Dr. Joel Biermann (Professor of Systematic Theology at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis) has written an important book entitled A Case for Character: Towards a Lutheran Virtue Ethics. I should begin by defining virtue ethics. You may have taken a course in Christian ethics that dealt with issues like abortion, euthanasia, just war, and capital punishment. Virtue ethics, on the other hand, is more interested in the routine, ordinary habits and practices that people make in daily life. Virtue ethics assumes that humans have a telos (purpose for which we are made), and that certain practices, habits, skills, and even communities will help us attain this telos better than others. Biermann argues that Lutheran theology, properly understood, is well-suited for producing people of virtue, although many argue that just the opposite is true.

I myself once held to the notion that, just as good fruit grows on a good tree, so also sanctification automatically happens in the lives of believers. All the church needs to do is proclaim the forgiveness of sins for the sake of Christ, and as people believe this gospel, they will inevitably grow in character. If this is the case, there is no room for discussing ways of living and ordering our lives that intentionally develop character. That smells of legalism or works-righteousness. Tragically, many Lutherans hold to a view like this one, as I once did.

Biermann, however, demonstrates that the Lutheran Confession makes ample room for virtue ethics, for pursuing practices and habits that form godly character. Importantly, he makes this case without compromising the chief article of justification by faith apart from works.

Many Lutherans, rightly, love the distinction between law and gospel. Biermann thinks this is a good framework for understanding our status before God and for teaching the doctrine of justification. But this framework is less helpful for including the priorities of virtue ethics. Instead, Biermann shows how the simple Christian Creed provides a framework large enough for all of life and theology. The Creed (with its three articles on creation, redemption, and sanctification/restoration) is comprehensive enough to give free reign to both the priorities of justification by faith and the priorities of virtue ethics, without allowing the two to contradict or oppose each other. My favorite takeaway from this book is learning how to think of all of life and theology in terms of the Creed. I recommend this book to Christians who desire a theology that encourages them to live up to their telos, that is, to be fully human as God intended.