For thousands of years the Jewish tradition has been a source of moral guidance, for Jews and non-Jews alike. As the essays in this volume show, the theologians and practitioners of Judaism have a long history of wrestling with moral questions, responding to them in an open, argumentative mode that reveals the strengths and weaknesses of all sides of a question. The Jewish tradition also offers guidance for moral conduct by individuals, communities, and countries and shows how to motivate people to do the good and right thing. The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Ethics and Morality is a collection of original essays addressing these topics-historical and contemporary, as well as philosophical and practical-by leading scholars from around the world. The first section of the volume describes the history of the Jewish tradition's moral thought, from the Bible to contemporary Jewish approaches. The second part includes chapters on specific fields in ethics, including the ethics of medicine, business, sex, speech, politics, war, and the environment.

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. Professor 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.

Discerning the Good in the Letters and Sermons of Augustine turns to the vast collection of moral advice found in Augustine's letters and sermons, mining these neglected and highly illuminating texts for examples of Augustine's application of his own moral concepts. It focuses on letters and sermons in which Augustine offers concrete advice on how to interact with the various goods relevant to social and political life. A special set of goods reappears throughout the letters and sermons, namely sexual intimacy and domestic life, power and public office, and wealth and private possessions. Together, these goods form the central topics of this book. Joseph Clair highlights that the most revealing cases are those in which an individual must choose between competing goods, and cases in which an individual's role and role-specific obligations inform their decisions. Such cases uncover the nimbleness of Augustine's moral reasoning in action-an artful blend of scriptural interpretation, virtue theory, and sensitivity to the circumstances of individual lives. He reveals that Augustine's understanding of the goods constitutive of social and political life is deeply indebted to the Stoic and Peripatetic doctrine of oikeiosis, or "social appropriation". The colorful, personal, and practical details found in these writings provide a window onto Augustine's moral reasoning not available in his more theoretical treatments of the good, and the concrete cases often illustrate the human significance of properly discerning the good. Beyond providing one of the first analyses of these ethical writings, this work contributes a new sense of Augustine's ethics-both in terms of the range of questions he addresses and the manner in which he treats them.

Der Islamische Staat in Syrien und im Irak, die Massaker von Boko Haram in Nigeria - immer neue religioes motivierte Terrorakte rufen weltweite Betroffenheit hervor, auch unter glaubigen Menschen. Weder Bibel noch Koran rechtfertigen einfach jegliche Gewalttat oder Krieg im Namen Gottes, wenn man sich mit Sprache und Sinn dieser Texte kritisch auseinandersetzt. Der Tagungsband der 16. OEkumenischen Sommerakademie Kremsmunster 2014 dokumentiert Vortrage mit unterschiedlichem konfessionellen, religioesen und weltanschaulichen Hintergrund. Sie alle beschaftigen sich mit der Thematik religioes motivierter Gewalt aus der Perspektive der Philosophie, der Praktischen Theologie und Religionspadagogik, der Religions-, Bibel- und Islamwissenschaft. Zu Wort kommen auch Reprasentanten der Friedensarbeit im Militar, in christlichen Vereinigungen und in der kirchlichen Pastoral.

As a result of its almost total displacement from the everyday life environment death threatens to become a target for the projection of various fears. This volume takes an interdisciplinary look at this complex phenomenon, and attempts to examine its various dimensions. The presentation of the possibilities of current palliative medicine and ethical reflection upon it are shown to be of particular importance.

Buddhism points out that emphasizing individuality and promoting the greatest fulfillment of the desires of the individual conjointly lead to destruction. The book promotes the basic value-choices of Buddhism, namely happiness, peace and permanence.

Happiness research convincingly shows that not material wealth but the richness of personal relationships determines happiness. Not things, but people make people happy. Western economics tries to provide people with happiness by supplying enormous quantities of things and today's dominating business models are based on and cultivates narrow self-centeredness.But what people need are caring relationships and generosity. Buddhist economics makes these values accessible by direct provision. Peace can be achieved in nonviolent ways. Wanting less can substantially contribute to this endeavor and make it happen more easily. Permanence, or ecological sustainability, requires a drastic cutback in the present level of consumption and production globally. This reduction should not be an inconvenient exercise of self-sacrifice. In the noble ethos of reducing suffering it can be a positive development path for humanity.

Europaweit bestehen verschiedene Praktiken, aber auch Debatten uber die Legalisierung moeglicher Formen "aktiver" Sterbehilfe. Umso bedeutsamer ist es, dass Christen auf Grund ihres schoepfungsmassigen Menschenbildes und eines umfassenden Lebensschutzes fur eine menschenwurdige Sterbebegleitung eintreten, die sich an den Grundsatzen der Leidminderung, Zuwendung und Fursorge orientiert und jede Form auch "nur" einer Unterstutzung der Selbsttoetung ablehnt. Ein Problem stellt dabei die gesellschaftliche Tabuisierung des Lebensendes und Todes dar. So intensiv Grenzfragen der Medizinethik medial diskutiert werden, so sehr wird das konkret erfahrbare Lebensende aus der OEffentlichkeit verdrangt. Daher stellte sich die 14. OEkumenische Sommerakademie 2012 in Kremsmunster der Gesamtthematik menschlicher Endlichkeit im Horizont der Hoffnung auf ewiges Leben. In dem Tagungsband werden die kontroversen Vortrage dokumentiert, mit denen sich die ReferentInnen vor unterschiedlichem konfessionellen oder weltanschaulichen Hintergrund als Vertreter von Medizin, Soziologie, Rechtsphilosophie und Strafrecht dem Dialog mit ReprasentantInnen von philosophischer Ethik, Moraltheologie, Systematischer Theologie und kirchlicher Pastoral stellten.

Wide-ranging and ambitious, "Justice" combines moral philosophy and Christian ethics to develop an important theory of rights and of justice as grounded in rights. Nicholas Wolterstorff discusses what it is to have a right, and he locates rights in the respect due the worth of the rights-holder. After contending that socially-conferred rights require the existence of natural rights, he argues that no secular account of natural human rights is successful; he offers instead a theistic account.

Wolterstorff prefaces his systematic account of justice as grounded in rights with an exploration of the common claim that rights-talk is inherently individualistic and possessive. He demonstrates that the idea of natural rights originated neither in the Enlightenment nor in the individualistic philosophy of the late Middle Ages, but was already employed by the canon lawyers of the twelfth century. He traces our intuitions about rights and justice back even further, to Hebrew and Christian scriptures. After extensively discussing justice in the Old Testament and the New, he goes on to show why ancient Greek and Roman philosophy could not serve as a framework for a theory of rights.

Connecting rights and wrongs to God's relationship with humankind, "Justice" not only offers a rich and compelling philosophical account of justice, but also makes an important contribution to overcoming the present-day divide between religious discourse and human rights.

Zunehmend wird Religion als ein stoerender Faktor fur das gesellschaftliche Zusammenleben wahrgenommen. Dennoch enthalten Religionen eigene Ressourcen, die Autonomie des Politischen zu achten. Diese Ressourcen werden in dem Band prazise beschrieben. Dabei spielt der Toleranzbegriff eine erhebliche Rolle. Toleranz beschreibt nicht nur das Verhaltnis der Religionen zu Andersdenkenden, sondern auch umgekehrt das Verhaltnis nicht-religioeser Personen und Institutionen zu den Religionen. Dabei enthalt der Toleranzbegriff mehrere ethische Paradoxien, die eine theologische Interpretation erforderlich machen. Ohne eine theologische Bestimmung bleibt Toleranz ein widerspruchliches Konzept fur das friedliche Zusammenleben. Diese These wird auf prinzipieller und praktischer Ebene begrundet.

Die Frage nach der Erfahrbarkeit des Religioesen gehoert am Beginn des 21. Jahrhunderts fur viele zu den brennenden Fragen im Blick auf Glaube und Religion. Einer jener grossen Denker, welche die Erfahrungsdimension des Glaubens am scharfsten in den Blick genommen haben, ist ohne Zweifel Kardinal John Henry Newman (1801-1890). Die Studie stellt sich die Aufgabe, Newmans Reflexion uber religioese Erfahrung, Glaubenserfahrung und Theologie systematisch zu durchdringen und kritisch darzustellen. Im Licht heutiger Wissenschaft zeigt sie, dass der "Kirchenlehrer der Moderne" auch in dieser Hinsicht vieles zu sagen hat: (eigene) Erfahrung und (kirchliche) Dogmatik, Affektivitat und Vernunft, Subjektivitat und Objektivitat mussen keine Gegensatze sein.

Palliative Care ist eine Antwort auf grundlegende Fragen der modernen Medizin: Wie weit wollen, sollen oder mMedizin: Wie weit wollen, sollen oder mussen wir Leben erhalten, verlangern und verbessern, wenn es von unheilbarer Krankheit, Alter oder Sterben begrenzt wird? Was wird fur ein der menschlichen Wurde und Freiheit gerecht werdendes Leben und Sterben gefordert? Ist alles medizinisch Machbare zu tun, oder widerspricht dies persoenlichen und gesellschaftlichen Vorstellungen von einem guten Leben und Sterben? Und dort, wo die heutige Medizin an ihre Grenzen stoesst, wie gehen wir mit dem Leiden und Sterben um? Welche Bedurfnisse stehen in diesen Situationen im Vordergrund? Wie kann ihnen fur moeglichst alle entsprochen werden? Was ist wesentlich in der Beziehung, in Haltung und Verhalten zueinander zwischen jenen, die unheilbar krank sind, die gehen mussen, vielleicht wollen, und jenen, die sie in dieser Situation betreuen und begleiten? Das Buch "Ethik in der Palliative Care" gibt Antworten auf diese Fragen, indem es umfassend die historischen, medizinischen, ethischen und theologischen Hintergrunde von Palliative Care beschreibt und ihren Stellenwert im Schweizer Gesundheitssystem dokumentiert.

Augustine - for all of his influence on Western culture and politics - was hardly a liberal. Drawing from theology, feminist theory, and political philosophy, Eric Gregory offers here a liberal ethics of citizenship, one less susceptible to anti-liberal critics because it is informed by the Augustinian tradition. The result is a book that expands Augustinian imaginations for liberalism and liberal imaginations for Augustinianism. From an Augustinian point of view, Gregory argues, love and sin constrain each other in ways that yield a distinctive vision of the limits and possibilities of politics. "Politics and the Order of Love" will provoke new conversations for those interested in Christian ethics, moral psychology, and the role of religion in public life.

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew speaks to a contemporary world about, human rights, religious tolerance, international peace, environmental protection, and more. In the World, Yet Not of the World represents a selection of major addresses and significant messages as well as public statements by His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, "first among equals" and spiritual leader of the world's 300 million Orthodox Christians. The Patriarch is as comfortable preaching about the spiritual legacy of the Orthodox Church as he is promoting sociopolitical issues of his immediate cultural environment and praying for respect toward Islam or for global peace. As the documents reveal, the tenure of the Ecumenical Patriarch has been characterized by inter-Orthodox cooperation, inter-Christian dialogue and interreligious understanding. He has traveled more extensively than any other Orthodox Patriarch in history, exchanging official visitations with numerous ecclesiastical and state dignitaries. In particular, because he is a citizen of Turkey and the leader of a Christian minority in a predominantly Muslim nation, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew's personal experience endows him with a unique perspective on religious tolerance and interfaith dialogue. These documents are drawn from his prominent leadership roles as primary spiritual leader of the Orthodox Christian world and transnational figure of global significance - influential roles that become more vital each day. Published together here for the first time, the writings reveal the Ecumenical Patriarch as a bridge builder and peacemaker. One of his catchphrases is "War in the name of religion is war against religion." Over the past eighteen years, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew's inclination and intention have been to address the most difficult issues facing the world-the deep and increasing mistrust between East and West, the decay and widening destruction of the natural environment, as well as the sharp divisions among the various Christian confessions and diverse faith communities-whether on religious, racial, or cultural levels. He regards being a servant of reconciliation as a primary obligation of his spiritual ministry to. This book reveals the powerful influence of a spiritual institution from the unique perspective of a Christian leader in the world, and yet not of the world. Some of the topics covered: oFaith and freedom oRacism and fundamentalism oMutual respect and tolerance oEcology and poverty oHuman rights and freedom oRacial and religious discrimination oChurch and state oTerrorism and corruption oFreedom of conscience oEurope, Turkey and the world oReligion and politics oChristians and Muslims oChristians and Jews

With its unique union of theory and application and its well-organized, easy-to-use design, Moral Choices has earned its place as the standard text for college ethics courses. This fourth edition offers extensive updates, revisions, and three brand new chapters all designed to help students develop a sound and current basis for making ethical decisions in today's complex postmodern culture. Moral Choices outlines the distinctive elements of Christian ethics while avoiding undue dogmatism. The book also introduces other ethical systems and their key historical proponents, including Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, and Immanuel Kant. After describing a seven-step procedure for tackling ethical dilemmas, author Scott Rae uses case studies to address some of today's most pressing social issues. He guides students in thinking critically and biblically about issues, including: Abortion Reproductive Technologies Euthanasia Capital Punishment Sexual Ethics The Morality of War Genetic Technologies and Human Cloning Ethics and Economics NEW: Creation Care NEW: Animal Rights NEW: Gun-Control NEW: Race, Gender, and Diversity NEW: Immigration, Refugees, and Border Control FEATURES Relevant Case Studies throughout Discussion questions at the end of each chapter Sidebars with case studies for discussion Recommended further reading

The subject of poverty is rich in meanings and associations, among them hunger, stench, disease, disfigurement, shame, revulsion, and loss. It is a topic that has preoccupied the mind and hearts of the faithful since the inception of Christianity.
In this insightful volume, Susan R. Holman blends personal memoir and scholarly research into ancient writings to illuminate the age-old issues of need, poverty, and social justice in the history of the Christian tradition. Holman weaves together stories from late antiquity with three conceptual paradigms that can bridge the gap between historical story and modern action: sensing need, sharing the world, and embodying sacred kingdom. In the first four chapters, the author explores how personal need influences the way that we look at the world and the needs of others. Beginning with the story of her own encounters with need and her discovery of the world of early Christian texts on poverty and religious response, the author re-tells these historical narratives in new ways, and traces their influence on post-Reformation history. The second half of the book uses a complex amalgam of images and stories to consider several recurrent themes in any religious responses to poverty and need: poverty and gender, the dilemma of justice in material distribution, ascetic models of social activism and contemplation, the language of human rights and the "common good," challenges of hospitality, and the role of liturgy in constructing a vision for restorative righteousness.
Tying these historical texts to modern responses to need, Holman begins with her own encounters with need and describes her discovery of the existence of never-before-translated early Christian texts on responses to poverty, hunger, and disease. Holman's embrace of the historical perspective will prove useful in interdenominational and ecumenical dialogue on religious responses to social welfare needs. Through their sensitive exploration of nuances and tensions, these essays invite reflection, conversation, and response for scholars and students as well as concerned laypeople across a range of Christian faith communities.

As a religion concerned with universal liberation, Zen grew out of a Buddhist worldview very different from the currently prevalent scientific materialism. Indeed, says Taigen Dan Leighton, Zen cannot be fully understood outside of a worldview that sees reality itself as a vital, dynamic agent of awareness and healing. In this book, Leighton explicates that worldview through the writings of the Zen master Eihei D?gen (1200-1253), considered the founder of the Japanese S?t? Zen tradition, which currently enjoys increasing popularity in the West.
The Lotus Sutra, arguably the most important Buddhist scripture in East Asia, contains a famous story about bodhisattvas (enlightening beings) who emerge from under the earth to preserve and expound the Lotus teaching in the distant future. The story reveals that the Buddha only appears to pass away, but actually has been practicing, and will continue to do so, over an inconceivably long life span.
Leighton traces commentaries on the Lotus Sutra from a range of key East Asian Buddhist thinkers, including Daosheng, Zhiyi, Zhanran, Saigyo, My?e, Nichiren, Hakuin, and Ry?kan. But his main focus is Eihei D?gen, the 13th century Japanese S?t? Zen founder who imported Zen from China, and whose profuse, provocative, and poetic writings are important to the modern expansion of Buddhism to the West.
D?gen's use of this sutra expresses the critical role of Mahayana vision and imagination as the context of Zen teaching, and his interpretations of this story furthermore reveal his dynamic worldview of the earth, space, and time themselves as vital agents of spiritual awakening.
Leighton argues that D?gen uses the images and metaphors in this story to express his own religious worldview, in which earth, space, and time are lively agents in the bodhisattva project. Broader awareness of D?gen's worldview and its implications, says Leighton, can illuminate the possibilities for contemporary approaches to primary Mahayana concepts and practices.

The monograph considers the relationships of ethical systems in the ancient Near East through a study of warfare in Judah, Israel and Assyria in the eighth and seventh centuries BCE. It argues that a common cosmological and ideological outlook generated similarities in ethical thinking. In all three societies, the mythological traditions surrounding creation reflect a strong connection between war, kingship and the establishment of order. Human kings' military activities are legitimated through their identification with this cosmic struggle against chaos, begun by the divine king at creation. Military violence is thereby cast not only as morally tolerable but as morally imperative. Deviations from this point of view reflect two phenomena: the preservation of variable social perspectives and the impact of historical changes on ethical thinking.The research begins the discussion of ancient Near Eastern ethics outside of Israel and Judah and fills a scholarly void by placing Israelite and Judahite ethics within this context, as well as contributing methodologically to future research in historical and comparative ethics.

How did we get so far off base?

Do you ever get the feeling that somebody has gone through our world and switched the price tags on everything? Things that ought to be treated as precious-like family, friends and faith-are inconsequential, and things like a new BMW, membership in the country club and the climb up the corporate ladder are all too often considered of great importance.

Author Tony Campolo believes we are forcing ourselves to do things we think are important in order to "keep up" with the rest of the world. "God wants us to have fun-yet we don't know how," Campolo says. Who Switched The Price Tags? challenges us to take a serious look at the important areas of our lives and put the right price tags back on the right items in order to experience the true fulfillment God has planned for us.

Herman Bavinck's four-volume Reformed Dogmatics is one of the most important theological works of the twentieth century. Leading Bavinck expert John Bolt edited that work, which has received wide acclaim. Now Bolt brings forth a recently discovered manuscript from Bavinck, in print for the first time, which serves as a companion to Reformed Dogmatics. Reformed Ethics mines the moral teachings of the early church and medieval and Puritan spirituality while addressing a variety of topics, offering readers Bavinck's mature reflections on ethical issues. This book is the first of three planned volumes.

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.

The goals of healthcare and health policy, and the health-related dilemmas facing policy makers, professionals, and citizens are extensively analysed and debated in a range of disciplines including public health, sociology, and applied philosophy. Health and the Good Society is the first full-length work that addresses these debates in a way that cuts across these disciplinary boundaries. Alan Cribb's core argument is that clinical ethics needs to be understood in the context of public health ethics. This entails healthcare ethics embracing 'the social dimension' of health in two overlapping senses: first, the various respects in which health experiences and outcomes are socially determined; and second, the ways in which health-related goods are better understood as social rather then purely individual goods. This broader approach to the Cthics of healthcare includes a concern with the social construction of both healthcare goods and the roles, ideals, and obligations of agents; that is to say it focuses upon the 'value field' of health-related action and not only upon the ethics of action within this value field. This groundbreaking book thus seeks to 'open up' the agenda of healthcare ethics both methodologically and substantively: it argues that population-oriented perspectives are central to all healthcare ethics, and that everybody has some share of responsibility for securing health-related goods including the good of greater health equality. One of its major conclusions is that the rather limited tradition of health education policy and practice needs a complete re-think.

Das Stadtische konstituiert sich als multiperspektivisches Gebilde, das reflexiv nie eindeutig zu objektivieren, sondern nur in wiederum multiperspektivischen Deutungsperspektiven in offenen Sinnzusammenhangen zu erschliessen ist. Die Autorinnen und Autoren finden Zugange zum Thema der modernen Stadt aus den Gesichtspunkten des Technischen, Pragmatischen und OEkonomischen, aus den Gesichtspunkten des Praktischen, AEsthetischen und Religioesen. Das Stadtische zeigt sich als ebenso Bedingtes: von menschlichem Handeln und Deuten hervorgebracht und zusammengehalten, wie als Bedingung: als Formentwurf der sozialen Lebenspraxis ihrer Bewohner. Strukturen und Subjekte der Stadt sind zirkular vermittelt, wobei das wechselweise Bestimmen von Entwurf und Entwerfen sich niemals glatt schliesst, sondern sich uber Differenzen und Spannungen, uber Bruche und durch Sprunge vollzieht. Die Leistungen, die das Stadtische kontinuieren, verdanken sich gerade der Erfahrung geschichtlicher Kontingenz.