"Humility Matters" makes the claims that humility is for a disciple of Jesus Christ what enlightenment is for a Buddhist, realization for a Hindu, surrender for a Muslim, and righteousness for a Jew. It is the unmistakable character of one who has accepted the vocation to undertake the spiritual journey. It is at the core of our experience of life in Christ.

Meg Funk guides readers deeper into a life of humility by following the movement of what the early Christians called the four renunciations: to renounce our former way of life, our thoughts of our former way of life, our self-made thoughts of God, and our self-made thoughts of ourselves. With the help of the compelling examples of St. Benedict, St. Teresa of Jesus, and St. Therese of Lisieux, Funk shows the way to ongoing conversion of mind, heart, and way of life.

"Mary Margaret Funk is a Benedictine nun of Our Lady of Grace Monastery, Beech Grove, Indiana. From 1994 through 2004, she served as executive director of Monastic Interreligious Dialogue, which fosters dialogue among monastics of the world's religions. In addition to the volumes of the Matters Series, she is the author of "Islam Is... An Experience of Dialogue and Devotion" and "Into the Depths: A Journey of Loss and Vocation.

Having taught on ethics in Africa for almost a decade, James Nkansah-Obrempong presents a work that goes some way to addressing the dearth of materials on ethics that combine African social, religious, cultural and moral values with biblical and theological values. Integrating these from African, Western and biblical contexts Nkansah demonstrates how important they are for dealing with contemporary moral and social issues facing the church in Africa and African societies. The book develops a theoretical, biblical and theological foundation for Theological Ethics and uses this to address the broader issues that affect the socio-political and economic life of African people and the church.

Walking with Faith addresses a long-standing need to develop the faith-related dimensions of Christian moral life and explore their implications. It responds to Vatican II's exhortation that theological studies be renewed through a lively contact with the mystery of Christ and the history of salvation. Accordingly, this book examines the relationship between faith and moral life in the Scriptures and acknowledges the normative quality of the biblical texts. It reviews the long experience of the Church, paying special attention to history, worship, and intellectual currents. These dimensions of Christian life show the relationship between faith and moral life at any given time and allow the actions of one generation to have effects that extend far into the future. Walking with Faith promotes an understanding of contemporary pastoral and theological issues and encourages a deep and informed approach to Christian life.

This authoritative book is the most comprehensive examination ever of the sacredness of human life. Never before has one volume explored this subject in such a multifaceted way, encompassing biblical roots, theological elaborations, historical cases, and contemporary ethical perspectives. Tracing the concept of the sacredness of human life from Scripture through church history to the present day, David Gushee argues that viewing human life as sacred is one of the most precious legacies of biblical faith -- albeit one that the church has too often failed to uphold. Besides providing a masterful historical survey, Gushee's discussion covers the many current ethical challenges and perspectives that will impact the survival and flourishing of human life, including biotechnology, the death penalty, abortion, human rights, nuclear weapons, just war theory, women's rights, and creation care. Gushee's Sacredness of Human Life is a game-changing book that will set the standard for all future discussions of this key ethical concept.

The choice of whether or not to consume animals is more than merely a dietary one. It frequently reflects deep ethical commitments or religious convictions that serve as the bedrock of an entire lifestyle. Proponents of vegetarianism frequently infuriate nonvegetarians, who feel that they're being morally condemned because of what they choose to eat. Vegetarians are frequently infuriated by what they consider to be the nonvegetarians' disregard for the environment and animal-suffering.
Vegetarianism: A Guide for the Perplexed offers a much needed survey of the different arguments offered by ethical vegetarians and their critics. In a rigorous but accessible manner, the author scrutinizes the strengths and weaknesses of arguments in defense of vegetarianism based on compassion, rights, interests, eco-feminism, environmentalism, anthrocentrism, and religion. Authors examined include Peter Singer, Tom Regan, Carol J. Adams, and Kathryn Paxton George.
As the global climate crisis worsens, population increases, and fossil fuels disappear, ethical and public policy questions about the ethics of diet will become ever more urgent. This book is a useful resource for thinking through the questions.

The study of comparative religious ethics is at a critical juncture, given the growing awareness of non-Christian ethical beliefs and practices and their bearing on social change. Christine Gudorf is at the forefront of rendering comparativeand competingreligious beliefs meaningful for students, especially in the area of ethics. Unlike other texts, Gudorf's work focuses on common, everyday issuesincluding food and diet, work, sex and marriage, proper dress, anger and violence, charity, family, and infirmity and the elderlywhile drawing out ethical implications of each and demonstrating how different religious traditions prescribe rules for action. An introductory chapter reviews standard ethical theory and core elements of comparative religious analysis. Each chapter opens with a riveting real-life case and shows how religious ethics can shed light on how to handle the larger issues, without determining for the reader what a proper ethical response might be. Helpful pedagogy, including summaries, questions, and list of readings, along with special chapter features, charts and photographs and a glossary, combine to make this new text most suitable for the wide array of courses in comparative religious ethics.

This book reconstructs the cornerstones of Jesus's moral teachings about how to lead a good, even exemplary, human life. It does so in a way that is compatible with the most prominent, competing versions of the historical Jesus. The work also contrast Jesus' understanding of the best way to lead our lives with that of Friedrich Nietzsche. Both Jesus and Nietzsche were self-consciously moral revolutionaries. Jesus refashioned the imperatives of Jewish law to conform to what he was firmly convinced was the divine will. Nietzsche aspired to transvalue the dominant values of his time -which themselves were influenced greatly by Christianity- in service of what he took to be a higher vision. The interplay of these radical versions of the good human life, seasoned with critical commentary emerging from modern findings in the sciences and humanities, opens possibilities and lines of inquiry that can inform our choices in answering that enduring, paramount question, "How should we live our lives?"

Bioethical issues are rarely out of view in Western societies. New developments in areas such as human embryology continually raise new ethical questions, while more familiar issues frequently reappear in public debate. These are issues of central concern for Christians and for a wider public, because they raise questions about the value of life, the meaning of suffering and death and humanity's place in the natural world. Neil Messer is Reader in Theology and Head of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Winchester. He has a research background in molecular biology, and is a minister of the United Reformed Church.

This work defends the continuation of God's Law in the new covenant economy. It defends Theonomic ("God's Law") ethics over against Intrusion Ethics (associated with Meredith Kline). It particularly responds to Dr. T. David Goron's philosophical, exegetical, and theological objections to theonomy. It shows not only that Theonomic Ethics is within the mainstream of Reformed, confessional theology, but is also firmly rooted in the covenantal Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments.

Dale Patrick examines the first five books of the Bible--the Pentateuch--the Law.He provides an effective method for studying and understanding this vital part of the canon. His introduction concentrates on the exposition of the major thrust of Old Testament Law: the Ten Commandments, the Book of the Covenant, the Deuteronomic Law, the Holiness Code, and the Priestly Law.Law--rules and regulations, concepts and principles, legal codes--written and unwritten. Patrick tackles important questions surrounding the formation of the Law. What is the Law? How was it formulated? What implications does the Law of the Israelites have for Christians today? Patrick's deft handling and answering of these questions results in a book that provides a means to understand the specific rules governing the concepts and principles of the written law so that we may grasp the unwritten law; i.e., the justice, righteousness, and holiness required by God.Patrick offers critical exposition in a format that makes a seemingly difficult and esoteric part of the Bible accessible to the reader. This introductory text serves as a springboard to further study.

Seeking the Truth about Money In the wake of the global financial crisis, are there any financial principles we can rely on? Amidst ongoing economic instability and uncertainty, can we find any solid truth about money? Are you interested in what God has to say about money? Do you seek better financial health? Or do you have enough money but feel poor in spirit? Whatever your need, God wants to help you in both the spiritual and the financial dimensions of your life. In this book, discover why those two dimensions sometimes compete and conflict and how they can better connect. Many Christians today deal with money on the basis of partial truths, relying on a handful of favourite Bible verses or a few palatable principles. As a result, they follow an incomplete, imbalanced, distorted version of God's truth about money. To address this problem, Seeking the Truth about Money provides a comprehensive, well-rounded, and well-grounded biblical view on how we can integrate wise inner attitudes towards money with practical activities such as acquiring, giving, saving, investing, and spending money. This book challenges the reader to develop a carefully balanced approach to the various facets of handling money. Seeking the Truth about Money refers to almost one thousand verses from the Bible. It also relates stories from the lives of the author, her family and friends, and dozens of well-known Christians. It includes nuggets of practical financial wisdom gleaned from lawyers, accountants, and investment advisors, which can enrich your future discussions with your own financial advisors. Above all, this book will encourage you to more highly prioritize and value the development of rich and meaningful relationships with God and others. About the Author: Karen Henein practiced as a lawyer for twenty years. She is the author of Counsel of the Most High and Bent Out of Shape. Married to a medical doctor and the mother of two adult children, she lives in Canada. She is presently writing, speaking, and serving various Christian organizations.

This volume offers a fresh, timely, practical look at eleven key Christian virtues: faith, open-mindedness, wisdom, zeal, hope, contentment, courage, love, compassion, forgiveness, and humility. Writing from a distinctively Christian perspective, the authors thoughtfully explore and explain these select virtues, seeking to nurture readers in lifelong character growth and to promote the centrality of the virtues to the Christian faith. Grouped under the headings Faith, Hope, and Love, the chapters each conclude with questions for further reflection. Watch the trailer: Contributors: Michael W. Austin Jason BaehrRebecca Konyndyk DeYoungR. Douglas Geivett David A. HornerWilliam C. Mattison IIIPaul K. MoserAndrew PinsentSteve L. PorterJames S. SpiegelCharles TaliaferroDavid R. Turner.

Why should a faithful lay Catholic resist the official teaching of the Church in the matter of homosexuality? If sexuality were some minor technical concern, then the role of a lay Catholic would be to accept the official line of the Magisterium and to get on with their life. However, sexuality can not be dismissed as insignificant, as the Vatican itself admits. Moreover, it is the battle ground upon which the Curia has chosen to fight a last stand against Modernity. Hence, it is necessary to take a stand on this question as a matter of "hungering and thirsting for justice." It is generally assumed by commentators that in the conflict over homosexuality the sides are well drawn up and that the alliances are clear. On the one hand is ranged the Pope and Curia, Social Conservatism, Sexual Repression, Church Tradition and Orthodoxy; while on the other is ranked Secularism, Progressivism, Social Diversity, Dissent and Enlightenment. One aim of this book is to show that this is not the case and that it is not necessary to adopt a progressivist mentality in order to defend homosexuals against the charge of immorality typically laid against them. This book is proposed as both as a resource to gay Catholics, so that they are better able to defend themselves against the ignorant attacks of those who seek to vilify them, and also to those in authority in the Church who wish to study the subject dispassionately so as to inform their conscience on the matter. Chapters 1 to 3 consider love, sexuality, marriage and family in general, so as to provide a context for subsequent discussion. Reference is made to John Paul II's "The Theology of the Body" and to "New Natural Law Theory." Chapter 4 presents various ideas, attitudes and facts about homosexuality in order to establish what is at stake. Chapters 5 to 9 comment on the Biblical texts which are commonly thought to condemn homosexuality. These are shown to be ambiguous at best and plausibly to have no bearing on contemporary homosexuality. Chapter 10 highlights those less known texts which seem to favour homosexuality. Chapters 11 to 16 present what Catholic Tradition has to say about the subjects of sex, marriage, eroticism and homosexuality. Saints Augustine, Leo, Chrysostom, Aquinas and Aelred feature strongly. Chapters 17 and 18 critique the official teaching of the Catholic Church regarding love, sex, contraception and homosexuality. Chapter 19 presents a positive theology of sex, based on the idea that eroticism is potentially a means of grace. Chapter 20 discusses how a gay Catholic ought to approach the Sacrament of Penance. Chapter 21 is a compilation of heart-felt testimonies of gay Catholic laity and clergy.

For a time of peril, world-renowned theologian Jrgen Moltmann offers an ethical framework for the future. Long distinguished as the architect of political theology and father of the theology of hope, Moltmann has shown how hope in the future decisively reconfigures the present and shapes our understanding of central Christian convictions, from creation to New Creation. Now, in an era of unprecedented scientific advances alongside unparalleled global dangers, Moltmann has formulated his long-awaited Ethics of Hope. Building on his conviction that Christian existence and social matters are inextricably tied together in the political sphere, Moltmann unfolds his ethics in light of eschatology, clearly distinguishing it from prior and competing visions of Christian ethics. He then specifies his vision with an ethic of life (against the dominant ethic of death), an ethic of earth (against todays utilitarian ethic), and an ethic of justice (against todays social injustice and global conflicts). In the process, he applies this framework to concrete issues of medical ethics, ecological ethics, and just-war ethics. A creative and programmatic work, Ethics of Hope is a realistic assessment of the human prospect, as well as its imperatives, from one who stakes everything on Gods promise to rescue life from the jaws of death.

In their study of religion and film, religious film analysts have tended to privilege religion. Uniquely, this study treats the two disciplines as genuine equals, by regarding both liturgy and film as representational media. Steve Nolan argues that, in each case, subjects identify with a represented 'other' which joins them into a narrative where they become participants in an ideological 'reality'. Finding many current approaches to religious film analysis lacking, Film, Lacan and the Subject of Religion explores the film theory other writers ignore, particularly that mix of psychoanalysis, Marxism and semiotics - often termed Screen theory - that attempts to understand how cinematic representation shapes spectator identity. Using translations and commentary on Lacan not originally available to Screen theorists, Nolan returns to Lacan's contribution to psychoanalytic film theory and offers a sustained application to religious practice, examining several 'priest films' and real-life case study to expose the way liturgical representation shapes religious identity. Film, Lacan and the Subject of Religion proposes an interpretive strategy by which religious film analysts can develop the kind of analysis that engages with and critiques both cultural and religious practice.

What are the links between people's beliefs and the foods they choose to eat? In the modern Western world, dietary choices are a topic of ethical and political debate, but how can centuries of Christian thought and practice also inform them? And how do reasons for abstaining from particular foods in the modern world compare with earlier ones? This book will shed new light on modern vegetarianism and related forms of dietary choice by situating them in the context of historic Christian practice. It will show how the theological significance of embodied practice may be retrieved and reconceived in the present day. Food and diet is a neglected area of Christian theology, and Christianity is conspicuous among the modern world's religions in having few dietary rules or customs. Yet historically, food and the practices surrounding it have significantly shaped Christian lives and identities. This collection, prepared collaboratively, includes contributions on the relationship between Christian beliefs and food practices in specific historical contexts. It considers the relationship between eating and believing from non-Christian perspectives that have in turn shaped Christian attitudes and practices. It also examines ethical arguments about vegetarianism and their significance for emerging Christian theologies of food.

Our relationship to future generations raises fundamental issues for ethical thought, to which a Christian theological response is both possible and significant. A relationship to future generations is implicitly central to many of today's most public controversies - over environmental protection, genetic research, and the purpose of education, to name but a few; but it has received little explicit or extended consideration.

In Living for the Future Rachel Muers argues and seeks to demonstrate that to consider future generations as ethically significant is not simply to extend an existing ethical framework, but to rethink how ethics is done. Doing intergenerationally responsible theology and ethics means paying attention to how people are formed as theological and ethical reasoners (reasoners about the good), how social practices of deliberation about the good are maintained and developed, and how all of this relates to an understanding of the world as the sphere of God's transforming action. In other words, an intergenerationally responsible theological ethics will pay attention to the ethics, and the spirituality, of "ethics" itself.

Her account of the ethical relation to future generations centres on three key concepts: "choosing life" (see Deut 30:19); "keeping the sources open"; and "sustaining fruitful contexts." These concepts are developed theologically and in engagement with extra-theological conversations on intergenerational responsibility. She shows how they take up and move beyond concerns expressed in those conversations - for "survival," for the right distribution of resources, and for the maintenance of human values.

This volume is a reprint of the most through treatise on pacifism and the separation of church and state from the early era of the Stone-Campbell movement. Drawing on the Old and New Testaments as well as the witness of the early church, Lipscom ( makes a strong case for the church's non-involvement in civil government (in contrast with the divine government, which is being demonstrated through the church community).

"Sometimes the storm rises and the winds blow, hurricanes and earthquakes come to shake the very foundations which we stand, but certainly we must remain confident in our walk of faith."

In this world of dangers, seen and unseen, there is a need and demand for virtue in the lives of women everywhere. In the innovative guide "Keys to Becoming a Virtuous Woman," Dr. Latrina W. Jenkins gives you strategies and concepts on how to become a woman of high moral fortitude.

By focusing on the spiritual concept of virtue, Jenkins delivers a powerful case for finding and achieving virtuousness in our society today. She explores seven keys to obtaining moral integrity that each woman should strive to incorporate into their lives. These include being holy, trustworthy, strong, and secure.

Don't let the dictates of society steer you from your course. With God's help, you can find virtue in every aspect of your life!

In light of globalization, ongoing issues of race, gender, and class, and the rapidly changing roles of institutions, this volume asserts that Christian social ethics must be reframed completely. Three questions are at the heart of this vital inquiry: How can moral community flourish in a global context? What kinds of leadership do we need to nurture global moral community? How shall we construe social institutions and social movements for change in the twentyfirst century? The illustrious contributors include: Anthony B. Pinn, Katie G. Cannon, Noel Erksine, Jacob Olupona, Riggins R. Earl Jr., James H. Cone, Dwight N. Hopkins, Lewis V. Baldwin, Jonathan L. Walton, Rosetta E. Ross, Traci C. West, Melanie L. Harris, Victor Anderson, Emilie M. Townes, and Barbara A. Holmes.