Thanks for your thoughts. MacIntyre’s books is both a historical survey of ethics and an outline of his own ethical theory, which draws heavily on Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas. I found it to be a hard read, and I don’t think he is the best writer, and it was verbose at times. You could just read the first two chapters and one other and get the gist. (They sell the book at Moore Books! MacIntyre himself is a Catholic I think)

I agree about your point about the questions being a potential conversation starter. I haven’t read that book – I’ll check it out.

Is that book of his a history, assessment or some sort of theory? How does it go for reading?

That first question (why is there disagreement anyway), combined with that last (is disagreement necessary or good) is one that’s worth leaving with people, and teasing out to help them see the problems with their worldview – and so hopefully engage in a helpful conversation about Christ.

I agree that a lot of people think disagreement qua disagreement is a valuable thing, and are a little confused about that. I think Tony Payne’s book, Islam in our Backyard, deals beautifully with this, coming not from a ethics point of view but a religious pluralism one.