I simply do not want to be capable of acknowledging luck. I am not even sure I think it a good idea to talk about the fragility of our lives as if it were a general condition. The cross of Jesus is not a symbol of the fragility of a virtuous life, but the result of the expected conflict of God’s messiah with the powers. Because of that cross Christians are taught that they are not subject to fortune in a manner that makes them impotent. Rather, through the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth they have been given the charge to rage against fortune – particularly when it takes the form of injustice that we are constantly tempted to call “fate.”
Stanley Hauerwas, “Can Aristotle Be a Liberal? Martha Nussbaum on Luck,” in Wilderness Wanderings: Probing Twentieth-Century Theology and Philosophy, page 93.
Excerpt #10
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Justin DaMetz 