Interiority and Epiphany: A Reading in New Testament Ethics

Our “true self” is not an interior space but a product of the labors of time and the recognition of others. But how, then, do we move beyond rivalry to a genuinely common good beyond opposition and negotiation? Wise Stoics and Cynics had an answer. So did the Christian Church, based on Jesus’ offer of unconditional access to God for all—a non-competitive justifying grace. A twofold ethics and spirituality is displayed in Paul and Matthew. Action is judged not by performance nor by motive and intention but “according to its fidelity to the character of God, its ‘epiphanic’ depth”.