Book Cover
Book
Author Hare, J. E., 1949-

Title The moral gap : Kantian ethics, human limits, and God's assistance / John E. Hare
Published Oxford : Clarendon Press ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1996

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Description x, 292 pages ; 22 cm
Series Oxford studies in theological ethics
Oxford studies in theological ethics.
Contents 1. Kant and the Moral Demand -- 2. God's Supplement --3. Moral Faith -- 4. Puffing up the Capacity -- 5. Centrality -- 6. Reducing the Demand -- 7. Substitutes for God's Assistance -- 8. Repentance -- 9. Forgiveness -- 10. God's Assistance
Summary . The book is intended for those interested in both ethical theory and Christian theology
In the final section of the book, Hare looks in more detail at the Christian doctrines of atonement, justification, and sanctification. He discusses Kierkegaard's account of the relation between the ethical life and the Christian life, and ends by considering human forgiveness, and the ways in which God's forgiveness is both like and unlike our forgiveness of each other
This book is about the gap between the moral demand on us and our natural capacities to meet it. John Hare starts with Kant's statement of the moral demand and his acknowledgement of this gap. Hare then analyses Kant's use of the resources of the Christian tradition to make sense of this gap, especially the notions of revelation, providence, and God's grace. Kant reflects the traditional way of making sense of the gap, which is to invoke God's assistance in bridging it. Hare goes on to examine various contemporary philosophers who do not use these resources. He considers three main strategies: exaggerating our natural capacities, diminishing the moral demand, and finding some naturalistic substitute for God's assistance. He argues that these strategies do not work, and that we are therefore left with the gap and with the problem that it is unreasonable to demand of ourselves a standard which we cannot reach
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages [276]-285) and indexes
Subject Kant, Immanuel, 1724-1804 -- Ethics.
Kant, Immanuel, 1724-1804.
Apologetics.
Christian ethics.
Ethics, Modern.
Ethics.
Grace (Theology)
Forgiveness -- Religious aspects -- Christianity.
Human beings.
Theological anthropology -- Christianity.
LC no. 95041862
ISBN 0198263813 (alk. paper)
0198269579 (paperback)