
Learning the Language of Love 211
Chapter 10 R eimagining the World: Why the Happiness
of One Demands Justice for All 237
Notes 263
Index 289
About the Author 299
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Preface to the Third Edition
I am most grateful for the thoughtful and insightful comments of a num-
ber of people who have used Happiness and the Christian Moral Life in the
classroom and offered valuable suggestions on how it could be improved.
I may not have succeeded in meeting every reviewer’s recommendations,
but I have tried to attend to the suggestions as best I know how. First, I
have worked to incorporate a more global perspective in the book and have
introduced fresh examples to illumine key points in each of the chapters.
Many of these examples refer to events, both in the United States and
elsewhere, that should be familiar to most readers. Second, in revising the
book I strove to be more attentive to the fact that many readers may not
be Christian, may have little religious background, and may not believe
in God. This attentiveness should not weaken the Christian character of
the book, but hopefully it makes it more welcoming for readers who do not
share a religious understanding of human beings and their life in the world.
Finally, several reviewers suggested that “Finding a Story Worth Handing
On: Narrative and the Moral Life,” which was chapter 7 in the first edi-
tion and chapter 4 in the second edition, come even earlier in the book;
therefore, in this third edition it has become chapter 2.
What else is different? In response to one reviewer’s recommendation,
chapter 1 provides a more complete introduction to Augustine and Thomas
Aquinas, their key insights, and the significance of their work. It also offers
a fuller critique of contemporary understandings of happiness, particularly
those that identify happiness principally as the pursuit of self-interest and
ix
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