The Nature and Destiny of Man issues a vigorous challenge to Western civilization to understand its roots in the faith of the Bible, particularly in the Hebraic tradition. Niebuhr here lays out his influential understanding of the two poles of human existence: finitude and freedom. Individual human thriving requires that we fully understand and honor both of these aspects of our nature, yet human history demonstrates our penchant for placing one over the other. This book is arguably Reinhold Nie...
Renowned theologian Reinhold Niebuhr began his career as pastor of Bethel Evangelical Church in Detroit, Michigan, where he served from 1915–1928. Leaves from the Notebook of a Tamed Cynic is Niebuhr's account of the frustrations and joys he experienced during his years at Bethel. Addressed to young ministers, this book provides reflections and insights for those engaged in the challenging yet infinitely rewarding occupation of pastoral ministry.With a foreword from Jonathan Walton on&...
First published in 1968--and out of print since the 1980s--Victor Paul Furnish's treatment of Paul's theology and ethics has long been regarded as the key scholarly statement and most useful textbook on Paul's thought. Now, Theology and Ethics in Paul is available once again as part of the Westminster John Knox Press New Testament Library. Featuring a new introduction from Richard Hays, this timeless volume is as relevant in this century as it was in the last.The New Testament Libr...
In this book, originally published in 1968, James M. Gustafson asks the fundamental question, what is the significance of Jesus for the moral life? His answer is in the form of an ethical map, showing the ways in which theological affirmations about Christ relate to moral life in the writings of a number of important Christian thinkers. Gustafson has written a new preface for this edition.The Library of Theological Ethics series focuses on what it means to think theologically and e...
When first published in 1961, Treasure in Earthen Vessels was hailed by H. Richard Niebuhr as "the first real sociology of the church." In this landmark work, James M. Gustafson examines the church as a human institution that must, and does, participate in the social structure of all human communities. His penetrating analysis remains an important contribution to the dialogue between the theological and social-scientific disciplines. Gustafson has written a new preface for this volu...
This collection of essays from one of America's great theological minds explores the nature and meaning of Christian community. First published between 1945 and 1960, these essays make clear for the first time H. Richard Niebuhr's moral theology of the church. Understanding Christianity itself as a movement--and not an institution--Niebuhr argues that, at their best, Christian communities should express the ongoing, transforming relation of God and the world.The Library of Theologic...
In this engaging and important book, Old Testament scholar W. Eugene March develops a theology of land, contending that since the world belongs to God, we do not "own" land. Rather, land is a loan from God, and we must use it responsibly and justly. March goes on to examine in some detail the relationship between Israel and the Palestinian people, discussing both the history of that relationship and how it has led to today's conflict.
James M. Gustafson has been a leading and formative figure in the field of Christian ethics over the past fifty years. His many contributions to theological ethics have helped to define and shape ethical thinking by Christians who reflect on great moral issues. Gustafson's work must be dealt with by all students in this discipline, and his perceptive insights have given clarity and guidance to the process of moral discernment. The essays collected here are ones that have had a signif...
Throughout the Old Testament, the stories, laws, and songs not only teach a way of life that requires individuals to be moral, but they demonstrate how. In biblical studies, character ethics has been one of the fastest-growing areas of interest. Whereas ethics usually studies rules of behavior, character ethics focuses on how people are formed to be moral agents in the world. This book presents the most up-to-date academic work in Old Testament character ethics, covering topics thro...
Throughout the New Testament, the Gospel stories, the sayings of Jesus, and the writings of Paul not only teach a way of life that requires individuals to be moral but they demonstrate how. In biblical studies, character ethics has been one of the fastest-growing areas of interest. Whereas ethics usually studies rules of behavior, character ethics focuses on how people are formed to be moral agents in the world. Here editor Robert Brawley presents the most up-to-date academic work in...
In this contemporary classic originally published in 1963, Paul Lehmann answers the central question posed time and again to Christians throughout the ages: what am I as a believer in Jesus Christ and a member of his church to do? Lehmann argues that while principles for moral action can be rules of thumb, there are no absolute moral norms beyond the general norm of love. Lehmann contends that Christians are to act in every situation in ways that are consistent with God's humanizing...
Today's complex social and economic problems leave many people in the affluent world feeling either overwhelmed or ambivalent. Even the small percentage of us who have examined the ethics behind our financial decisions and overcome the often-deterring factors of self-interest rarely know what to do to make any difference. By providing tools for examination and concrete actions for individuals, communities, and society at large, Justice in a Global Economy guides its readers thr...
In this book, four distinguished scholars level a powerful critique of the rapid expansion of the emerging American empire and its oppressive and destructive political, military, and economic policies. Arguing that a global Pax Americana is internationally disastrous, the authors demonstrate how America's imperialism inevitably leads to rampant irreversible ecological devastation, expanding military force for imperialistic purposes, and a grossly inequitable distribution of goods--a...
This book brings to the fore the difficult realities of racism and the sexual violation of women. Traci West argues for a liberative method of Christian social ethics in which the discussion begins not with generic philosophical concepts but in the concrete realities of the lives of the socially and economically marginalized.
Adopting a unique appraoch among inroductions to Christian ethics, Kyle Fedler's Exploring Christian Ethics guides students through the moral decision-making process by providing foundational material in both ethical theory and biblical ethics. First, Fedler introduces the reader to the discipline of ethics, then he explores the ways Scripture can be used responsibly in Christian ethics, and finally, he presents and analyzes the sections of Scripture that have been most influential ...
A study of two of the most significant prophetic leaders in the twentieth century, J. Deotis Roberts's Bonhoeffer and King is an instructive work in theological ethics. This book considers and compares the theological reflections that guided Bonhoeffer's courageous stand against Nazism and King's quest for civil rights in America.
Thomas Ogletree has devoted much of his career to exploring the significance of Ernst Troeltsch's seminal work, The Social Teaching of the Christian Churches. The articles in The World Calling use a Troeltschian lens to explore fundamental issues underlying any Christian social witness in the context of American democratic institutions.
Offering a host of classic and new essays surveying the scholarly ethical and biblical debate surrounding the Ten Commandments, William Brown organizes his volume into three parts: the history of interpretation, contemporary reflections on the Decalogue as a whole, and contemporary reflections on individual commandments. A useful addition to ethics as well as Old Testament and Hebrew Bible courses, Brown's The Ten Commandments will be a standard reference for all Decalogue research,...
Beverly Harrison has long fought for women and others at the margins, challenging the subjugating ways in which women's intellectual contributions, their gifts of ministerial leadership, and their reproductive capacity and sexual identity have been defined. This collection of essays and lectures, presented over the course of her career, demonstrates the progression of Harrison's contribution to the field of Christian ethics and the evolution of her thought in response to changing s...
In this timely, brief, and judicious reflection, Edward Long, a senior scholar in Christian ethics, surveys the political, religious, and moral dimensions of terrorism. Written accessibly and going far beyond the dominant war versus pacifism discussion, Facing Terrorism guides Christians through the many questions and controversies surrounding this horrific phenomenon. From defining terrorism and analyzing its causes to exploring the risks of eroding civil liberties in protecting ag...
How can we best understand the different ways in which ethical issues are addressed in the Hebrew Bible? And how might that understanding usefully inform ethical decision making in our own day? These are the two key questions explored by John Barton in Part One of this study, in which he looks at how the Bible's narratives, as well as its collections of laws, oracles and wisdom writings, all contribute to our understanding of the whole. In Part Two, he focuses on the moral vision of ...
In this book, Thomas Ogletree seeks to establish common ground between biblical understandings and contemporary ethical inquiry. Drawing upon phenomenological investigations, he criticizes and modifies some of the most prominent conceptions of ethics, and moves toward a more coherent and comprehensive ethical theory. Guided by this theory, he critically engages selected biblical treatments of the moral life, placing special emphasis on biblical accounts of eschatology in its import ...
The essays contained in this book offer exploratory studies towards a constructive account of "fundamental ethics," that is, a basic description of the constitutive components of the moral life. Thomas Ogletree sketches out the systematic components of Christian ethics, relating them to symbolic ethics--the mediation of Christian traditions of moral understanding--and practical ethics--the critical appropriation of scientific studies of factors controlling human action.
In the century between the "Emancipation Proclamation" of Abraham Lincoln and the "I Have a Dream" speech of Martin Luther King Jr., America sought both to rebuff and to redeem the promise of "liberty and justice for all." The story of slavery and the bloody civil war that abolished it has been told, but the story of the struggle for liberty and justice by and for African Americans in the half-century following the end of Reconstruction has been largely overlooked. In this highly re...
J. David Pleins presents a sociological study of the Hebrew Bible, seeking to uncover its social vision by examining biblical statements about social ethics. He does this within the framework provided by Israel's social institutions, the social locations of its actors, and the historical struggles for power and survival that are reflected in the transmission of the texts.
