Alberto de Mingo Kaminouchi has succeeded admirably in producing a clear, persuasive, and succinct account of Christian ethics grounded in the New Testament, especially the Gospels. It is written (or perhaps translated) in a friendly and conversational tone. It is exceptionally readable, which I mean as a sincere compliment for a book that summarizes so much scholarship in concise form.
The first half of the book lays the methodological groundwork and reveals the author's and the book's context within the Catholic tradition. The first two chapters offer a brief but fascinating introduction to the development of Catholic moral theology from the Council of Trent to Vatican II. Anyone who teaches ethics in a Catholic context would benefit from this helpful summary. In terms of approach, the book also situates itself within the relatively recent return to Aristotelian virtue ethics in both Protestant and Catholic thought. Chapter 3, “A Grammar of Ethics,” helpfully narrates this return, including a short but important section contrasting the ethics of Jesus and Aristotle.
The second half of the book turns to a study of the Christian way of life using the concepts laid out in the first half. Kaminouchi explores virtue ethics through the three concepts of happiness, virtue, and philia (rendered variously as either friendship or love, an overlap explained at the start of chapter 6). Throughout, there are short but helpful notes acknowledging how Christian and Aristotelian thought part ways. The chapter on happiness borrows the Aristotelian notion of happiness (eudaimonia) and explores it through the lens of the Trinity, with a section on each Person (Father, Son, and Spirit). One might wish this section to be more thorough or in-depth, but as a simple overview it offers a good beginning and lays the groundwork for more sustained reflection.
The chapter on the virtues treats the Matthean Beatitudes as exemplary virtues of the Christian life, following a tradition that begins in the fourth century or even earlier. The translation is a bit cumbersome (“Happy the poor”) but the book provides a helpful explanation of the choice to translate makarios as “happy” rather than “blessed.” Greek terms are transliterated but not always translated, which might cause minor but not insurmountable difficulty for undergrads or other readers unfamiliar with Greek. Kaminouchi offers a sensitive and nuanced discussion of each beatitude, drawing on solid biblical scholarship alongside interesting connections to various figures (e.g., Martin Luther King Jr., anthropologist Mary Douglas).
One minor caveat: the subtitle may lead readers to assume that the book engages more thoroughly with New Testament texts than it does. The only text studied at length is the Beatitudes. Nonetheless, it is more grounded in Scripture than most ethics textbooks.
At least in its second half, the book is not so much an introduction to Christian ethics as it is a winsome introduction to the Christian way of life, framed around the intersection of purpose and the revelation of the Triune God (happiness), the character traits of a Christian or happy life (virtue), and the community that enables and requires this journey toward virtue. This little book would be a valuable introduction to this way of life in any college classroom, especially in a Catholic context, but it would be an illuminating introduction to students in a Protestant setting as well.
