Resurrection and Moral Imagination

Reverend Dr Sarah Bachelard is an Anglican priest and theologian based in Canberra, Australia. She is an Honorary Research Fellow at the Australian Catholic University, with special interests in philosophy, ethics and spirituality, and is the author of Experiencing God in a Time of Crisis (Convivium, 2012). She is the leader and founder of Benedictus Contemplative Church, an ecumenical worshipping community with a practice of silent meditation at its heart, and is a member of the World Community for Christian Meditation.

'Far more than a discrete proposition, the resurrection of Jesus entails an imaginative world to be inhabited and cultivated-a world that would transform our moral stances by reframing the horizons and desires that shape and often distort our views of transcendence, self and neighbor, and death. Sarah Bachelard’s Resurrection and Moral Imagination powerfully evokes such a world, yet does so by showing how the distinctive features of Christian imagination open up to and are deepened by sustained conversation across philosophical and theological boundaries. While skillfully conducting this conversation, Bachelard’s own keen insights provide the reader with a rich sense of the Christian’s resurrection ethic as a wisdom ethic.’ Brian Robinette, Boston College, USA ’More than any other book I have read, Resurrection and Moral Imagination brings the kind of moral philosophy first developed in the English-speaking world by Iris Murdoch, into critical dialogue with theology. In prose of enviable simplicity, with sensitivity, depth and sometimes startling originality, Bachelard explores the ways each needs the other.’ Raimond Gaita, University of Melbourne, Australia ’Innovative, lucid and sensitive, this is a genuinely fresh look at what is distinctive about the Christian moral vision, worked out in conversation with a variety of sympathetic but more secular voices, including Rai Gaita and Iris Murdoch. Sarah Bachelard is a really significant new voice in theological ethics.’ Rowan Williams, Magdalene College, Cambridge, UK ’...game-changing vision... [Bachelard’s] prose is refreshing and crystal clear, deceptively simple, open, conciliatory, non-fluffy and imaginative. Her focus on practice is astute and her engagement with the secular timely. This book is a major contribution to theological ethics and deserves sustained engagement.’ The Tablet ’This book is likely to become a classic and it establishes the author, in Rowan Williams’ word

• Introduction; Chapter 1 Transcendence in Ethics; Chapter 2 Resurrection and Transcendence; Chapter 3 Resurrection, Imagination and Ethics; Chapter 4 Living beyond Death and Judgement; Chapter 5 Mortality and Moral Meaning; Chapter 6 The Practice of Resurrection Ethics: Secularisation, Contemplation and the Church; Conclusion;