In this innovative treatment of the ethics of war, Ryan P. Cumming brings classical sources of just war theory into conversation with African American voices. Drawing on the Black press of the early twentieth century and modern writers like Cornel West, James Cone, and Manning Marable, this volume develops new questions about the authority to wage war, the causes that can justify war, and the economic costs of war. The result is a new direction in just war thought that challenges dominant interpretations of just war theory by looking to the perspectives of those on the underside of history and politics.

"For the clients who see us in counseling . . . theological purity will make little difference if we do not practice with ethical integrity." Randolph K. Sanders, from chapter one The work of psychotherapy and counseling is full of ethical challenges and dilemmas. Responding to these situations with wisdom is critical, not only for the professional?s credibility, but also for good therapeutic relationships and positive treatment outcomes. Since its first publication, Christian Counseling Ethics has become a standard reference work for Christian psychologists, counselors and pastors and a key text at Christian universities and seminaries. This thoroughly revised edition retains core material on counseling ethics that has made it so valuable in a variety of settings. Now fully updated, it weighs and assesses new and emerging ethical issues in the field. For example, the current volume explores ethical issues involved in: multiple relationships confidentiality documentation therapist competence and character addressing spiritual and value issues in therapy teletherapy individual and couples therapy counseling with minors psychological first aid after disasters counseling crossculturally In addition, the book considers dilemmas Christian therapists face in specific settings such as: church-based counseling centers government and military institutions missions organizations college counseling centers Psychologist Randolph Sanders has assembled a distinguished team of clinicians and academicians to address the issues. They include W. Brad Johnson, Alan Tjeltveit, Everett Worthington, Sally Schwer Canning, Siang-Yang Tan, Tamara Anderson, Stanton Jones, Jennifer Ripley, Angela Sabates, Mark Yarhouse, Richard Butman and Cynthia Eriksson. Christian Association for Psychological Studies (CAPS) Books explore how Christianity relates to mental health and behavioral sciences including psychology, counseling, social work, and marriage and family therapy in order to equip Christian clinicians to support the well-being of their clients.

Drawing on work from inside some of America's largest and toughest prisons, this book documents an alternative model of "restorative corrections" utilizing the lived experience of successful inmates, fast disrupting traditional models of correctional programming. While research documents a strong desire among those serving time in prison to redeem themselves, inmates often confront a profound lack of opportunity for achieving redemption. In a system that has become obsessively and dysfunctionally punitive, often fewer than 10% of prisoners receive any programming. Incarcerated citizens emerge from prisons in the United States to reoffend at profoundly high rates, with the majority of released prisoners ending up back in prison within five years. In this book, the authors describe a transformative agenda for incentivizing and rewarding good behavior inside prisons, rapidly proving to be a disruptive alternative to mainstream corrections and offering hope for a positive future. The authors' expertise on the impact of faith-based programs on recidivism reduction and prisoner reentry allows them to delve into the principles behind inmate-led religious services and other prosocial programs-to show how those incarcerated may come to consider their existence as meaningful despite their criminal past and current incarceration. Religious practice is shown to facilitate the kind of transformational "identity work" that leads to desistance that involves a change in worldview and self-concept, and which may lead a prisoner to see and interpret reality in a fundamentally different way. With participation in religion protected by the U.S. Constitution, these model programs are helping prison administrators weather financial challenges while also helping make prisons less punitive, more transparent, and emotionally restorative. This book is essential reading for scholars of corrections, offender reentry, community corrections, and religion and crime, as well as professionals and volunteers involved in correctional counseling and prison ministry.

George Bell remains one of only a handful of twentieth-century English bishops to possess a continuing international reputation for his involvement in political affairs. His insistence that Christian faith required active participation in public life, at home and abroad, established an eminent, and often provocative, contribution to Christian ethics at large. Bell's participation in the tragic history of the German resistance against Hitler has earned him an enduring place in the historiography of the Third Reich; his February 1944 speech protesting against the obliteration bombing of Germany, made in the House of Lords, is still often considered one of the great prophetic speeches of the twentieth century. Throughout his long career, Bell became a leading light in the burgeoning ecumenical movement, a supporter of refugees from dictatorships of all kinds, a committed internationalist and a patron of the Arts. This book draws together the work of leading international historians and theologians, including Rowan Williams, and makes an important contribution to a range of ongoing political, ecumenical and international debates.

Moral theologians, defense analysts, conflict scholars, and nuclear experts imagine a world free from nuclear weapons At a 2017 Vatican conference, Pope Francis condemned nuclear weapons. This volume, issued after the 60th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis, presents essays from moral theologians, defense analysts, conflict transformation scholars, and nuclear arms control experts, with testimonies from witnesses. It is a companion volume to A World Free from Nuclear Weapons: The Vatican Conference on Disarmament (Georgetown University Press, 2020). Chapters from the perspectives of missile personnel and the military chain of command, industrialists and legislators, and citizen activists show how we might achieve a nuclear-free world. Key to this transition is the important role of public education and the mobilization of lay movements to raise awareness and effect change. This essential collection prepares military professionals, policymakers, everyday citizens, and the pastoral workers who guide them, to make decisions that will lead us to disarmament.

The Oxford Handbook of Jonathan Edwards offers a state-of-the-art summary of scholarship on Edwards by a diverse, international, and interdisciplinary group of Edwards scholars, many of whom serve as global leaders in the burgeoning world of research and writing on 'America's theologian'. As an early modern clerical polymath, Edwards is of interest to historians, theologians, and literary scholars. He is also an interlocutor for contemporary clergy and philosophical theologians. All such readers-and many more-will find here an authoritative overview of Edwards' life, ministry, and writings, as well as a representative sampling of cutting-edge scholarship on Edwards from across several disciplines. The volume falls into four sections, which reflect the diversity of Edwards studies today. The first section turns to the historical Edwards and grounds him in his period and the relevant contexts that shaped his life and work. The second section balances the historical reconstruction of Edwards as a theological and philosophical thinker with explorations of his usefulness for constructive theology and the church today. In part three, the focus shifts to the different ways and contexts in which Edwards attempted to realize his ideas and ideals in his personal life, scholarship, and ministry, but also to the ways in which these historical realities stood in tension with, limited, or resisted his aspirations. The final section looks at Edwards' widening renown and influence as well as diverse appropriations. This Handbook serves as an authoritative guide for readers overwhelmed by the enormity of the multi-lingual world of Edwards studies. It will bring readers up to speed on the most important work being done and then serve them as a benchmark in the field of Edwards scholarship for decades to come.

In a culture obsessed with law, judgment, and violence, this book challenges Christians to remember that Jesus urged his followers to judge no one, bring harm upon no one, and follow no law save the law of altruistic love. It traces Christian history first to show that Christians of an earlier age took very seriously the gospel injunctions against punitive legal judgment and then how the advent of formal legal codes and philosophical dualism undermined that perspective to create a division between a private Christian spirituality and a public morality of order and legally sanctioned violence. This historical approach is accompanied by an argument that the recovery of a Christian ethic based upon unconditional love and forgiveness cannot be accomplished without the renewal of a Christian spirituality that mirrors the contemplative spirituality of Jesus.

New Calvinism and the Victim endeavors into the overlapping areas of psychological trauma and systematic theology by investigating the dynamic interplay between the psychology of holding maximalist theological beliefs and recovery from abuse trauma. Maxwell examines the effect that the Calvinist belief can have upon the traumatized Christian who negatively internalizes its superlative doctrines of divine control and human moral corruption. The project seeks to understand these intersecting realities by investigating a triptych of inquiries: From a theological perspective, can a Christian lose his faith because of a traumatic experience? Moreover, what are the consequences of such a loss? And, how could Reformed theology exacerbate this religious detachment? Ultimately, the research suggests that there are experiential harmonies between the belief in Reformed theology and the experience of trauma, which are neither existentially necessary nor therapeutically negligible-rather, they are conceptually likely based on both philosophical analysis and psychological research.

This book rediscovers a spiritual way of preparing the actor towards experiencing that ineffable artistic creativity defined by Konstantin Stanislavski as the creative state. Filtered through the lens of his unaddressed Christian Orthodox background, as well as his yogic or Hindu interest, the practical work followed the odyssey of the artist, from being oneself towards becoming the character, being structured in three major horizontal stages and developed on another three vertical, interconnected levels. Throughout the book, Gabriela Curpan aims to question both the cartesian approach to acting and the realist-psychological line, generally viewed as the only features of Stanislavski's work. This book will be of great interest to theatre and performance academics as well as practitioners in the fields of acting and directing.

This book challenges the notion of the separation between economics and theology. It explores relationships between the disciplines through the concept of salvation, focusing on the work of Adam Smith and G.W.F. Hegel. They wrote as the disciplinary boundaries between economics and theology were taking shape, and remain important figures in contemporary discussions. Illuminating the theological foundations of the economic ideas of these two main thinkers, this book enriches our understanding of issues related to salvation such as: sympathy and recognition; poverty and the state; the invisible hand and the cunning of reason; evil and scarcity and eschatology. Moreover, the book contributes to a broader understanding of salvation and provides a model for future dialogue between economists and theologians by extending the frontiers of this unexplored field of research.

Thomas Aquinas devoted a substantial proportion of his greatest works to the virtues and associated matters, yet despite the availability of these vast texts and centuries of commentary, Aquinas's virtue ethics remains mysterious, raising questions to which satisfactory answers have not yet been given. In this book, Pinsent argues that the key to understanding Aquinas's work is to be found in an association between attributes he appends to the virtues and certain interpersonal capacities revealed recently by the scientific study of social cognition. This book shows that Aquinas's approach to the virtues is radically non-Aristotelian and founded on the concept of second person relatedness. To highlight the explanatory power of this principle, Pinsent demonstrates how the second person perspective provides a coherent interpretation of Aquinas's descriptions of the virtues in general and offers a key to long-standing problems, such as the reconciliation of magnanimity and humility. The principle of second person relatedness also provides a way to interpret those actus or operationes that Aquinas describes as the fruition or realization of the virtues.Pinsent concludes by considering how this approach may help to shape future developments in virtue ethics.

Christian ethics is less a system of principles, rules, or even virtues, and more of a free and open-ended responsible witness to God's gracious action to be with and for others and the world. Postmodernity has left us with the risky uncertainty of knowing and doing the good. It also leaves us with the global risks of political violence and terrorism, economic globalization and financial crisis, and environmental destruction and global climate change. How should Christians respond to these problems? This book creatively explores how Christian ethics is best understood as a witness to God's action, thereby providing the ethical framework for addressing the various problematic social issues that put our world at risk. Haddorff develops the notion of witness through a detailed study of Karl Barth's theological ethics. Barth, he argues, provides a language enabling us to know what a Christian ethics of witness actually looks like in both theory and in practice. In correspondence to God's gracious action, Christians remain free to think and act in faith, hope, and love in respondence to their unique circumstances, even in a world at risk. In their witness, Christians remain confident that God has not abandoned the world but loves and cares for its future.

In this book, Daniel K. Miller articulates a new vision of human and animal relationships based on the foundational love ethic within Christianity. Framed around Jesus' parable of the Good Samaritan, Animal Ethics and Theology thoughtfully examines the shortcomings of utilitarian and rights-based approaches to animal ethics. By considering the question of animals within the Christian concept of neighbourly love, Miller provides an alternative narrative for understanding the complex relationships that humans have with other animals. This book addresses significant theological questions such as: Does being created in the image of God present a meaningful distinction between humans and other animals? What does it mean for humans to have dominion (Gen. 1:28) over animals? Is meat eating a moral problem for Christians? In addition to drawing out the significance of Christian theology for field of animal ethics this book also engages environmental and feminist ethics. Miller brings a theological perspective to such questions as: Should care for animals be distinguished from care for the environment, and what role should human emotions play in our ethical dealings with other animals? As the title suggests, this book provides fresh insight into the theological significance of human relationships with other animals.

This book provides a metaethical analysis of the responsibility ethics of H. Richard Niebuhr and Emmanuel Levinas. It probes the plausibility of their ethical theories by revealing and clarifying some conceptual difficulties and logical inconsistencies found in their ethics in order to advance current scholarship in responsibility ethics. In addition to illumining various theological and philosophical backgrounds of their ethics, this study offers a critical reflection on some of the major metaethical topics relevant to each thinker.

Is it really possible to live out the Great Commandment? When an expert in the law asked Jesus what the greatest commandment is, Jesus gave a clear and simple answer: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." But what does the Great Commandment look like on the ground, in our day-to-day lives? And can we even come close to living it out? Jesus, Greg Ogden believes, has a simple answer to that too. He writes, "Jesus didn't follow the Great Commandment] up by saying, 'I know I'm asking a lot, but do the best you can. I know you'll never fully approximate this high and lofty goal, but it's still worth striving for.' . . . Jesus thinks this is possible." And with Jesus, Ogden has found, it is possible--and essential. In this practical, in-depth handbook, Ogden draws from his years of pastoral experience training and discipling others to help us truly be changed by Christ into people who love God and love others with all that we are. Following the format of his bestselling Discipleship Essentials, each chapter includes a core truth a memory verse an inductive Bible study a reading on one aspect of the Great Commandment Thoughtful questions will also help you examine your heart and life and move you to open yourself to God's transforming work. Above all, Ogden helps you see that the Great Commandment is actually a great invitation to join God in bringing his kingdom to earth. And as you learn to do so, you'll find that the greatest commandment leads to the greatest life possible.

Structured directly around the specification of the AQA, this is the definitive textbook for students of Advanced Subsidiary or Advanced Level courses. It covers all the necessary topics for Religious Ethics in an enjoyable student-friendly fashion. Each chapter includes:

• a list of key issues
• AQA specification checklist
• explanations of key terminology
• helpful summaries
• self-test review questions
• exam practice questions.

To maximise students' chances of exam success, the book contains a section dedicated to answering examination questions. It comes complete with lively illustrations, a comprehensive glossary, full bibliography and a companion website.

Natural Law Ethics in Theory and Practice brings together a selection of essays of the late Joseph Boyle. Boyle was, with Germain Grisez and John Finnis, a founder and developer of the New Classical Natural Law Theory, arguably the most important development in Catholic moral philosophy of the twentieth century. While this theory is indebted to the work of St. Thomas Aquinas, it incorporates an understanding and assessment of that work that is different from that found in other statements of natural law. Boyle made crucial contributions to a wide variety of aspects of this theory, and the volume is divided into two parts. Part One: Articulating a Theory of Natural Law contains three sections in which Boyle defends the reality of free choice and the view that the basic reasons for action, or first principles of natural law, are incommensurable in goodness. Boyle identifies the basic moral standard for choice and action, and develops an account of human action that elucidates the important role played by intention and double effect in their moral evaluation. The essays in Part Two: Natural Law Theory and Contemporary Moral Problems demonstrate the strength and scope of Boyle's natural law account, as he brings it to bear upon just war theory, property and welfare rights, and issues in bioethics. The essays in bioethics address the difficult question of whether it is appropriate to tube-feed patients in persistent vegetative state, and include an unpublished essay, "Against Assisted Death," which he delivered as the Anscombe Lecture at The Anscombe Bioethics Centre in Oxford about a year before he died. This volume also includes a Foreword by Princeton's Robert P. George; an Introduction by the editors that highlights Boyle's contribution to the development of the new classical natural law theory; and a bibliography of Boyle's publications.

The natural world has been "humanized": even areas thought to be wilderness bear the marks of human impact. But this human impact is not simply physical. At the emergence of the environmental movement, the focus was on human effects on "nature." More recently, however, the complexity of the term "nature" has led to fruitful debates and the recognition of how human individuals and cultures interpret their environments. This book furthers the dialogue on religion, ethics, and the environment by exploring three interrelated concepts: to recreate, to replace, and to restore. Through interdisciplinary dialogue the authors illuminate certain unique dimensions at the crossroads between finding value, creating value, and reflecting on one's place in the world. Each of these terms has diverse religious, ethical, and scientific connotations. Each converges on the ways in which humans both think about and act upon their surroundings. And each radically questions the damaging conceptual divisions between nature and culture, human and environment, and scientific explanation and religious/ethical understanding. This book self-consciously reflects on the intersections of environmental philosophy, environmental theology, and religion and ecology, stressing the importance of how place interprets us and how we interpret place. In addition to its contribution to environmental philosophy, this work is a unique volume in its serious engagement with theology and religious studies on the issues of ecological restoration and the meaning of place.

Research is directed by normative standards which need to be transparent in order to secure the quality of the scholarly discussion. The aim of this book is to contribute to such transparency in relation to research on religion and theology representing a combination of empirical and normative claims themselves. What does this combination of empirical and normative claims imply for the normative standards of research? The contributions in this volume discuss different normative dimensions in contemporary research on religion and theology. Presenting articles from systematic theology, practical theology, sociology of religion, ethics, religious studies and missiology it covers a wide range of issues that are relevant for PhD students of theology and religious studies as well as for others who are involved in research on these topics.

Life Histories of Baha'i Women in Canada: Constructing Religious Identity in the Twentieth Century is an unprecedented study of the essential features of living a Baha'i life, examining contributions and experiences of a diverse group of Canadian women and men in a new religion through a sociological framework and a women-centred perspective. The key figures in the Baha'i Faith, early female heroes, major teachings of the religion, and Canadian Baha'i history are detailed. A background on social history and the feminization of religion also provides a context for twentieth century Canadian life. Drawing upon Western religious and secular thought and practice, theories and social attitudes about the nature of woman and the Baha'i perspective on these topics are explicated. These stirring narratives, historical and contemporary, provide a compelling perspective on social processes and interactional dimensions of Baha'i community life. The life histories also illustrate, in poignant, humorous, and inspiring ways, how these notable Baha'is "story" themselves along the way. The teachings of the Baha'i Faith are remarkably forward looking. One of the foundational principles is the oneness of humanity, and an integral part of this oneness is the equality of women with men. Lay readers and students of religion, sociology, and women's and gender studies, will be interested in how members make meaning of these teachings on equality and how women's participation in the Baha'i institutional system is promoted and maintained.

What is the nature of addiction? Neither of the two dominant models (disease or choice) adequately accounts for the experience of those who are addicted or of those who are seeking to help them. In this interdisciplinary work, Kent Dunnington brings the neglected resources of philosophical and theological analysis to bear on the problem of addiction. Drawing on the insights of Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas, he formulates an alternative to the usual reductionistic models. Going further, Dunnington maintains that addiction is not just a problem facing individuals. Its pervasiveness sheds prophetic light on our cultural moment. Moving beyond issues of individual treatment, this groundbreaking study also outlines significant implications for ministry within the local church context.

As college students develop their identities and construct their worldviews, they commonly wrestle with fundamental questions such as "Why be moral?" Taking into account feedback he has received from students and colleagues, William Mattison has crafted "Introducing Moral Theology," a masterful basic text on Catholic moral theology. This work provides a solid overview of classical virtue ethics (i.e., temperance, prudence, fortitude, and justice) as well as the theological virtues (i.e., faith, hope, and love). The book includes study questions, terms and definitions, bibliographies, and case studies on timely, thorny issues such as premarital sex and euthanasia. Readers will also note that "Introducing Moral Theology" draws deeply on Thomas Aquinas's "Summa Theologiae," While written primarily to and from a Roman Catholic perspective, this text will appeal to a wide swathe of Christian academics and believers interested in theology and ethics.

"Those of us who regularly teach introductory courses in theological ethics know how difficult it can be to present the relevant theories and issues in an effective way. So it is very high praise indeed when I say that Mattison has written a first-rate textbook for beginners in this challenging field. Appropriating Aquinas's organizing principle of the virtues, he draws together the main strands of the Catholic moral tradition in such a way as to reveal its inner logic, and to present this in a clear, accessible, and attractive way. He wears his considerable learning lightly, and while he clearly aims to present traditional Catholic moral teachings, he does so in a way that invites thoughtful engagement and dialogue. This would be suitable in anumber of undergraduate and seminary contexts, and scholars in the field will find much of value here as well."--Jean Porter, Rev. John A. O'Brien Professor of Theology, University of Notre Dame

"The new wave in theology is virtue ethics, and Mattison rides it to new systematic heights. He lays out the role of virtue in the good life, shows how virtue relates morality to the rest of theology, then applies virtue ethics to concrete quandaries of Christian living today. Designed as an engaging classroom text, this book will also interest scholars of ethical theory."--Lisa Sowle Cahill, Monan Professor of Theology, Boston College

The Nasirean Ethics is the best known ethical digest to be composed in medieval Persia, if not in all mediaeval Islam. It appeared initially in 633/1235 when T s was already a celebrated scholar, scientist, politico-religious propagandist. The work has a special significance as being composed by an outstanding figure at a crucial time in the history he was himself helping to shape: some twenty years later T s was to cross the greatest psychological watershed in Islamic civilization, playing a leading part in the capture of Baghdad and the extinction of the generally acknowledged Caliphate there. In this work the author is primarily concerned with the criteria of human behaviour: first in terms of space and priority allotted, at the individual level, secondly, at the economic level and thirdly at the political level.

What is the most important lesson in the word of God? In Matt. 22:34-40, Jesus summarizes the whole Bible into two commandments, being 'love for God' and 'love for thy neighbor' (Lev. 19:18). Why did Jesus cite Lev. 19:18 (love) instead of 19:2 (holiness), which is the core of this chapter? This book analyzes how Lev. 19 is unfolded from OT times to the message of the NT. It attempts to prove the importance of Lev. 19 in the canonical tradition of Judaism and Christianity and to identify the clues which can help to explain the reason why Jesus chose Lev. 19:18. Further, the book shows that holiness, one of the main issues in Lev. 19, is replaced by perfection in Matt. 5:48. This connection is shown through examining the Community Rule (1QS) of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which joins the themes of holiness and perfection. This combination serves as the 'missing link' to bridge the gap between Lev. 19 and Matt. 5. The method used to explore these texts is called 'a canonical unfolding.' After a commentary on Lev. 19 the chapter is compared to other connected texts. Finally, the meaning of Lev. 19 is reinterpreted in the whole context of the Canon.

The victims of environmental destruction are often sidelined in eco-theology and environmental discourse. Movements for ecological justice fail to take into account the voice of those at the grassroots. 'Alternatives Unincorporated' presents an environmental ethics that begins with those on the margins. Using the key example of the Narmada Dam in India and the popular resistance movement which built up against the project, the book examines the collective action of subaltern communities in caring for their local environment. The book frames these movements as theological texts that inform a life-affirming earth ethics. The aim of the book is to challenge prevailing social and ecological dynamics and to affirm the interconnectedness of social justice and environmental action.