The Promise Of Lutheran Ethics

Here ten Lutheran theologians explore Lutheran emphases, themes, and approaches to offer their account of Christian ethics as a way of life in today's world. Writing in dialogue, they raise foundational concerns of biblical and theological sources and norms, of Christian freedom and responsibility, of call and social witness, of justice and formation in prayer. Then in a lively "Table Talk" the participants discuss and debate the tradition's insights and oversights and show how it might illumine today's burning ethical issues, such as homosexuality.

Free in Deed provides an imaginative and succinct introduction to Lutheran ethics, which the author contends is, finally, neighbor ethics. The gospel of Jesus Christ sets us free to serve neighbors--including all creation--and their well-being. This Lutheran framework provides a distinctive approach for navigating social issues in tumultuous times.

"Oswald Bayer is a major contemporary Lutheran theologian, most of whose work has appeared in German as collections of essays, but so far few of his writings have been translated into English. This volume represents a translation of the majority of the essays in one of those collections. The selection was made with the intention of indicating something of the depth and range of his thought on issues relating to theological ethics, bearing in mind the accessibility and potential interest of each chapter to the English-speaking reader. At the suggestion of Professor Bayer, a further chapter has been added on how Protestants view marriage and family." "At the heart of the present volume, as the title suggests, is a particularly reasoned exposition of freedom - as it is presented in the Bible and developed by such later theologians as Martin Luther - and how we are to respond. As Bayer says in his Introduction: 'The fundamental premise of these essays on theological ethics is that human freedom is the result of God's promise: "I am your God. And therefore you are my people." A promise of this sort opens to human beings a trustworthy community, where they can be free in the midst of all kinds of threats.'"--BOOK JACKET.

Equipped with a rich heritage detailing the content of human character, it would seem that Christianity is ideally positioned to address a culture where morality and personal character are set adrift. Contemporary Lutheranism has struggled with the place of morality and character formation, concerns often seen as at odds with the doctrine of justification. A Case for Character argues that Christian doctrine is altogether capable of encouraging character formation while maintaining a faithful expression of justification by grace alone.

James Childs's concise and compelling introduction is based on twenty years of teaching and writing in Christian ethics. Illuminating his case with examples from business, medicine, and public policy dilemmas, Childs constructs an original and comprehensive proposal for Christian ethics"dialogical ethics"one that resonates well with contemporary concern for character and virtue but is also animated and informed by Christian faith.

Christian Character Formation investigates worship and formation in view of Christian anthropology, particularly union with Christ. Traditions which value justification by faith wrestle to some degree with how to describe and encourage ethical formation when salvation and righteousness are presented as gracious and complete. The dialectic of law and gospel has suggested to some that forgiveness and the advocacy of ethical norms contend with each other. By viewing justification and formation in light of Christ's righteousness which is both imputed and imparted, it is more readily seen that forgiveness and ethics complement each other. In justification, God converts a person, by which he grants new character. Traditional Lutheran anthropology says that this regeneration grants a new nature in mystical union with Jesus Christ. By exploring the Finnish Luther School led by Tuomo Mannermaa, Gifford A. Grobien explains how union with Christ imparts righteousness and the corresponding new character to the believer. Furthermore, as means of grace, the Word and sacraments are the means of establishing union with Christ and nurturing new character. Considering Oswald Bayer's "suffering" the word of Christ, Louis-Marie Chauvet's "symbolic order" and Bernd Wannenwetsch's understanding of worship as Christianity's unique "form of life," Grobien argues that worship practices are the foundational and determinative context in which grace is offered and in which the distinctively Christian ethos supports virtues consistent with Christian character. This understanding is also coordinated with Stanley Hauerwas's narrative ethics and Luther's teaching of virtue and good works in view of the Ten Commandments.