Towards Understanding of the Practice of Proclamation: The Core Element of Russian Baptist Worship, Timofey Cheprasov, 2015

by a candy, a payment he is offered. However, a time may come when the child gets the point of the game and starts enjoying the process. This example brings in two important concepts: goods internal and goods external. As the child plays only for a candy, he or she ‘has no *6 Ibid., p 102. 7 | am defining ‘preaching’ as a practice in the last part of this Chapter. 18 After Virtue, p 187. * Ibid. 2° McClendon, Ethics, p 173. *1 Macintyre, After Virtue, p 188. 169 reason not to cheat and every reason to cheat, provided he or she can do so successfully.’ This candy constitutes the good external for this child. In real life the good external of the chess game can be money, fame, prestige, etc.*? However, the practice of playing chess also possesses good internal, which ‘cannot be had in any way but by playing chess or some other game of that specific kind.’ MacIntyre uses the term internal for two main reasons: (1) because they cannot be identified by means other than ‘chess or some other game of that kind and by means of examples from such games’; (2) only experience gained through participation in the practice allows a person to understand and recognize this good.”* Acquired through participation in a practice, the good internal is a good that belongs to the whole community. Thus, formative nature of a practice is highlighted — participation in a practice produces a virtue, ‘an acquired human quality the possession and exercise of which tends to enable us to achieve those goods which are internal to practices and the lack of which effectively prevents us from achieving 124 any such goods.’*” In other words, a virtue is part of an individual/community identity — making a certain (in my case Christian) way of life possible. The work of Jorge J. E. Gracia, Old Wine in New Skins: The Role of Tradition in Communication, Knowledge, and Group Identity might be seen as an alternative to Macintyre’s theory. Addressing the subject, Gracia emphasizes the importance of traditions for successful communication, and for passing on knowledge and group identity. He says, Tradition permeates our lives and helps explain much that otherwise would be mystifying. What is religion without tradition, for example?... [Is] it possible to understand the many moral precepts that govern our lives, most rules of etiquette by which we regulate social interactions, and a 2 Charles L. Campbell argues that if ‘external goods become the focus, the practice is actually harmed.’ He then uses the example of how the practice of preaching was corrupted in his seminary when students of homiletics were competing for better grades (in preaching) and the financial benefits that came with it (The Word Before the Powers: An Ethics of Preaching (Louisville, Westminster John Knox Press, 1999), p 137). 3 Macintyre, After Virtue, p 188. ** Ibid., p 191. 170 good number of the desires we feel without reference to