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Chapter 3 - Moral Perfection

from Part I - Human Perfection

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 May 2024

Robin Gill
Affiliation:
University of Kent, Canterbury
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Summary

Chapter 3 takes a more biographical approach, seeing an example of moral human perfection in the, little known, but dedicated, life and work of Dr Henry Holland, a medical missionary in North India, compared favourably with the well-known, but flawed, medical missionary work of his more famous exact contemporary Albert Schweitzer. Together with the two earlier chapters, it is suggested that human perfection – understood in the contextual sense of it being difficult to see how something similar could at the time have been done better – is dynamic rather than absolute, just as John Wesley, Calvin, Aquinas and Gregory claimed, is highly focused and requires very considerable effort and hard work -- striving to get something as near to perfect as humanly possible. It concludes with a discussion of the recent work of the late Catholic medical anthropologist Paul Farmer.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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References

Works Cited

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  • Moral Perfection
  • Robin Gill, University of Kent, Canterbury
  • Book: Human Perfection, Transfiguration and Christian Ethics
  • Online publication: 09 May 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009476775.005
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  • Moral Perfection
  • Robin Gill, University of Kent, Canterbury
  • Book: Human Perfection, Transfiguration and Christian Ethics
  • Online publication: 09 May 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009476775.005
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Moral Perfection
  • Robin Gill, University of Kent, Canterbury
  • Book: Human Perfection, Transfiguration and Christian Ethics
  • Online publication: 09 May 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009476775.005
Available formats
×