This edited volume focuses on virtue using the same perspective that has characterized the previous fifteen volumes in the prestigious series Readings in Moral Theology from Paulist Press begun by Charles E. Curran and Richard A. McCormick in 1979. This volume brings together fourteen previously published articles dealing in a comprehensive manner with the important topic of the role of virtue in moral theology and the Christian life. The contributors to this volume include the most important figures in Catholic moral theology who have written about virtue. In addition the authors represented here come from the different theological perspectives found in moral theology today.

The first part deals with the role of virtue in general beginning with an overview of the seminal work of Thomas Aquinas. A second chapter explains the important work of Alasdair MacIntyre while the last two chapters in this part come from the Catholic and feminist perspectives. The three chapters in the second part discuss the role of the various virtues in three different spheres of human existence-professional life, sexuality, and ecology. The third part develops in some depth the significant particular virtues of charity, justice, prudence, courage, and humility.