Defined by deliberation about the difference between right and wrong, encouragement not to be indifferent toward that difference, resistance against what is wrong, and action in support of what is right, ethics is civilization's keystone. The Failures of Ethics concentrates on the multiple shortfalls and shortcomings of thought, decision, and action that tempt and incite us human beings to inflict incalculable harm. Absent the overriding of moral sensibilities, if not the collapse or collaboration of ethical traditions, the Holocaust, genocide, and other mass atrocities could not have happened. Although these catastrophes do not pronounce the death of ethics, they show that ethics is vulnerable, subject to misuse and perversion, and that no simple reaffirmation of ethics, as if nothing disastrous had happened, will do. Moral and religious authority has been fragmented and weakened by the accumulated ruins of history and the depersonalized advances of civilization that have taken us from a bloody twentieth century into an immensely problematic twenty-first. What nevertheless remain essential are spirited commitment and political will that embody the courage not to let go of the ethical but to persist for it in spite of humankind's self-inflicted destructiveness. Salvaging the fragmented condition of ethics, this book shows how respect and honor for those who save lives and resist atrocity, deepened attention to the dead and to death itself, and appeals for human rights and renewed spiritual sensitivity confirm that ethics contains and remains an irreplaceable safeguard against its own failures.

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.

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.

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

In his sharp, observant book, Stan Goff grapples with a problem crucial to modern Christian values. The sanctification of war and contempt for women are both grounded in a fear that breeds hostility, a hostility that valorises conquest and murder. In 'Borderline', Goff dissects the driving force behind the darkest impulses of the human heart. The un-Christian history of loving war and hating women are not merely similar but two sides of the same coin, he argues, in an 'autobiography' that spans two millennia of war and misogyny. 'Borderline' is the personal and conceptual history of an American career army veteran transformed by Jesus into a passionate advocate for nonviolence, written by a man who narrates his conversion to Christianity through feminism.

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.

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.

Economists and theologians usually inhabit different intellectual worlds. Economists investigate the workings of markets and tend to set ethical questions aside. Theologians, anxious to take up concerns raised by market outcomes, often dismiss economics and lose insights into the influence of market incentives on individual behavior. Mary L. Hirschfeld, who was a professor of economics for fifteen years before training as a theologian, seeks to bridge these two fields in this innovative work about economics and the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas. According to Hirschfeld, an economics rooted in Thomistic thought integrates many of the insights of economists with a larger view of the good life, and gives us critical purchase on the ethical shortcomings of modern capitalism. In a Thomistic approach, she writes, ethics and economics cannot be reconciled if we begin with narrow questions about fair wages or the acceptability of usury. Rather, we must begin with an understanding of how economic life serves human happiness. The key point is that material wealth is an instrumental good, valuable only to the extent that it allows people to flourish. Hirschfeld uses that insight to develop an account of a genuinely humane economy in which pragmatic and material concerns matter but the pursuit of wealth for its own sake is not the ultimate goal. The Thomistic economics that Hirschfeld outlines is thus capable of dealing with our culture as it is, while still offering direction about how we might make the economy better serve the human good.

Ambrose of Milan (340-397) was the first Christian bishop to write a systematic account of Christian ethics, in the treatise De Officiis, variously translated as "on duties" or "on responsibilities." But Ambrose also dealt with the moral life in other works, notably his sermons on the patriarchs and his addresses to catechumens and newly baptized. There is a vast modern literature on Ambrose, but only in recent decades has he begun to be taken seriously as a thinker, not just as a working bishop and ecclesiastical politician. Because Ambrose was one of the few Latin Christian writers in antiquity who knew Greek, another major area of Ambrose scholarship has been the study of his sources, notably the Jewish philosopher Philo, and Christian writers such as Origen of Alexandria. In this book, Warren Smith examines the neglected biblical, liturgical and theological foundations of Ambrose's thought on ethics. Earlier studies have found little that was distinctively Christian in Ambrose's image of the virtuous person. Smith shows that though, like the pagans, Ambrose emphasized moderation, courage, justice, and prudence, for him these characteristics were shaped by the church's beliefs about God's salvific economy. The courage of a Christian facing persecution, for example, was an expression of faith in Christ's resurrection and the church's eschatological hope. Eschatology, for Ambrose, was not pagan wisdom clothed in pious language, but the very logic upon which virtue rests.

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.

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

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.

If the use of God in a moral debate raises more problems than it solves, is it better to leave God out of the argument altogether and find strong human reasons for the rules we live by? Godless Morality is a refreshing, courageous and human-centred justification for contemporary morality.

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.

You cannot get far in these essays without sensing yourself in the presence of a writer of immense intellectual power and fierce independence of mind.' - Janet Soskice, from the Introduction to the Routledge Classics edition

Simone Weil (1909–1943) is one of the most brilliant and unorthodox religious and philosophical thinkers of the twentieth century. She was also a political activist who worked in the Renault car factory in France in the 1930s and fought briefly as an anarchist in the Spanish Civil War. Hailed by Albert Camus as 'the only great spirit of our times,' her work spans an astonishing variety of subjects, from ancient Greek philosophy and Christianity to oppression, political freedom and French national identity.

Waiting for God is one of her most remarkable books, full of piercing spiritual and moral insight. The first part comprises letters she wrote in 1942 to Jean-Marie Perrin, a Dominican priest, and demonstrate the intense inner conflict Weil experienced as she wrestled with the demands of Christian belief and commitment. She then explores the 'just balance' of the world, arguing that we should regard God as providing two forms of guidance: our ability as human beings to think for ourselves; and our need for both physical and emotional 'matter.' She also argues for the concept of a 'sacred longing'; that humanity's search for beauty, both in the world and within each other, is driven by our underlying desire for a tangible god.

Eloquent and inspiring, Waiting for God asks profound questions about the nature of faith, doubt and morality that continue to resonate today.

This Routledge Classics edition includes a new Introduction by Janet Soskice and retains the Foreword to the 1979 edition by Malcolm Muggeridge.

Table of Contents

Introduction to the Routledge Classics Edition Janet Soskice

Foreword to the 1979 Edition Malcolm Muggeridge　

Part 1: Letters

1. Hesitations Concerning Baptism

2. Same Subject

3. About Her Departure

Part 2: Letters of Farewell

4. Her Spiritual Autobiography

5. Her Intellectual Vocation

6. Last Thoughts

Part 2: Essays

7. Reflections on the Right Use of School Studies with a View to the Love of God

8. The Love of God and Affliction

9. Forms of the Implicit Love of God

10. Concerning the 'Our Father'

11. The Three Sons of Noah and the History of Mediterranean Civilization.

Index

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.

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.

Lebensfuhrungspflichten sind regelmassig Gegenstand rechtstheoretischer Diskussionen und Untersuchungen, spielen aber vor allem auch in der kirchen- und arbeitsrechtlichen Praxis eine bedeutende Rolle. Die besondere Problematik dieses Themas liegt darin, dass in den Augen der OEffentlichkeit die private Lebensfuhrung kirchlicher Mitarbeiterinnen und Mitarbeiter als Ausweis der Glaubwurdigkeit kirchlicher Verkundigung angesehen wird, die rechtliche Ausformung und praktische Durchsetzung bestimmter Pflichten aus diesem Bereich aber auf erhebliche Schwierigkeiten stoesst. Dies wird vor allem dadurch bedingt, dass kirchlicher Dienst in unterschiedlichen Formen wahrgenommen wird, namlich in oeffentlich-rechtlichen Dienstverhaltnissen, in privatrechtlichen Anstellungsverhaltnissen und als ehrenamtlicher Dienst. Die Arbeit beschaftigt sich insbesondere auch mit Fragen in dem zuletzt genannten Bereich.

In 1945, Dietrich Bonhoeffer-a theologian and pastor-was executed by the Nazis for his resistance to their unspeakable crimes against humanity. He was only 39 years old when he died, but Bonhoeffer left behind volumes of work exploring theological and ethical themes that have now inspired multiple generations of scholars, students, pastors, and activists. This book highlights the ways Dietrich Bonhoeffer's work informs political theology and examines Bonhoeffer's contributions in three ways: historical-critical interpretation, critical-constructive engagement, and constructive-practical application. With contributions from a broad array of scholars from around the world, chapters range from historical analysis of Bonhoeffer's early political resistance language to accounts of Bonhoeffer-inspired, front-line resistance to white supremacists in Charlottesville, VA. This volume speaks to the ongoing relevance of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's work and life in and out of the academy.