Christian Ethics And Contemporary Moral Problems

This book addresses such key ethical issues as euthanasia, the environment, biotechnology, abortion, the family, sexual ethics, and the distribution of health care resources. Michael Banner argues that the task of Christian ethics is to understand the world and humankind in the light of the credal affirmations of the Christian faith, and to explicate this understanding in its significance for human action through a critical engagement with the concerns, claims and problems of other ethics. He illustrates both the distinctiveness of Christian convictions in relation to the above issues and also the critical dialogue with practices based on other convictions which this sense of distinctiveness motivates but does not prevent. The book's importance lies in its attempt to show the crucial difference which Christian belief makes to an understanding of these issues, whilst at the same time demonstrating some of the weaknesses and confusions of certain popular approaches to them.

This enlightening book steers readers through the challenges and moral issues, providing a clear and decisive history of the main figures and texts in Christian ethics. A short and lively history of Christian ethics, exploring how Christianity has always had to grapple with complex moral problems - from questions about the status of early Christians who renounced their religion under Roman torture, through to current debates about euthanasia Engages with the main texts and figures in Christian ethics, including Augustine, Benedict, Aquinas, Luther and Barth Considers questions such as human will, the proper form of Christian life, natural law, and whether human nature is at odds with Christian ethics Concludes with a thought-provoking chapter considering the role that Christian ethics can play in contemporary moral debates and ethical dilemmas

Should society care about Christian morality? Are Christians out of touch with complex moral decision-making? Christian Morality: An Interdisciplinary Framework for Thinking about Contemporary Moral Issues provides readers with a framework for identifying and applying Christian moral principles to divisive issues. First, readers learn of the theological and philosophical foundations of Christian ethics. Two additional chapters explain how personal and social factors influence our capacity to think critically and Christianly about morality. Second, readers will learn about forming Christian moral judgments by seeing how different thinkers address six contemporary moral issues: abortion, same-sex relationships, equal treatment of men and women in the workplace, sex education, and racial bias in incarceration polices.

Previously published by Cengage/Wadsworth, this popular anthology for the study of Christian ethics has been a mainstay of undergraduate courses for nearly thirty years. Shannon and Patricia Jung provide an introduction to contemporary moral issues from decidedly, yet diverse, Christian moral perspectives. The anthology intentionally seeks a range of voices to produce a kind of "point/counterpoint" discussion of the ethical issue. Among the classic issues considered are: sexuality and reproductive rights, prejudice, biomedical ethics, the environment, immigration, terrorism, war, and globalization. New issues include: development ethics, personal finance and consumerism, workplace ethics, health care, and citizenship.

"This popular anthology for the study of Christian ethics, now in its eighth edition, has been a mainstay of undergraduate courses for nearly thirty years. Shannon and Patricia Jung provide an introduction to contemporary moral issues from decidedly, yet diverse, Christian moral perspectives. The anthology intentionally seeks a range of voices to produce a kind of 'point/counterpoint' discussion of an ethical issue. Issues include: the distinctiveness of Christian ethics, sexuality, reproductive rights, prejudice, immigration, the environment, economics, biomedical ethics, death and dying, terrorism, war, and globalization." -- Publisher description.

A highly sophisticated account of moral reasoning, developed out of the thought of Thomas Aquinas.

The moments in Christ's human life noted in the creeds (his conception, birth, suffering, death, and burial) are events which would likely appear in a syllabus for a course in social anthropology, for they are of special interest and concern in human life, and also sites of contention and controversy, where what it is to be human is discovered, constructed, and contested. In other words, these are the occasions for profound and continuing questioning regarding the meaning of human life, as controversies to do with IVF, abortion, euthanasia, and the use of bodies or body parts post mortem plainly indicate. Thus the following questions arise, how do the instances in Christ's life represent human life, and how do these representations relate to present day cultural norms, expectations, and newly emerging modes of relationship, themselves shaping and framing human life? How does the Christian imagination of human life, which dwells on and draws from the life of Christ, not only articulate its own, but also come into conversation with and engage other moral imaginaries of the human? Michael Banner argues that consideration of these questions requires study of moral theology, therefore, he reconceives its nature and tasks, and in particular, its engagement with social anthropology. Drawing from social anthropology and Christian thought and practice from many periods, and influenced especially by his engagement in public policy matters including as a member of the UK's Human Tissue Authority, Banner aims to develop the outlines of an everyday ethics, stretching from before the cradle to after the grave.

Here is a single volume that effectively introduces students to the full breadth of the discipline of Christian ethics. Essays deal with both concrete issues and theoretical foundations. Revevant biblical readings and a series of case studies accentuate the text.