This work focuses on divine command, and in particular the theory that what makes something obligatory is that God commands it, and what makes something wrong is that God commands us not to do it. Focusing on the Abrahamic faiths, eminent scholar John E. Hare explains that two experiences have had to be integrated. The first is that God tells us to do something, or not to do something. The second is that we have to work out ourselves what to do and what not to do. The difficulty has come in establishing the proper relation between them. In Christian reflection on this, two main traditions have emerged, divine command theory and natural law theory. Hare successfully defends a version of divine command theory, but also shows that there is considerable overlap with some versions of natural law theory. He engages with a number of Christian theologians, particularly Karl Barth, and extends into a discussion of divine command within Judaism and Islam. The work concludes by examining recent work in evolutionary psychology, and argues that thinking of our moral obligations as produced by divine command offers us some help in seeing how a moral conscience could develop in a way that is evolutionarily stable.

Ethische Fragen humangenetischer Beratung und Diagnostik sind Gegenstand zahlreicher nationaler und internationaler Diskussionen. Deutschland steht aktuell vor der Verabschiedung eines Gendiagnostik-Gesetzes, in OEsterreich ist dies bereits erfolgt. In der Schweiz und anderen Landern gibt es gleichermassen intensive Debatten, und auch der Europarat hat vor kurzem fur Gentests zu gesundheitlichen Zwecken ein Zusatzprotokoll zur Konvention fur Menschenrechte und Biomedizin vorgeschlagen. Fachleute aus Wissenschaft und Politik, Enquete-Kommissionen und Ethikrate analysieren Probleme genetischer Forschung und individueller Beratung. Die Kernfrage fur Betroffene, die Medizinethik und die Gesellschaft lautet: Wie kann genetische Beratung moeglichst gut ablaufen? In diesem Band nehmen erfahrene Kliniker und Experten aus verschiedenen Disziplinen Stellung zu medizinischen Grundlagen, moralischen Grenzfragen und gesellschaftlichen Konsequenzen.

Mehr als in anderen Teilen Europas haben sich die grossen christlichen Kirchen Jugoslawiens eng mit dem Nationalismus verbunden. Der jugoslawische Staat litt unter diesem Bundnis, fur das er gleichzeitig mit verantwortlich war. Der Autor verfolgt die Entwicklung des religioesen Nationalismus bei Serben und Kroaten von der Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts bis in die Gegenwart. Dabei kommt er auch auf Themen, die bislang wenig beachtet worden sind: den russischen Einfluss auf die serbische Orthodoxie, die Beziehungen zwischen der katholischen Kirche und der kroatischen Diaspora und das Verhaltnis des Klerus zu Globalisierung und Menschenrechten.

Mit dieser Festschrift ehren exegetische Weggefahrten, Kollegen und Schuler Gunter Haufe zu seinem 75. Geburtstag. Wahrend eines Zeitraumes von 25 Jahren hat er in Greifswald Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft gelehrt. Die Themen Eschatologie und Ethik stehen fur zentrale Forschungsschwerpunkte des Jubilars. Sie werden in den 20 Beitragen dieses Buches von einem internationalen Kreis renommierter Exegeten aufgenommen. Die Hoffnungsdimension des christlichen Glaubens sowie ihre Bedeutung fur verantwortliche Lebensgestaltung gewinnen dabei ein neues, aktuelles Profil.

In diesem Buch geht es zunachst um eine detaillierte Darstellung der anthropologischen Aspekte, unter denen die Philanthropen die geschlechtliche Aufklarung initiiert haben, um ihr Selbstverstandnis, ihre Erziehungsziele und Methoden sowie um die Einordnung des Konzepts in die gesellschaftlichen Verhaltnisse des ausgehenden 18. Jahrhunderts. Im zweiten Teil wird gezeigt, dass sich die Struktur der fruhen Geschlechtserziehung und auch konkrete inhaltliche Bereiche bis in die jungste Vergangenheit gehalten haben. Am Ende der Untersuchung werden Modelle vorgestellt, die in den letzten Jahrzehnten an Bedeutung gewonnen haben. Die meisten Chancen fur die Bewaltigung der individuellen und sozialen Probleme sieht der Verfasser in einer Sexualpadagogik, die auf Mundigkeit und Emanzipation setzt.

This book is a primary resource in the new and growing field of Christian Ethnography. In response to a variety of critical intellectual currents (post-colonial, post-modern, and post-liberal), scholars in Christian theology and ethics are increasingly taking up the tools of ethnography as a means to ask fundamental moral questions and to make more compelling and credible moral claims. Privileging particularity, rather than the more traditional effort to achieve universal or at least generalizable norms in making claims regarding the Christian life, echoes the most fundamental insight of the Christian tradition - that God is known most fully in Jesus of Nazareth. Echoing this 'scandal of particularity' at the heart of the Christian tradition, theologians and ethicists involved in ethnographic research draw on the particular to seek out answers to core questions of their discipline: who God is and how we become the people we are, how to conceptualize moral agency in relation to God and the world, and how to flesh out the content of conceptual categories such as justice that help direct us in our daily decisions and guiding institutions.

When an individual or couple is considering a difficult choice such as IVF treatment or third party assisted conception, the moral and ethical basis for their decisions may often be informed by their particular faith traditions. Faith and Fertility is a comprehensive collection of essays by academics and faith leaders from around the world. The reader is introduced to the cultural and religious understanding of fertility as it is practised among diverse international faith traditions. Each chapter is written in an accessible and clear style, outlining each faith's history and its core beliefs and values, showing the influence these have on its moral and ethical perspective on the issues surrounding fertility. This book will be a welcome resource for anyone seeking information on the plethora of attitudes towards fertility that are at work in today's global and multi-cultural world.

Das Buch beschaftigt sich mit der Problematik der Mensch-Tier-Beziehung. Da der Mensch in unwahrscheinlich vielen Bereichen Tiere nutzt - sei es im Bereich der Ernahrung, der Forschung, zur Belustigung, zur Erziehung von Kindern oder zu therapeutischen Zwecken - ist es wichtig, sich fur einen angemessenen und respektvollen Umgang mit ihnen einzusetzen. In einer Zeit der wachsenden gesellschaftlichen Katastrophen wie BSE und MKS ist es fur die Sicherung einer lebenswerten Zukunft von Tier und Mensch umso wichtiger, bereits fruhzeitig Kindern und Jugendlichen einen mitgeschoepflichen Umgang mit Tieren zu vermitteln. Moeglichkeiten dieser wertvollen Erziehung zur Mitgeschoepflichkeit werden in dieser Arbeit sowohl unter ethischen, religioesen, allgemeindidaktischen als auch fachdidaktischen Gesichtspunkten untersucht.

This study examines the influence of John Calvin in ethics eschatology and education, as well as those influences that affected him. It examines his writings to determine if his vision made him an innovator. The research searched for reforms in the areas of ethics, curriculum, understanding of the teaching office, and universal education. It also looked at philosophy, economics, and labor. A belief in the after life and end times was an ethical motivation for Calvin and education was a means by which the people that he worked with and wrote to could understand how they should live and why they should live like that. Thus, there is an important connection among ethics, eschatology and education. All people were to work to their potential at their job because in doing their job they would honor God. Teachers were especially important. Those who taught would affect the quality of education. Calvin worked to provide teacher training and support. He believed that all occupations could be a special calling from God and education was a means to prepare the young person for his or her calling. Schools existed in Geneva before Calvin arrived in 1536; however, they did not function in the way that Calvin would have liked. Calvin provided the elementary students with a needed text when he prepared a catechism. The students had written material that they could read and study and a systematic presentation of the basic doctrines of the Christian faith. Calvin also wanted more appropriate facilities in which the students could learn. Although his organization of the schools improved the atmosphere for learning, the building of the Academy was his dream and became his major educational achievement in the city of Geneva. Because16th century students needed to be prepared for the new world, there was a need for curriculum change. The students were required to read many of the prominent Greek and Roman authors in the ancient languages but the student learned theology, Hebrew, poetry, dialectic and rhetoric, physics, and mathematics as well. Calvin wished to graduate a well rounded scholar who could take his or her place in society. In this way the citizens of Geneva and all those of the Reformed belief would be better prepared for life on earth and the after life.