VIRTUOUS LIVING - Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University

family, city-state or political structures have played this role of being the source ofexternal authority that regulates the moral practice of individual citizens.The individuals were expected to respond with excellence of character (virtuously)according to their prescribed roles. They were also answerable if they failed to fulfiltheir duties in society. MacIntyre refers to these social structures in his account ofVirtues in Heroic Societies and the Virtues at Athens (MacIntyre 1981:114-136). They(Greeks) also had written sources which served as scripture for moral reflection.These were contained in the plays often staged for public viewing. Epic poems suchas Homer’s Odyssey and the Iliad are also cited as such sources (cf MacIntyre1981:129). The invocation of the gods to intervene in the tragedies demonstrated thelimitation of human wisdom and strength in resolving some social moral conflicts.However, this intervention never seemed to offer any suggestion or resolution to themorally conflicting forces in the play. This left unanswered questions with regard tothe conceptualisation of the role of the community gods in resolving moral conflictsand dilemmas (cf MacIntyre 1981:124-125).Recognising that God (religion) is pushed to the periphery of moral discourse,Anscombe argued that God had to be reintroduced and the religious language revivedin order to make moral injunctions complete and meaningful. Anscombe maintainedthat the God of the Judeo-Christian religion (including Islam) who gave the laws uponwhich moral language originated, had to be revisited or else moral language wouldremain meaningless and ineffective, if not harmful (cf Anscombe 1958:6).Considering the Jewish tradition we find it no different in assigning authority to God,the head of the family, the immediate social group (clan/tribe), and to the wholenation of the people of Israel. This tradition started with the call of Abraham. Godwas the ascribed authority determining standards, values, and virtues in thepreservation and support of the relationship between him (God) and the people. Thisrelationship ensured that the nation would flourish as a whole. God exercisedauthority over Abraham yet remained deeply aware of Abraham’s vulnerability due toharsh socio-political conditions and Abraham’s own human weaknesses. We note thatAbraham submitted to God out of his own accord. God’s intervention was in manycases in Abraham’s favour. Abraham obeyed, God made him succeed (cf Genesis.147