Martyrs Who Do Not Die: Robert Halifax on Supererogation

Edit A. Lukács

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Chapter 6 Martyrs Who Do Not Die

Robert Halifax on Supererogation

In: Calculating Ethics in the Fourteenth Century

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Edit A. Lukács

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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 142–162

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004696495_007

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Abstract

This chapter examines a neglected medieval virtue: supererogation. Several theologians discussed or debated supererogation at Oxford in the 1330s. Robert Halifax, a Franciscan less well-known today, yet influential in his day, stands out among them. Halifax focused several sub-questions in his commentary on the Sentences on supererogation and on puzzling issues about it: Can the most ardent wish for martyrdom equal the real death of martyrs? What can moral theology do for virgins who are no virgins anymore? This chapter examines Halifax’s different strategies, mainly his use of physical concepts, for elucidating the ideas of moral perfection, be it a wish for self-sacrifice or vows of life-long renunciation. His considerations not only exhibit the influence of the Oxford Calculators, in particular of Richard Kilvington, and insist on the physical nature of our moral choices, but also show that calculating this particular virtue against other virtues, acts, and the impossible tends to reduce the exceptionality of supererogation.

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Calculating Ethics in the Fourteenth Century

Series: Investigating Medieval Philosophy, Volume: 22

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004696495

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 17 Jun 2023

Subjects
- History
  - Medieval History
  - Intellectual History
- Philosophy
  - Medieval Philosophy
  - Ethics & Moral Philosophy

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Chapter 6 Martyrs Who Do Not Die

Robert Halifax on Supererogation

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Calculating Ethics in the Fourteenth Century

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