What might we learn if the study of ethics focused less on hard cases and more on the practices of everyday life? In Everyday Ethics, Michael Lamb and Brian Williams gather some of the world's leading scholars and practitioners of moral theology (including some GUP authors) to explore that question in dialogue with anthropology and the social sciences. Inspired by the work of Michael Banner, these scholars cross disciplinary boundaries to analyze the ethics of ordinary practices-from eating, learning, and loving thy neighbor to borrowing and spending, using technology, and working in a flexible economy. Along the way, they consider the moral and methodological questions that emerge from this interdisciplinary dialogue and assess the implications for the future of moral theology.

This book presents the gospel as a sensemaking tool to critically examine five areas of personal leadership effectiveness, namely desire, identity, dignity, motive, and ambition. Every tipping point in changing the world for the better always involves leadership. Yet history also illustrates that even formidable leaders are prone to derailment and failures. Contrary to the popular idea that leaders need to enhance their self-efficacy to be effective, the focus of self is misguided because the self is the epicenter of the leadership problem. The author posits that the preoccupation with the self (and consequently, unbelief in the gospel) is the fundamental reason why leaders are blinded by power and control, create their own performance treadmill, live for the approval of others, and have myopic ambitions for things of this world. Drawing on biblical insights and scholarly research, the leadership principles outlined in the book and their street-level applications will equip both novice and seasoned leaders to begin and end well.

Rival understandings of the meaning and practice of the religious and the secular lead to rival public perspectives about religion and religious freedom in North America. This book explores how debates over the American Office of Religious Freedom and its International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA, 1998) and very recent debates over the Canadian Office of Religious Freedom (2013) have pitted at least six basic, but very different meanings of the religious and the secular against each other in often undisclosed and usually unproductive ways. Properly naming this 'religious problem' is a critical first step to acknowledging and conciliating their practically polar political prescriptions. It must be considered how we are to think about religion in political offices, both the Canadian and the American experience, as an essentially contested term, and one which demands better than postmodern paralysis, what the author terms political theology. This is especially critical since both of these cases are not just about how to deal with religion at home, but how to engage with religion abroad, where real peril, and real practical policy must be undertaken to protect increasingly besieged religious minorities. Finally, a principled pluralist approach to the religious and the secular suggests a way to think outside the 'religious problem' and productively enlist and engage the forces of religion resurging around the globe. The book will be of great use to scholars and students in religion and foreign affairs, secularization, political theology, and political theory, as well as professionals and policy makers working in issues relating to religion, religious freedom, and foreign affairs.

This book contends that Josiah Royce bequeathed to philosophy a novel idealism based on an ethico-religious insight. This insight became the basis for an idealistic personalism, wherein the Real is the personal and a metaphysics of community is the most appropriate approach to metaphysics for personal beings, especially in an often impersonal and technological intellectual climate. The first part of the book traces how Royce constructed his idealistic personalism in response to criticisms made by George Holmes Howison. That personalism is interpreted as an ethical and panentheistic one, somewhat akin to Charles Hartshorne's process philosophy. The second part investigates Royce's idealistic metaphysics in general and his ethico-religious insight in particular. In the course of these investigations, the author examines how Royce's ethico-religious insight could be strengthened by incorporating the philosophical theology of Dr. Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., and Emmanuel Levinas's ethical metaphysics. The author concludes by briefly exploring the possibility that Royce's progressive racial anti-essentialism is, in fact, a form of cultural, antiblack racism and asks whether his cultural, antiblack racism taints his ethico-religious insight.

The Name of God is Mercy, Pope Francis' exploration on the universal theme of mercy, is a spiritual inspiration to both followers of Christianity and non-Christians around the world. Drawing on his own experience as a priest and shepherd, Pope Francis discusses mercy, a subject of central importance in his religious teaching and testimony, and in addition sums up other ideas - reconciliation, the closeness of God - that comprise the heart of his papacy. Written in conversation with Vatican expert and La Stampa journalist Andrea Tornielli, The Name of God is Mercy is directed at everyone, inside or outside of the Catholic Church, seeking meaning in life, a road to peace and reconciliation, or the healing of physical or spiritual wounds.

Sterben, Sterbehilfe (Beschaftigung mit "Dignitas") und Tod sind in den letzten Jahren - (auch) durch die Thematisierung in den Medien - verstarkt zu Objekten kontroverser Diskussionen in Deutschland geworden. Im Kontext dieser Entwicklung differenziert diese Arbeit elementare Wortbedeutungen, ordnet diese Begriffe in die aktuelle Debatte um unterschiedliche Formen der Sterbehilfe ein und entwickelt hieraus eine eigene Perspektive zum individuellen und gesellschaftlichen Umgang mit Sterben und Tod. Die Arbeit mit Sterbenden und deren Angehoerigen stellt unter anderem fur AErzte, Juristen, Theologen und Sozialarbeiter eine besondere Aufgabe dar. Trotz der oeffentlichen Diskussion uber Sterben, Sterbehilfe und Tod werden diese Themen im gesellschaftlichen und privaten Zusammenleben meist tabuisiert. Dieses Buch dient der Professionalisierung zuvor genannter Berufsgruppen und moechte einen Teil zur gesellschaftlichen Enttabuisierung von Sterben und Tod beitragen.

Christians of all theological and political backgrounds ought to be ardent advocates of advancing, not curbing, freedom of speech within their own ranks and in the increasingly secular societies in which they live. Christians, Free Expression, and the Common Good presents the concept of free expression, and its opposite of censorship, as a tool for the Western church (and the U.S. church in particular) to respond more wisely and effectively to controversy. In their most severe form, these controversies lead to both formal and informal limitations on free expression, as Christians seek to silence those with whom they most stridently disagree. This study is timely given the Western church's current state of flux as it tries to determine its identity and mission in a post-Christian setting. Christians, Free Expression, and the Common Good will appeal to a wide range of thoughtful religious scholars and others who would welcome ideas on how the church should refine and live out its mission in the early twenty-first century.

Greening the Children of God uncovers the theological roots of the growing ethical imperative to reconnect children to their natural environment. In their different traditions, theologians, environmental educators and psychologists all affirm that knowing their place in the natural environment helps a child develop an intersubjective 'ecological' identity that nurtures virtues of mutuality and care. During the Scientific Revolution this ethical harmony was threatened as science and moral theology began to adopt different epistemological methods, something the Anglican priest and poet Thomas Traherne was all too aware of. Traherne insisted that education should promote a child's attention to the moral dimensions woven into 'the tapestry of creation', and professed that play, wonder, and a sensory relationship to diverse creatures play a pedagogical role in a child's moral formation. Greening the Children of God establishes the contemporary significance of Traherne's moral theory in conversation with child psychologists, educators, philosophers, and theologians who know that cultivating a place-based relationship to the local ecology helps children perceive creation's deep mutuality and develop a moral identity in the image of a caring Creator.

The principle of double effect has a long history, from scholastic disputations about self-defense and scandal to current debates about terrorism, torture, euthanasia, and abortion. Despite being widely debated, the principle remains poorly understood. In Intention, Character, and Double Effect, Lawrence Masek combines theoretical and applied questions into a systematic defense of the principle that does not depend on appeals to authority or intuitions about cases. Masek argues that actions can be wrong because they corrupt the agent's character and that one must consider the agent's perspective to determine which effects the agent intends. This defense of the principle clears up common confusions and overcomes critics' objections, including confusions about trolley and transplant cases and objections from neuroscience and moral psychology. This book will interest scholars and students in different fields of study, including moral philosophy, action theory, moral theology, and moral psychology. Its discussion of contemporary ethical issues and sparse use of technical jargon make it suitable for undergraduate and graduate courses in applied ethics. The appendix summarizes the main cases that have been used to illustrate or to criticize the principle of double effect.

This book deals with the identity of the Torah that Yahweh promised he would write on the hearts of New Covenant participants, as prophesied in Jeremiah 31:33 and understood later in New Testament times by Paul. This theological and exegetical monograph is an invaluable reference work and textbook for all theological seminaries and Christian religious departments of universities worldwide. Pastors and virtually all Christians interested in reading or researching Paul and the subject of Gospel/law controversy in biblical studies will benefit from it. The book's investigative study of the history of interpretation of the church's teaching on the subject from the early church to modern theological era, and Second Temple Judaism's writings on the topic, is unsurpassed. No work currently existing on this subject can compete with this book's historical survey and exegetical analysis, reading Jeremiah and Paul contextually on the issue.

What is the state of contemporary American morality? From their original conception in Christian scripture to their assimilation into Western culture, the 'Seven Deadly Sins' - lust, greed, envy, pride, and all the rest - have guided human morality, steering human behavior and psychology away from evil and toward a full embrace of the good. But their hold on modern life is increasingly tenuous. Indeed, one may observe that these days, deadly sin is far more common and more commonly practiced than its virtuous counterparts - humility, charity, kindness, industriousness, and chastity. Without greed, there is no economy; without anger, no politics; and without pride and envy, surely less motivation and competition would exist. James D. Wright carefully examines the complexities and ambiguities in modern society in the context of the seven deadly sins and their corresponding virtues. Are we all lost souls, condemned by our immoral deeds, or are the trappings of older sin deteriorating? Is it time, finally, to reconsider the classifications of evil and good? Wright uses each chapter to consider how the social sciences have operationalized each 'sin', how they have been studied, and what lessons have been learned over time. He reviews recent trends and contemplates the societal costs and benefits of the behaviors in question. Lost Souls emerges, then, as a meditation on contemporary sin, concluding that the line between guilt and innocence, right and wrong, is often very thin.

The two-volume Cambridge History of Atheism offers an authoritative and up to date account of a subject of contemporary interest. Comprised of sixty essays by an international team of scholars, this History is comprehensive in scope. The essays are written from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, including religious studies, philosophy, sociology, and classics. Offering a global overview of the subject, from antiquity to the present, the volumes examine the phenomenon of unbelief in the context of Christian, Islamic, Buddhist, Hindu, and Jewish societies. They explore atheism and the early modern Scientific Revolution, as well as the development of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution and its continuing implications. The History also includes general survey essays on the impact of scepticism, agnosticism and atheism, as well as contemporary assessments of thinking. Providing essential information on the nature and history of atheism, The Cambridge History of Atheism will be indispensable for both scholarship and teaching, at all levels.

Winner of the 2018 American Board and Academy of Psychoanalysis (ABAPsa) prize for best Edited book Temporality has always been a central preoccupation of modern philosophy, and shame has been a major theme in contemporary psychoanalysis. To date, however, there has been little examination of the critical connection between these core experiences. Although they deeply implicate each other, no single book has focused upon their profound interrelationship. Temporality and Shame highlights the many dimensions of that reality. A core point of this book is that shame can be a teacher, and a crucial one, in evaluating our ethical and ontological position in the world. Granting the fact that shame can be toxic and terrible, we must remember that it is also what can orient us in the difficult task of reflection and consciousness. Shame enables us to become more fully present in the world and authentically engage in the flow of temporality and the richness of its syncopated dimensionality. Such a deeply honest ethos, embracing the jarring awareness of shame and the always-shifting temporalities of memory, can open us to a fuller presence in life. This is the basic vision of Temporality and Shame. The respective contributors discuss temporality and shame in relation to clinical and theoretical aspects of psychoanalysis, philosophy, anthropology, and genocide, as well as the question of evil, myth and archetype, history and critical studies, the 'discipline of interiority', and literary works. Temporality and Shame provides valuable insights and a rich and engaging variety of ideas. It will appeal to psychotherapists and psychoanalysts, philosophers and those interested in the basic philosophical grounds of experience, and anthropologists and people engaged in cultural studies and critical theory.

What is a human? Are humans those with human DNA, those in possession of traits like rationality, or those made in the image of God? The debate over what makes human beings unique has raged for centuries. Many think that if society accepts the wrong definition of what it is to be human, people will look at their neighbor as more of an animal, object, or machine-making maltreatment more likely. In the longest running claim, for over 150 years critics have claimed that taking a Darwinist definition results in people treating each other more like animals. Despite their seriousness, these claims have never been empirically investigated. In this groundbreaking book John H. Evans shows that the definitions promoted by biologists and philosophers actually are associated with less support for human rights. Members of the public who agree with these definitions are less willing to sacrifice to stop genocides and are more supportive of buying organs from poor people, of experimenting on prisoners against their will, and of torturing people to potentially save lives. It appears that the critics are right. However, Evans finds that few Americans agree with these academic definitions. Looking at how most of the public defines humanity, we see a much more nuanced picture. In a fascinating account, he shows that the dominant definitions are unlikely to lead to human rights abuses. He concludes that the critics are right about the definitions of a human promoted by academic biologists and philosophers, and are therefore justified in their vigilance. However, because at present few Americans agree with these definitions, the academic definitions would have to spread much more extensively before impacting how the general public acts. Evans' book is a major corrective to the more than century-long debate about the impact of definitions of a human.

Modern medicine has produced many wonderful technological breakthroughs that have extended the limits of the frail human body. However, much of the focus of this medical research has been on the physical, often reducing the human being to a biological machine to be examined, understood, and controlled. This book begins by asking whether the modern medical milieu has overly objectified the body, unwittingly or not, and whether current studies in bioethics are up to the task of restoring a fuller understanding of the human person. In response, various authors here suggest that a more theological/religious approach would be helpful, or perhaps even necessary. Presenting specific perspectives from Judaism, Christianity and Islam, the book is divided into three parts: "Understanding the Body," "Respecting the Body," and "The Body at the End of Life." A panel of expert contributors-including philosophers, physicians, and theologians and scholars of religion- answer key questions such as: What is the relationship between body and soul? What are our obligations toward human bodies? How should medicine respond to suffering and death? The resulting text is an interdisciplinary treatise on how medicine can best function in our societies. Offering a new way to approach the medical humanities, this book will be of keen interest to any scholars with an interest in contemporary religious perspectives on medicine and the body.

This book sets the scene for the deliberations on ethics and its application to healthcare in the twenty-first century. The word ethics, in classical Greek, means the "beliefs of the people" the study of what is right and good in human conduct and the justification of such claims. Without a doubt this task is not simply about setting up a list of rights and wrongs. Rather, it is a discussion, a process that helps tease out the real issues and find and teach ethical solutions to complex practical problems. The centrality of the patient is of prime consideration in this book, and the health of the individual patient is the first consideration in the teaching considerations discussed. Applied ethics in healthcare may have lost sight of what traditional ethics was trying to accomplish: a good life for good people over a lifetime in society with others. We must put biomedical ethics into perspective and develop a truly comprehensive approach to health care ethics. On the practical level, we need structures integrating givers ethical perspectives. But, there seems to be a gap and significant perception differences among healthcare providers' learning environments and actual professional situations. Hence, teaching ethics and healthcare providers values is important to bridge this gap.

This volume provides a comprehensive resource for those wishing to understand the German theologian, pastor, and resistance conspirator Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) and his writings. During his lifetime he made important contributions to many of the major areas of theology: ecclesiology, creation, Christology, discipleship, and ethics. The Oxford Handbook of Dietrich Bonhoeffer surveys, assesses, and presents the field of research and debates of Bonhoeffer and his legacy, as well as of previous Bonhoeffer scholarship. Featuring contributions from leading Bonhoeffer scholars, historians, theologians, and ethicists, many essays draw attention to Bonhoeffer's positive contributions, while several essays also identify limits and problems with his thinking as it stands. Divided into five parts, the first section provides a detailed outline of Bonhoeffer's biography and the contexts that gave rise to his theology. The contributors explore the dynamic relationship between Bonhoeffer's life and theology. Section two provides rigorous engagements with and assessments of Bonhoeffer's theology on its own terms. Part three demonstrates how Bonhoeffer's ethical claims and engagements are deeply integrated with theological commitments. The fourth section showcases some of the best work drawing upon Bonhoeffer for engaging contemporary challenges, including feminism, race, public theology in South Africa, and contemporary philosophy. In recent decades, Bonhoeffer's theology has provoked significant critical reflection on social and cultural issues. The essays in this section exemplify how his writings can continue to contribute to such reflection today. The fifth and final section consists of essays on resources for the contemporary study of Bonhoeffer and his theology, including sources and texts, biographies and portraits, and readings and receptions. These essays also address pressing historiographical issues and problems surrounding writing about Bonhoeffer's life and theology. This authoritative collection draws together and assesses the very best of existing research on Bonhoeffer and promotes new avenues for research on Bonhoeffer.

This book is a contribution to the nascent discourse on global health and biomedical research ethics involving Muslim populations and Islamic contexts. It presents a rich sociological account about the ways in which debates and questions involving Islam within the biomedical research context are negotiated - a perspective which is currently lacking within the broader bioethics literature. The book tackles some key understudied areas including: role of faith in moral deliberations within biomedical research ethics, the moral anxiety and frustration experienced by researchers when having to negotiate multiple moral sources and how the marginalisation of women, the prejudice and abuse faced by groups such as sex workers and those from the LGBT community are encountered and negotiated in such contexts. The volume provides a valuable resource for researchers and scholars in this area by providing a systematic review of ethical guidelines and a rich case-based account of the ethical issues emerging in biomedical research in contexts where Islam and the religious moral commitments of Muslims are pertinent. The book will be essential for those conducting research in low and middle income countries that have significant Muslim populations and for those in Muslim-minority settings. It will also appeal to researchers and scholars in religious studies, social sciences, philosophy, anthropology and theology, as well as the fields of biomedical ethics, Islamic ethics and global health..

By critically surveying various approaches to Christian ecological ethics alongside the vexing moral ambiguities of the Anthropocene, Ecology of Vocation offers an integrative approach to responsible living vis a vis one of Protestantism's key theological resources the doctrine of vocation. Drawing on H. Richard Niebuhr's germinal ethical framework with a decidedly ecofeminist perspective, Kiara A. Jorgenson demonstrates how vocation's emphasis on right relationship over right behavior or intentions practically speaks to the embodied realities of planetary interrelatedness. By excavating the ecological promise of the early Reformers' democratized renderings of calling and linking their concerns to the contemporary context, she argues that vocation cannot be reduced to the particular aim of monetized work, nor to an elitist escape from it. Rather, vocation must be recast as the dynamic and vibrant space between the myriad roles any of us inhabits at any given time in a particular place. When understood in this light, vocation signals much more than a job, a passion, or a quest for self-discovery. An alternative understanding of vocation's very ecology can extend Christian conceptions of the neighbor beyond the human and lead the church to more faithfully pursue lives characterized by humility, restraint, wisdom, justice, and love.

The German philosopher Robert Spaemann is one of the most important living thinkers in Europe today. This volume presents a selection of essays that span his career, from his first published academic essay on the origin of sociology (1953) to his more recent work in anthropology and the philosophy of religion. Spaemann is best known for his work on topical questions in ethics, politics, and education, but the light he casts on these questions derives from his more fundamental studies in metaphysics, the philosophy of nature, anthropology, and the philosophy of religion. At the core of the essays contained in this book is the concept of nature and the notion of the human person. Both are best understood, according to Spaemann, in light of the metaphysics and anthropology found in the classical and Christian tradition, which provides an account of the intelligibility and integrity of things and beings in the world that safeguards their value against the modern threat of reductionism and fragmentation. A Robert Spaemann Reader shows that Spaemann's profound intellectual formation in this tradition yields penetrating insights into a wide range of subjects, including God, education, art, human action, freedom, evolution, politics, and human dignity.

Christian Ethics: The Basics sets out clearly and critically the different ways that Augustine, Aquinas and Luther continue to shape ethics today within and across Christian denominations. It assumes no previous knowledge of the subject and can be read by religious believers and non-believers alike. Readers are introduced to Christian ethics from the ground up before being invited to consider some of the most controversial but important questions facing people across the world today. Topics addressed include: Social justice War and peace Migration/immigration Climate change Euthanasia Same-sex marriage Religiously-inspired violence Biotechnology Abrahamic ethics Concise, readable and authoritative, this is the ideal primer for anyone interested in the study of religious ethics and Christianity.

Ethics, Literature, and Theory: An Introductory Reader brings together the work of contemporary scholars, teachers, and writers into lively discussion on the moral role of literature and the relationship between aesthetics, art, and ethics. Do the rich descriptions and narrative shapings of literature provide a valuable resource for readers, writers, philosophers, and everyday people to imagine and confront the ultimate questions of life? Do the human activities of storytelling and complex moral decision-making have a deep connection? What are the moral responsibilities of the artist, critic, and reader? What can religious perspectives-from Catholic to Protestant to Mormon-contribute to literary criticism? What do we mean when we talk about ethical criticism and how does this differ from the common notion of censorship? Thirty well known contributors reflect on these questions including: literary theorists Marshall Gregory, James Phelan, and Wayne Booth; philosophers Martha Nussbaum, Richard Hart, and Nina Rosenstand; and authors John Updike, Charles Johnson, Flannery O'Connor, and Bernard Malamud. Divided into four sections, with introductory matter and questions for discussion, this accessible anthology represents the most crucial work today exploring the interdisciplinary connections among literature, religion and philosophy.

Arguing that popular digital platforms promote misguided assumptions about ethics and technology, this book lays out a new perspective on the relation between technological capacities and human virtue. The authors criticize the "digital catechism" of technological idolatry arising from the insular, elite culture of Silicon Valley. In order to develop digital platforms that promote human freedom and socio-economic equality, they outline a set of five "proverbs" for living responsibly in the digital world: (1) information is not wisdom; (2) transparency is not authenticity; (3) convergence is not integrity; (4) processing is not judgment; and (5) storage is not memory. Each chapter ends with a simple exercise to help users break through the habitual modes of thinking that our favorite digital applications promote. Drawing from technical and policy experts, it offers corrective strategies to address the structural and ideological biases of current platform architectures, algorithms, user policies, and advertising models. This book will appeal to scholars and graduate and advanced undergraduate students investigating the intersections of media, religion, and ethics, as well as journalists and professionals in the digital and technological space.

Arguing that popular digital platforms promote misguided assumptions about ethics and technology, this book lays out a new perspective on the relation between technological capacities and human virtue. The authors criticize the "digital catechism" of technological idolatry arising from the insular, elite culture of Silicon Valley. In order to develop digital platforms that promote human freedom and socio-economic equality, they outline a set of five "proverbs" for living responsibly in the digital world: (1) information is not wisdom; (2) transparency is not authenticity; (3) convergence is not integrity; (4) processing is not judgment; and (5) storage is not memory. Each chapter ends with a simple exercise to help users break through the habitual modes of thinking that our favorite digital applications promote. Drawing from technical and policy experts, it offers corrective strategies to address the structural and ideological biases of current platform architectures, algorithms, user policies, and advertising models. This book will appeal to scholars and graduate and advanced undergraduate students investigating the intersections of media, religion, and ethics, as well as journalists and professionals in the digital and technological space.

The virtue of humility is a much debated subject. To many, humility is an attractive character trait in others, the opposite of pride and arrogance. Yet many philosophers, be they ancient or modern, find little value in humility as a virtue. For the Aristotelian moral tradition, humility is an impediment to greatness. Modern philosophers take this sentiment further, asserting that humility only leads to unhappiness and human debasement. The Christian intellectual tradition, however, provides a contrast to these negative appraisals of humility. St Augustine of Hippo is an eloquent and robust proponent of the value of humility. Unlike the thinkers of the classical and modern philosophic traditions, Augustine asserts that humility is not only a significant virtue; it is the indispensable foundation of human greatness. In The Greatness of Humility, Joseph J. McInerney traces how Augustine makes his argument regarding the importance of humility and shows how his position measures up to those of his philosophical rivals.