I. A Case for Character – a Definition of the Objective

At a time when the entire purpose and direction of a liberal arts education is coming under scrutiny, new focus is being place on the importance of values education. The discussion raises the question of just what we are trying to accomplish during the relatively brief time we have with our students. Whereas as an assimilation and integration of a significant body of academic material is essential to an understanding of the world in which they must function, the development of a value system and ultimately a moral identity as a filter for this information is viewed as equally essential. It is this personal development that will assist in setting qualitative life goals and in serving as a basis for future decision making.

If we can accept the premise that one of the major purposes of a liberal arts education needs to be the transmission of values, not merely the specifics of the various discipline minutiae, then professors at faith based institutions have an even greater responsibility as they set about sifting through the details of theological systems to distill a model that will serve the student throughout her adult life. This model should lead the student to develop a set of moral values that will enable her to become a responsible agent, rather than a passive individual being acted upon and molded by the forces at work around her.

As educators at faith based institutions of higher learning we find the model clear, albeit challenging; Jesus Christ and living example of love and justice certainly set a criterion against which any specific action or lifestyle can be measured. The problem arises when one begins to consider the pedagogy to be used in assisting the student to develop and embrace a sense of being that will grow with him and not be discarded later as superficial, shallow, or hopelessly out of date: a value system that will sustain him on his journey of character development.

[page 38] The moral education of our students must move beyond the "whats" of required and unexplained in loco parentis rules setting behavior limitations. The student must be urged to explore the "whys" of her belief system, if she is to develop a lifestyle that will not simply be discarded as irrelevant when she leaves the parochial walls of college life.

It is our responsibility, as educators of faith, to help students become aware adults, thinking creatively, and making informed decisions emanating from a value system that reflects the nature and model of Christ himself. This requires facing life with the fiber of truth and honesty, embracing Christ's model of love and justice, and appreciating fully the working of God's grace. Accomplishing this is certainly the true mission of a most misunderstood integration of faith and learning. This integration must be an active penetration of all the disciplines and all life's callings with the beliefs and values that make up a Christian world-view.(1)

It is my suggestion in this paper that theater affords a natural integration of these truths into the behavior patterns of the student as he begins to investigate the intentions, motivations and subsequent actions of the various characters in a play as part of the necessary preparation antecedent to the development of a believable character on stage. Hence theater can enhance a student's ability to develop virtuous character traits for life while building a believable character for production. Theater is in fact a natural laboratory for the examination of moral issues because the issues are concrete and real and moral choices are made.(2)

This laboratory experience affords the student the opportunity to ask the "whys " of her own moral principles and choices as she looks into the mirror held in front of her by the character she is investigating. The reliability of the method is directly proportional to the reality and honesty experienced in the exploration. It is this process of introspection, decision making, and ultimate action taking, that will be discussed in this paper, as it pertains to the student's development of deliberate habits of responsible action. It is deliberate choices and the developing habits of responsible action that as Aristotle has said, develop those inner [page 39] dispositions of the heart called virtues.(3) Aristotle believed that character is what shows a man's disposition – the kinds of things he chooses or rejects when his choice is not obvious.(4) This Aristotelian tradition of character has been embraced by Booth, Holmes and Hauerwas, the major sources cited in this paper. This reference to character will be used throughout the paper as a term of comparison to the dramatic character awaiting actualization through the diligent rehearsal of the honest introspective student.

II. The Journey towards a Moral Identity – the Process

When Stanley Hauerwas suggests that the virtuous life is a journey, he is implying a process through which people are gradually and graciously transformed by the pilgrimage to which they have been called.(5) Character is correlative to the image of journey. Not only is one on a journey, his very life is conceived as journey. Paul's recurring image in his epistles of "pressing on to the mark" is a constant source of encouragement to those persevering the journey. This metaphor of the journey surely should be the primary one for articulating the shape of moral existence and living.(6) The path of this journey and the events experienced along the way are influenced, and at the same time do greatly influence, the moral development of the individual. These events – the joy, the pain, the hopes, and the failures - are the stuff upon which character is built. The moral self results from constant readjustments to the nuances and ambiguities of our ethical choices and experiences on the journey.

In an attempt to define what can be a very nebulous reference to character by many, Hauerwas suggests that the idea of character indicates what a man can decide to be as opposed to what a man is naturally.(7) Hauweras assumes a self which has continuity within time, is a responsible agent, and for whom character, a set a virtues and qualities is formed over time. To say someone has character seems to imply that in some sense he has control over [page 40] himself, is a self-master, that through self-effort he can regulate his disposition and actions by rules, principles and ideals.

A person's inclination and desires, which are part of her nature, may suggest goals, but such inclination and desires only enter into what we call a person's character insofar as she chooses to satisfy them in a certain manner. This manner may be in accordance with the rules of efficiency: persistent, careful, dogged, or painstaking or it may be in accordance with the rules of social appropriateness: honest, fair, considerate, and ruthless.(8)

Inherent in most references to character is the capacity of a person to speak for herself, to determine beforehand her future conduct, and there by somehow perhaps guarantee a predictability of action beyond the present moment. This predisposition to behave in certain "moral" ways is most certainly based upon those things that a person considers most important in her life; that she truly cares about. Character cannot be thought of as a kind of outer manifestation that leaves a more fundamental self, hidden. It is the very reality of who we are as self-determining agents.(9) This sense of intense motivation and purposeful intention, this disposition toward the greater good, is what Holmes refers to as virtue. It is not arrived at haphazardly or intuitively, but consciously and carefully over time. Virtue in character, as a motivation for cognitive value assessment and assimilation, as well as subsequent affective choices of behavior, remains a constant guiding force, a still small voice behind the action.

What one cares about is directly influenced by the experiences that have molded his sense of value. These experiences can be societal and determinable, or grounded in personal emotional nuances. Response to these experiences is colored by one's beliefs and values; they also play a formidable role in developing these values. Artificial experiences designed as consciousness raising and sensitizing have been shown to be very effective in creating an atmosphere for moral growth. Developing these virtues in our students as a constant is certainly the goal of any discipline's attempt at an integration of faith and learning. These are among the primary objectives of Arthur's Homes' discussion of the essentials for establishing a moral identity.

[page 41] In discussing the importance of the investigation of value development with the teaching of the various disciplines, Holmes emphasizes that all of life comes value laden (laden with God given possibilities for good.) These values are objective, not relative to the individual or situation, but rooted in universal aspects of our lives in God's creation.(10) It is with the exposure to and assumption of these truths, these objective values, that the journey can become a richer and fuller experience.

It is within this milieu that Holmes and Hauerwas place emphasis on a sensitive awareness of the context in which we live, and, in developing this sensitivity, assuming a responsibility for our actions in that context. This responsibility puts stress on the individual as a decision maker. A moral agent is not one who wanders a predetermined course, or simply falls into life letting things happen to him. Hauerwas adds that to emphasize responsibility is to give recognition to the fact that often in our moral experience we are simply forced to fall back on ourselves in order to make a decision that takes account of the contingencies of the human situation.(11) In responding humanly to a particular situation, a person does more than shape that situation; he shapes himself. He reinforces or weakens an habitual orientation that accords (or is at odds) with the requirements of human life, and so sets up the conditions of his future moral career.(12) Our actions thereby become acts of self-determination whereby we not only reaffirm what we have been, but what we will be in the future.

Hauweras poses an interesting question at this point. "Are we first a kind of person from which subsequent acts follow, or is the kind of person we are dependent on the kind of actions we engage in?"(13) These introspective questions of motivation and exploration of intentions are basic to any in-depth character study in theater. Without a thorough understanding of the whys of character action, no believable depiction can be attained.

Hauerwas suggests that we need to explore what forms the conscience: what centers bring life to wholeness and integrity and style, and what brings lasting dispositions into being [page 42] that give order and direction to gesture, word, and deed.(14) We need to explore the significance of conscious intention, to shape a life in accord with God's good will, and to practice becoming a fitting living person conforming to God's goodness.(15)

The objective is clear. We know what we must attempt to accomplish with our integration of faith and learning in molding the very spirit of our students. Research literature eloquently supports the premise that narrative, the creation of stories of believable characters caught in the act of coping with life as they find it, and of making decisions both selfishly and for the greater good, is one of the most effective means to attain this goal.

Narrative thought presents concrete human and interpersonal situations in order to demonstrate their particular validity. It is a description of reality, and it is a way of seeing that aims at a verisimilitude. The story mode requires imagination, and understanding of human intention, and an appreciation of the particular of time and place.(16) In so doing one can see how readily narratives can focus on characters and on the causes of their actions: their intentions, goals and subjective experience. Christ certainly sensed the power of the narrative, of story telling, with his use of parables to stimulate interest and to teach valuable moral lessons. These stories allowed the listeners to access the truths being taught and to personalize them.

In his book, The Company We Keep, Wayne Booth builds a most convincing case for the proposition. Anyone who conducts honest introspection knows that "real life" is lived in images derived in part from stories. Our imitations of narrative imitations of life are so spontaneous and plentiful that we cannot draw a clear line between what we are, in some conception a natural un-storied self, and what we have become, as we have first enjoyed, the imitated, and then criticized both the stories and the responses to them.(17) One does in fact read [page 43] to become a better person – a more fully faceted individual. One cannot help but be influenced both directly and indirectly.