26
INTEGRITY –
THE VIRTUE OF VIRTUES
Christoph Stückelberger, Switzerland
Integrity is a current and global virtue and the reference point for
ethics on an individual, institutional and political level. This topic of my
speech at the Protestant University in Congo UPC^231 is the result of my
commitment to the project “Formation pour l’intégrité des élections re-
sponsables” FIER (Training on Integrity in Responsible Elections) in the
Democratic Republic of Congo DRC since 2014. FIER is a project sup-
ported by the Protestant Church in Congo (Église du Christ au Congo
ECC) in collaboration with CIME (Comité pour l’intégrité et la média-
tion électorale/ Committee for Integrity and Electoral Mediation) and
CENI (Commission des élections nationales indépendentes/Commission
for National Independent Elections).
I will first discuss virtue and virtues in general, then the history of
ethics and finally ethics from a biblical/Christian perspective. We will
learn from this that integrity as a virtue is essential in both national and
international contexts. I will then discuss the characteristics of the Chris-
tian view of integrity based on the gospel writings. To conclude, this
231
The article is based on the speech held at the Protestant University in Congo
UPC in Kinshasa/DR Congo on 11 December 2015 during the ceremony of
obtaining the Doctor Honoris Causa by the Faculty of Theology of the UPC.
Translation from French by Anh Tho Andres-Kammler.