Ecclesia and Ethics: Moral Formation and the Church

Abstract

The present volume is a collection of 13 papers presented at the inaugural Ecclesia and Ethics conference, a global webinar held in May 2013 organized by (then) Ph.D. students from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. Those responsible for organizing the conference also serve as the editors of this publication. The chosen essays evince an array of approaches that attempt to address the problem how the ethical reasoning of Scripture informs ethical decisions of the present-day community of faith, and each makes a pointed effort to demonstrate both cogent exegesis and application to the church.The essays are organized into three parts along methodological lines. Part one collects essays that treat broad “Biblical-Theological Foundations” for ecclesial ethics. For example, Dennis P. Hollinger explores the implications of the creation narrative of Gen 1–2 for ecclesial ethics, concluding that an increased focus on this narrative adds an aspect to ethics in which the church seeks to dignify God’s creation. Part two focuses on implications of virtue ethics for ecclesial ethics, with papers from both Stanley Hauerwas and N. T. Wright. Hauerwas’s essay introduces the reader to the concept of virtue ethics through readings of Aristotle and Aquinas, drawing out how habit forms virtue and how true virtue forms Christian life. Part three contains exegetical essays focused on specific texts and contexts for application. For instance, S. Min Chun reads the story of Gideon-Abimelech for its implications for the context of the Korean church. Chun’s reading of this story against the backdrop of a “church-growth” model of ministry will find application in other, similar contexts as well.Several essays focus on Paul and his ethical teaching. The selective treatment that follows demonstrates the variety of approaches found in the book and how these approaches treat a single scriptural figure. In his chapter, Michael Gorman outlines the centrality of the cross to Paul’s ethic. Gorman reads Phil 2:6–11, rightly, as not only a theological recounting of the Christ event but also an exemplary ethical model in which Christ followers are called to “have the same mind as Christ.” Gorman carries his reading into other Pauline texts (2 Cor 5; Rom 5; 1 Cor 6), demonstrating how the cross, for Paul, models the Christian moral life, namely, in reconciliation. In his own essay, Mark D. Baker utilizes a current method from the field of missiology, the study of bounded, fuzzy, and centered groups, to study the Antioch incident recounted in Gal 2. Bounded groups focus on keeping out persons who pollute the group. Fuzzy groups, on the other hand, remove boundaries from consideration but in the process often remove group identity. Paul, in Gal 2, evinces an approach that maintains a centered identity in Christ, which falls neither into judgementalism nor into relativism.Nijay Gupta takes up the question how Paul thinks of discipleship. Paul does not use the terminology of disciple/discipleship. Instead, Gupta demonstrates, Paul consistently utilizes a doulos-ethic that uses the language of slavery when describing the relation of obedience between the believer and Christ. Gupta offers that a doulos-ethic reading of Paul can be used to nuance, with an increased emphasis on obedience, the discipleship paradigm that is current in many churches today. In perhaps the most thought-provoking essay of the volume, John Frederick couples Paul’s cruciform ethic with his ideology of powers and principalities in Colossians and applies it to the sphere of social media. Arguing effectively for the internet as a power/principality of our age, Frederick uses his reading of Colossians to form a litmus test for Christian attitude and activity in the online world.This volume introduces the reader to major conceptual frameworks from major scholars; it exemplifies direct application to the context of the reader; and it demonstrates careful exegesis of the biblical text. It thus should enjoy a broad readership in both church and academy. The volume is well-edited, and each essay is sure to provoke thought and conversation among its readers.