Acting Christ: The Christocentric Exemplarism of Gerard Manley Hopkins

Abstract Critics and biographers have long expressed misgivings about Gerard Manley Hopkins’ ethical perspective. Characterising him as overly ‘morbid’ or ‘scrupulous’, they present his moral preoccupations as injurious to his imagination. Here I offer a fuller, more sympathetic account of Hopkins’ moral theology, showing three key ways that morality not only harmonises with but actually provides a central, productive focus in his works. Drawing upon the recent work of Linda Zagzebski, I characterise Hopkins as a Christocentric moral exemplarist, one who prioritises persons over principles, finds motivation in the emotion of admiration, and understands all moral acts as acts of emulation.