“The Gates of Greatness Break Open”: Religious Understandings of Worth in Action

Publication Type	Journal Article
Year of Publication	2002
Author	Smith, Steven G.
Journal	Journal of the American Academy of Religion
Volume	70
Number	2
Pages	301-321
Language	English
Publish Dates	June
Keywords	Heschel, Abraham Joshua action 'Great Beast' Arendt, Hannah morality Plato
Annotation	This article focuses on the concept of worthy action; something the author says, has been neglected in the various perspectives on moral life. He contrasts the formalist and cosmogonic approaches to religious ethics arguing ultimately both approaches see the main role of religion as “a support for a system of moral practice”. However, the author argues, religion does more than this in that it suggests “new proposals for moral endeavor”. The concept of action, while of central importance in everyday practice, is undervalued in moral theory. It is the fact that moral action adds value to life and makes life fuller that gives impetus to moral behavior beyond simple adherence to underlying moral principles. Religious leaders and traditions recognize the value of action by often holding up exemplary examples of it. Such actions are not just ‘worthy actions’ but are of ‘superlative worth’ in that they go beyond what is considered good and contribute to the world. Drawing on the work of Hannah Arendt, the author further delineates this concept of action, and then looks at examples of it in “Homeric Greek, Israelite, and Jewish, Confucian and Taoist literatures”. He then goes on to focus on the notion of divine-human cooperation as found in the Judaic and Confucian traditions. The author makes a very brief mention of Simone Weil’s concept of Plato’s great beast in this section within the context of a discussion of Abraham Heschel’s notion of action in the Jewish tradition. The author concludes by arguing religious traditions offer important concepts of worth that while transcending ordinary understanding are still continuous with them and thus of practical value in everyday moral life.