19
COURAGE –
PROPHETIC MORAL STRENGTH
Nicodeme Alagbada, Benin
Courage: a Virtue of the Heart and of Moral Strength
in the Old Testament
In our quest for an ethics of values, we inevitably come to realize
that today more than ever courage^199 is an imaginative, basic, cardinal
value. It can be defined as the determined attitude that makes people
capable of enduring or overcoming physical pain and danger by control-
ling their terror or fear. As a synonym of bravery, intrepidness or valour,
courage also makes people capable of looking death in the face. In this
article, we shall look at the idea of courage in the biblical writings, more
particularly in the Old Testament, and its implications for our life in
community. Beginning with the biblical idea of courage, we shall exam-
ine courage in the prophetic ministry of one of the Old Testament
prophets, Micah.
199
The article is translated from French by Tony Coates, London.