Introduction
Wells presents a textual outline of the book.
What This Book Is.
- An essay on theological ethics
- An essay in constructive Christian ethics.
- An essay that values the place of imagination in ethics. “To be a Christian is to see the gift of the gospel as one’s only given.”
What This Book Is Not.
- Not saying that Scripture and tradition count for nothing.
- Not a study in improvisation pre se.
- Not a detailed study of how theater and ethics are the same.
- Not a consideration of musical improvisation.
- Not a survey book.
Ethics: The Practice of God and the Practices of the Church. “In the incarnation he overwhelms humanity with the abundance of his grace. And in the resurrection he uses what humanity has rejected to save humanity. The first kind describes what in this book I call overaccepting. The second kind describes what in this book I call reincorporation. They are the two most significant practices in improvisation. If they are the way God works in his gospel, should they not be the principal ways in which the church seeks to imitate him? That is the thesis of this book.”
Quotes From: Samuel Wells. “Improvisation.” iBooks. https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/improvisation/id473939687?mt=11