Abstract

In his impressive account of the development of the modern conception of selfhood, Alasdair MacIntyre argues that the Protestant Reformers played an important role in paving the way for secular ethics. This essay challenges MacIntyre 's historical narrative on this point. His treatment of the views of Luther and Calvin is critically examined, and it is argued that the Reformational view-point offers an alternative to both the classical-medievalist perspective, which Maclntyre endorses, and the modern conception, which he rejects. The Reformers' insistence that the human self stands inescapably before God, and must assess all other role-options from that standpoint, is commended as being worthy of contemporary consideration