Select Publications

Faith and Virtue Formation: Essays in Aid of Becoming Good, co-edited with Adam Pelser, Oxford University Press, 2021.

Edited by Adam C. Pelser and W. Scott Cleveland

* Includes interdisciplinary essays on underexplored issues in virtue formation

* Provides fresh perspectives on neglected virtues including honesty, graciousness, intellectual humility, and accountability

* Features profound insights from first-rate Christian philosophers in aid of moral and spiritual formation

* Advances philosophical, psychological, and theological understanding of virtue formation by drawing on ancient philosophical/theological wisdom and contemporary science

Abstract: The Christian tradition offers a robust and compelling vision of what it is for human life to be lived well. Faith and Virtue Formation articulates various aspects of that vision in ways that will deepen understanding of the virtues and virtue formation. The collection considers the value of studying the vices for moral formation; the importance of emotion and agency in virtue formation; the connections between certain disabilities and virtue; the roles of divine grace, liturgy, worship, and the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit in Christian virtue formation; the formation of infused virtues, including the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love; the roles of friendship and the communal life of the Church in cultivating virtue; and new philosophical and theological reflections on some largely neglected virtues. Offering an interdisciplinary approach, the contributors draw on philosophical, theological, and biblical wisdom, along with insights from contemporary psychology and rich narrative examples, in aid of becoming good. By providing deeply insightful and edifying reflections on the prospects, processes, and practices of moral and spiritual formation, this volume demonstrates that moral philosophy not only illuminates, but it can also guide and inspire the formation of virtue.

“Do Everything for the Glory of God,” Religions: Special Issue “God, Ethics, and Christian Traditions,” 12:9, 2021.

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/religions/special_issues/god_ethics_traditions

“A Marriage of Faith and Reason: One Couple’s Journey to the Catholic Church,” co-authored with Lindsay Cleveland, Faith and Reason: Philosophers Explain Their Turn to Catholicism. Brian Besong and Jonathan Fuqua (Editors). San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2019.

“The Virtual Presence of Acquired Virtues in the Christian,” co-authored with Brandon Dahm, American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, 93 (1): 75-100. 2019.

“Humility from a Philosophical Point of View,” co-authored with Robert C. Roberts, Handbook of Humility: Theory, Research, and Applications. Edited by Everett L. Worthington, Jr., Don E. Davis, & Joshua N. Hook. (Editors). New York: Routledge, 2017.

“The Emotions of Courageous Activity,” Res Philosophica (Virtue and the Emotions Special Issue), Volume 92, No. 4, October 2015.

Abstract: An apparent paradox concerning courageous activity is that it seems to require both fear and fearlessness – on the one hand, mastering one’s fear, and, on the other, eliminating fear. I resolve the paradox by isolating three phases of courageous activity: the initial response to the situation, the choice of courageous action, and the execution of courageous action. I argue that there is an emotion that is proper to each of these phases and that each emotion positively contributes to the performance of courageous activity in each of its phases. More specifically, I argue that fear, hope, and daring are necessary for complete courageous activity. My model of courageous activity explains why courage is a virtue that requires excellent emotion dispositions and resolves the paradox concerning the apparent need for both fear and fearlessness. Fear is required in the first phase and fearless daring in the third phase of courageous activity.

"The Defeat of Heartbreak: Problems and Solutions for Stump's View of the Problem of Evil Concerning Desires of the Heart (pre-pub draft)," co-authored with Lindsay Cleveland, Religious Studies, 2014, published by Cambridge University Press

Abstract: Eleonore Stump insightfully develops Aquinas’s theodicy to account for a significant source of human suffering, namely the undermining of desires of the heart. Stump argues that what justifies God in allowing such suffering are benefits made available to the sufferer through her suffering that can defeat the suffering by contributing to the fulfillment of her heart’s desires. We summarize Stump’s arguments for why such suffering requires defeat and how it is defeated. We identify three problems with Stump’s account of how such suffering is defeated and offer solutions to each. We defend and strengthen Stump’s response to the hardest cases for her view, and explain what her view demands of God.

The Problem of Evil, co-authored with Trent Dougherty, Oxford Bibliographies Online, 2014

Abstract: This is a reference article for Oxford Bibliographies Online co-authored with Trent Dougherty.

"The Distinctiveness of Intellectual Virtues: A Response to Roberts and Wood," Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association, Volume 86 (2012), 159-169

Abstract: Robert Roberts and Jay Wood criticize St Thomas Aquinas’ distinction between intellectual and moral virtues. They offer three objections to this distinction. They object that intellectual virtues depend on the will in ways that undermine the distinction, that the subject of intellectual virtues is not an intellectual faculty but a whole person, and that some intellectual virtues require that the will act intellectually. They hold that each of these is sufficient to undermine the distinction. I defend Aquinas’ distinction and respond to each of their objections. I then briefly motivate why this is a distinction worth keeping.