Theological Ethics Research Articles

Stephen J. Grabill, Rediscovering the Natural Law Tradition in Reformed Theological Ethics, 2006

Stephen J. Grabill, Rediscovering the Natural Law Tradition in Reformed Theological Ethics, 2006

Living for the Future: Theological Ethics for Coming Generations – By Rachel Muers

Living for the Future: Theological Ethics for Coming Generations – By Rachel Muers

Theme Articles: Mujerismo and The Two Kin‐doms: Distinction and Reconciliation

Abstract: The theological ethics underlining mujeristas' theological praxis and Luther's Two Kingdoms doctrine may seem to be contradictory to some. Mujerista theology calls for active engagement in the public sphere. Despite its utilization to the contrary, Luther's Two Kingdoms doctrine calls for that same active engagement of the Christian in civic matters. As a Lutheran Latina, I posit that the theological ethics of mujeristas and Luther's Two Kingdoms are distinct but reconcilable.

Empirical Research and Family Ethics

The present article investigates what empirical research can add to family ethics. The author discusses the approach of theologian Don Browning's family ethics, referring to empirical research about values and norms and about factual data. The author warns against oversimplifying the relationship between what 'is' and what 'ought' to be. In the next step, the author critically examines her previous research in light of the meta-question of the relevance of empirical research for ethics. Four aspects are discussed: empirical research as a possible bridge between ideals and reality, empirical results on the gender related division of domestic tasks, experiences of family in relation to ethical ideas and the rela- tionship between ethical views on family life and religious attitudes. Empirical research is considered relevant for theological family ethics because it makes researchers aware of the distance or similarities between ideals and reality, because it helps them to reflect on the relevance of their theological ethics in practice and because it demonstrates the influence of social, religious and family identity on ethical thinking.

‘The Indivisible Whole of God's Reality’: On the Agency of Jesus in Bonhoeffer's Ethics

AbstractIn conversation with Karl Barth, this article explores Bonhoeffer's account in his Ethics of the character of the agency exercised by Jesus Christ in the world today in relation to the principal task of theological ethics: namely, the engendering of the most humane form of existence possible within the mandates of work, family, government and church. The article argues that the theological work undertaken by the command of God ensures that these mandates remain christologically determined spheres in which concrete obedience is enacted, and thus the places in which the reality that Jesus Christ is achieves social and historical form.

THE ROLE OF PERCEPTION IN JONATHAN EDWARDS'S MORAL THOUGHT: The Nature of True Virtue Reconsidered

ABSRACT This essay provides an interpretation of Jonathan Edwards's moral thought that calls attention to the motif of perception in his conception of true virtue. The aim is to illumine the extent to which Edwards's virtue ethics can be included in and contribute to prevailing approaches to virtue in contemporary theological ethics. To advance this proposal, this essay attends to the question of moral agency that Edwards's reflections on charity, the new spiritual sense, and religious affections raise. This procedure offers an acute sense of the significance of perception for Edwards's virtue ethics, which in turn allows for a constructive Edwardsean entry into current theological discussions on the narrative character of virtue.

The Rationality of Ultimate Concern: Moral Exemplars, Theological Ethics, and the Science of Moral Cognition

This paper argues that consideration of moral exemplars may provide a means for integrating insights across philosophical ethics, theological ethics, and the scientific study of moral cognition. Key to this endeavor is an understanding of the relation of cognition and emotion in ethical decision-making, a relation that is usually understood to be oppositional but which in proper circumstances may be understood to be quite the opposite. Indeed, a distinctive feature of moral exemplarity may consist in the ability to properly integrate the emotions into the moral life, and reference to and imitation of exemplars may involve a referencing and imitating of the emotions of the exemplar.

Scientific integrity, misconduct in science.

Many scientists consider scientific integrity to be a self-evident basic moral attitude. They are of the honest opinion that scientific misconduct is very rare and they also cannot imagine that it could in fact occur in their own institutions.However, this opinion must be considered in the light of international experience in this respect. There are still many examples of scientific misconduct. Striking examples are taken up by the media, such as the South Korean case of pretended successful cloning of human blastocytes, from which embryonal stem cells were said to have been cultured and which in fact proved to be the result of a hoax [1], or the “proof”, from Norway, that antiinflammatory drugs reduce the incidence of cancer of the mouth, which was in fact based on totally fictitious data [2]. Switzerland is also involved.A very special example is the case of a theological ethicist who was accused of plagiarism at the University of Geneva [3]. The US Office of Research Integrity regularly publishes new medical cases in its newsletters [4]. The following text is based on, among other things, the guidelines published by the Swiss Academies of Sciences to provide research institutions, their students and their personnel with an overview of the subject. These guidelines, under the title “Scientific Integrity. Principles and Procedures”, were drawn up by a working group of the four scientific academies and published in 2008 [5].

Scientific integrity, misconduct in science.

Many scientists consider scientific integrity to be a self-evident basic moral attitude. They are of the honest opinion that scientific misconduct is very rare and they also cannot imagine that it could in fact occur in their own institutions.However, this opinion must be considered in the light of international experience in this respect. There are still many examples of scientific misconduct. Striking examples are taken up by the media, such as the South Korean case of pretended successful cloning of human blastocytes, from which embryonal stem cells were said to have been cultured and which in fact proved to be the result of a hoax [1], or the “proof”, from Norway, that antiinflammatory drugs reduce the incidence of cancer of the mouth, which was in fact based on totally fictitious data [2]. Switzerland is also involved.A very special example is the case of a theological ethicist who was accused of plagiarism at the University of Geneva [3]. The US Office of Research Integrity regularly publishes new medical cases in its newsletters [4]. The following text is based on, among other things, the guidelines published by the Swiss Academies of Sciences to provide research institutions, their students and their personnel with an overview of the subject. These guidelines, under the title “Scientific Integrity. Principles and Procedures”, were drawn up by a working group of the four scientific academies and published in 2008 [5].

Exploring similarities between the German and the Dutch ‘ethical’ traditions: Possibilities of the history of religion for a theological approach to Old Testament studies in South Africa

This article shows how dialectic theology caused a loss of interest in the history of religion, which was seen as out of touch with the current world. The distinction between theology and the history of religion became increasingly vague. The article focuses on the contribution of Rainier Albertz in his two-volume Religionsgeschichte Israels in alttestamentlicher Zeit (History of Israelite religion in the Old Testament period), 1992. Albertz proposed that the history of religion should be restored to serve as the ‘more sensible discipline for abridging the Old Testament’. This article points out several advantages to this approach, namely a different kind of Old Testament theology, starting from current theological problems and searching through the thematic segments of Israel’s religious history and that of early Christianity for analogous insights relevant to the problems in question. This article develops the argument that Albertz’s suggestions open up possibilities for establishing a vibrant theological environment in South Africa, where theologians from a diverse society can start from different perspectives on current problems, consider the Bible as part of a uniquely defined set of relevant factors and present a kaleidoscope of cross-balancing ‘African’ theological perspectives. The aim of this approach is to enhance the possibilities of Albertz’s suggestions by relating them, in context, to insights from ethical theology in the hope of reviving the debate regarding repositioning the history of religion in a different kind of theological approach. This debate is long in coming: it may already have lost close to 20 years in deserved attention.

The Moral Virtues and Theological Ethics (second edition). By Romanus Cessario

The Heythrop JournalVolume 51, Issue 2 p. 330-331 The Moral Virtues and Theological Ethics (second edition). By Romanus Cessario Francis Michael Walsh, Francis Michael Walsh Catholic Theological Institute, GuamSearch for more papers by this author Francis Michael Walsh, Francis Michael Walsh Catholic Theological Institute, GuamSearch for more papers by this author First published: 01 February 2010 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2265.2009.00564_7.xRead the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume51, Issue2March 2010Pages 330-331 RelatedInformation

Double‐Effect Reasoning: Doing Good and Avoiding Evil (Oxford Studies in Theological Ethics). By T. A. Cavanaugh

Double‐Effect Reasoning: Doing Good and Avoiding Evil (Oxford Studies in Theological Ethics). By T. A. Cavanaugh

God’s Commandments and their Political Presence: Notes of a Tradition on the ‘Ground’ of Ethics

The paper describes the biblical understanding of God’s commanded law in its indispensable political form, i.e. the law of God’s people. This is distinct from a confinement of God’s commandments to a moral code independent from that political context as it is present as the ‘political worship’ of God’s people.This worship has to be seen as the ground for ethics. From here follow consequences for human laws and legislation concerning human life forms. That disposition of theological ethics has been elaborated in a particular form by the Lutheran-Reformed tradition especially in its concepts of God’s twofold regiment and the estates.

Specters of Sin and Salvation

This article examines the relationship between theology and ethics through the critique of original sin that the German-Jewish thinker Hermann Cohen advances. The concept of original sin has tacit normative consequences through conceiving the human condition as constitutively imperfect and prone to moral evil. Cohen criticizes the consequent theological ethics that privileges salvation from this world over justice in this world. Through Cohen this article argues that rather than focusing on explicitly normative precepts, a critical account of the relationship between theology and ethics needs to examine how theological concepts shape ethical affects and commitments.

Claiming Barth for Ethics: The Last Two Decades

AbstractSince 1990, there has been something of a reversal in scholarly opinion regarding Karl Barth's forays into Christian ethics. Against the previously held conclusion that Barth's account of divine action overwhelms the possibility of human agency and therefore any meaningful basis for ethics, more recent scholarship has tried to show that Barth did in fact take seriously the human being as moral agent. This article surveys the key publications from the past twenty years, in places bringing them into critical dialogue with one another, before assessing what can be learned about Barth's contribution to Christian ethics. There is discussion of Barth's relationship to casuistry and natural law, as well as the extent to which modern scholarship must rework Barth's theological ethics in order for it to publicly viable in the future.

The Ethics of Breast-Feeding: A Feminist Theological Exploration

Recent years have seen increased feminist scholarship on breastfeeding and infant feeding, which has sometimes acknowledged the importance of religious discourse and symbolism in shaping attitudes to infant feeding. Muers examines the parallels between contemporary discourses of “total motherhood” and earlier Christian texts advocating breast-feeding. She then argues that feminist theological ethicists should engage with accounts of breast-feeding that, on the one hand, acknowledge the complexities of and the constraints on maternal agency in relation to infant feeding and, on the other hand, recognize breast-feeding as a significant human good. Finally, Muers explores resources from Christian scripture and theological tradition that contribute to a nuanced rereading of infant feeding from a feminist perspective.

Victor Paul Furnish's Theology of Ethics in Saint Paul: An Ethic of Transforming Grace. By MICHAEL CULLINAN.

Victor Paul Furnish's Theology of Ethics in Saint Paul: An Ethic of Transforming Grace. By MICHAEL CULLINAN.

The moral virtues and theological ethics

Over the past decade a quiet revolution has been gathering momentum in the fields of moral philosophy and Christian ethics. These disciplines are undergoing a decisive shift as duty, obligation, and decision yield their central role in the understanding of the moral life to the long neglected concepts of virtue, character, and action. Romanus Cessario presents here a general introduction to the study of Christian moral virtues that reflects the emergence of this new and compelling vision of the moral life. Moral Virtues and Theological Ethics provides an account of the nature of the moral virtues by explaining how the virtues work in our everyday lives. The book begins with a brief survey of the current work in theological ethics and the present state of virtue theory in contemporary theology. Cessario's account of the notion of habitus, or disposition, introduces his discussion of virtue. This notion supplies the basis for his explanation of how the moral virtues enhance our psychological and spiritual capacities and how the virtue of prudence directs moral action. Finally, the author explicates the nature and grace of growth in the moral virtues, and of maturity in the life of the Holy Spirit. A feature of this book is that it presents a general theory of the virtues that a student can then apply to any particular moral virtue.

The Niebuhrian Legacy and the Idea of Responsibility

Reinhold and H. Richard Niebuhr developed different stances in theological ethics as well as contrasting interpretations of important circumstances and events. Despite their differences, however, when it came to the idea of responsibility, they shared a fundamental insight about the situated character of human agency. Their insight points to a substantial if also flexible Niebuhrian legacy in theological ethics, and promising and problematic features of this legacy have continued to engage the critical and constructive energies of diverse thinkers, including James M. Gustafson, Gordon D. Kaufman, Robin W. Lovin, and William Schweiker.

Book Review: Authentic Faith: Bonhoeffer's Theological Ethics in context

Book Review: <b>Authentic Faith:</b> Bonhoeffer's Theological Ethics in context