I have only come lately to this essay by Milbank, and what a piece of provocation it is! The answer is, in short, no: morality cannot be Christian! It is quite a Protestant piece for him. He ends thus, with his best impersonation of Luther in full cry:
So no, the Christian man is not a moral man, not a man of good conscience, who acts with what he knows of death, scarcity and duty to totalities. He has a bad conscience, but a good confidence: for he acts ith what he does not know but has faith in. In absolute trust he gives up trying to be good, to sustain a right order of government within himself. The Romans that Paul wrote to did this already, but they still needed a letter from Paul - to hear what? Simply to hear the other, receive the other, and through the other receive the gratuitous God. Cease to be self-sufficient in the face of scarcity. Instead to be good as first receiving from the all-sufficiency of God, and acting excessively out of this excess.
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So Michael what do you think about this essay? I would be interested in your thoughts. I have not read it yet but only heard about it referenced in another talk and it does not seem to be in the public domain (that I can find).
For my part if the contrast is Morality as an outworking of Religion (like the Pharisees) vs. the Christian who relies totally on the grace and forgiveness of God and just gets on with the job in free and open relationship with God, then I agree, morality is not a useful working concept for the Christian.
Morality only leads to pride or self condemnation but we have no basis for pride, and how can we condemn ourselves if God does not?
regards Klaaky
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