Table Of ContentThe Theological Roots of
Christian Gratitude
Pathways for Ecumenical and
Interreligious Dialogue
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The Theological Roots of Christian Gratitude
Kenneth Wilson
The Ecumenical Legacy of the Cappadocians
Edited by Dumitraşcu Nicu
The Theological Roots of
Christian Gratitude
Kenneth Wilson
THE THEOLOGICAL ROOTS OF CHRISTIAN GRATITUDE
Copyright © Kenneth Wilson, 2015.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2015 978-1-137-53691-4
All rights reserved.
First published in 2015 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN® in the
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ISBN 978-1-349-57836-8 ISBN 978-1-137-53355-5 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781137533555
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Contents
Preface vii
Also by Kenneth Wilson viii
1 Introduction 1
2 The Theological Roots of Gratitude 13
3 A Christian Theological Understanding of the Self 31
4 Becoming Response- Able: Learning to Be Responsible 51
5 Inheritance and Legacy: The Open Power of the Present 69
6 Compassion 89
7 The Gift of Service 109
8 Learning to Give Attention 127
9 Sharing: Building Together 147
10 The Beauty of Holiness 167
11 Picking up the Pieces 187
12 Conclusion: A Way Forward 207
Bibliography 227
Index 237
Preface
The opportunity to engage with the matter of gratitude from a theo-
logical perspective came about through Dr. Jack Templeton’s desire
to honor the memory of his father, Sir John Templeton, the cente-
nary of whose birth fell in 2012. The coincidence of Dr. Templeton’s
ambition with the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II led to con-
versation between the Templeton Foundation and a group of British
scholars, the outcome of which was the establishment of The Jubilee
Centre for Character and Virtues at the University of Birmingham.
The Jubilee Centre is engaged in research and development over
an initial period of ten years, with the intention of contributing to the
renewal of British character and virtues in the context of the family,
education, and the professions. Its website offers a great deal of mate-
rial for reflection and practical relevance: www .jubileecentre .ac .uk.
I have discussed the subject of this book with a very large num-
ber of people during my professional life. Latterly, James Arthur, the
director of the Jubilee Centre, and its members have been important—
most particularly, Professor Kristján Kristjánsson, whose friendship
and interest has been most insightful.
Unsurprisingly, family and friends have been an inspiration when-
ever I have been daunted by the task as it unfolded. Humor may not
figure as one of the major virtues per se, but it certainly plays a major
role when things get tough.
Kenneth Wilson, Lent 2015
Also by Kenneth Wilson
Making Sense of It
Living It Out
Freedom and Grace, ed. Ivor Jones and Kenneth Wilson
The Experience of Ordination (ed.)
Focus on God, Kenneth Wilson and Frances Young
Governance and Authority in the Roman Catholic Church, ed. Noel
Timms and Kenneth Wilson
Christian Community Now, Paul M. Collins, Gerard Mannion, Gareth
Powell, and Kenneth Wilson
Learning to Hope
Dying to Live
Methodist Theology
4
C h a p t e r 1
Introduction
M
y purpose in this book is to set our experience and understanding
of gratitude within a Christian theological framework. Could a sense
of gratitude turn a society often dominated by envy and suspicion
into one inspired with a desire to inquire, to sympathize, and to care?
I shall argue that attention to the theological roots of gratitude opens
us to the breadth and depth of what we can be grateful for. More-
over, gratitude for the Christian has intellectual, emotional, and moral
dimensions, all of which are vital in exploring what human flourishing
involves. In particular, an appreciation of what we can be grateful for
will, I believe, lead to a recovery of vocation, inform personal and pro-
fessional relationships, and enhance the reputation of the professions,
trust in which has been threatened by recent scandals.
It is a significant fact that after a period of neglect, the emotions
and their relationship to the moral life have once again become a
focus of interest to philosophers and psychologists. The Vienna
Circle dismissed the practical import of philosophical inquiry while
existentialism, the predominant continental philosophy, was rooted
in absolute freedom. The situation has now changed dramatically.
G. E. M. Anscombe, Alistair MacIntyre, and Martha Nussbaum, fol-
lowing Aristotle, consider the emotions to have cognitive significance.
Virtue ethics, with a particular focus on emotion and the virtues, has
burgeoned through the important work of scholars such as Robert C.
Roberts (2013) and Kristján Kristjánsson (2010). This is paralleled by
developments in psychology, which has moved from a Freudian pre-
occupation with disorders to a focus on the positive virtues. There is
indeed empirical evidence to support the view that gratitude reduces
