Here are 13 dilemmas faced by Christians who want their faith to count in the workplace. Each chapter includes biblical background and questions for discussion. Christians may feel lost in fog when they seek answers for marketplace dilemmas. This book will help readers find their way as they connect Sunday faith with Monday work.

This study begins with a reconstructive history of the Afro-American woman's situation in America, the emergence of the Black woman's literary tradition, and the distinctive moral character of the Afro-American women's community.

THE FORTY TWO PRECEPTS OF MAAT, THE PHILOSOPHY OF RIGHTEOUS ACTION AND THE ANCIENT EGYPTIAN WISDOM TEXTS ADVANCED STUDIES This manual is designed for use with the 1998 Maat Philosophy Class conducted by Dr. Muata Ashby. This is a detailed study of Maat Philosophy. It contains a compilation of the 42 laws or precepts of Maat and the corresponding principles which they represent along with the teachings of the ancient Egyptian Sages relating to each. Maat philosophy was the basis of Ancient Egyptian society and government as well as the heart of Ancient Egyptian myth and spirituality. Maat is at once a goddess, a cosmic force and a living social doctrine, which promotes social harmony and thereby paves the way for spiritual evolution in all levels of society.

These seven Discourses on Truth were written and preached in the Spring of 1851 from the text, "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, think on these things." Philippians 4:8. They were delievered at the Chapel of the College at Columbia, South Carolina, by James Henley Thornwell who was serving as both President and Chaplain. "Thornwell is a giant and nowhere is his mental and spiritual strength seen better than in his treatment of ethics. His application of Scripture to all of life is illuminating and exemplary. Discourses on Truth deserves to be a standard reference." - Dr. Nick Willborn "Thornwell abounds with riches of multifaceted brilliance. Theology, biblical interpretation, philosophy, ethics all take on an attractive hue under the pen of Thornwell. His essays on truth perhaps are more relevant now than when he first wrote them. An age that sees truth as personal, subjective, and existential therefore relative] needs the clear light of Thornwell's Discourses. Christian will learn to think about the glory of having truth, living by truth, and receive new conviction in the task of the propagation of truth." - Dr. Tom J. Nettles

The crown jewel of Bonhoeffer's body of work, Ethics is the culmination of his theological and personal odyssey. Based on careful reconstruction of the manuscripts, freshly and expertly translated and annotated, this new critical edition features an insightful Introduction by Clifford Green and an Afterword from the German edition's editors. Though caught up in the vortex of momentous forces in the Nazi period, Bonhoeffer systematically envisioned a radically Christocentric, incarnational ethic for a post-war world, purposefully recasting Christians' relation to history, politics, and public life. This edition allows scholars, theologians, ethicists, and serious Christians to appreciate the cogency and relevance of Bonhoeffer's vision.

The ecological crisis faced by our planet may have the effect of transforming religious ideas. Religions were born and took their distinctive shapes by the need of people to find harmony in their internal and external worlds. In our day that harmony is being challenged by a breakdown in the relationship between human beings and their global environment. Do the religious views held by most believers today provide an adequate basis for interacting with nature? Theologian John Haught believes they do not. Nor, he says, do stereotyped religious attitudes about the natural world enable believers to dialogue with physical scientists, many of whom are nonbelievers. To make the dialogue work we need a common language about nature and how it works. Haught maintains that process language will not only assist the ecological dialogue but help to transform religion itself. Nature is "holy" not because it originated at the hand of a creator or because it transparently reveals God now. It is holy primarily because of its direction: it is promise. This "future dimension" of nature lets us deal intelligently with the present crisis without forsaking the mysterious power that nature has for us.

What should we do or not do? What attitudes, behavior and qualities are good? Can we be good without God? What is the highest good, the purpose of human existence? These are the questions the study of ethics seeks to answer. Unlike many approaches to ethics, this book foundationally turns to Scripture, going only as far as Scripture itself goes. The result is an overview of biblical ethics that not only addresses the life of love and wisdom to be lived out by Christians as virtuous individuals, but also as Christians in community, in society and in a world of God's creation. Key preliminary considerations of love, law, sin and virtue are given their due in this thoroughly revised and updated text. The bulk of the work is then organized around the Ten Commandments and ethical themes springing from them--loving God (commandments 1-4) and loving others (commandments 6-10). This new edition includes added material on ethical alternatives such as relativism, social contract, utilitarianism and evolutionary ethics the seven deadly sins as well as the cardinal virtues vs. theological virtues end-of-life ethics, stem-cell research, animal rights, sexuality, genetics and technology, and other bioethical issues such as plastic surgery and surrogate motherhood technology and its depersonalizing effects as well as helping the poor the church's engagement in society and how Christians can make a difference in the media. McQuilkin and Copan stay focused on how we are fulfilling the purposes of God for our lives--a will that is for our good and our well-being. This comprehensive study is the place to begin on the journey of living wisely, faithfully and obediently.

Why do we care more about winning than about playing by the rules?

Integrity - all of us are in favor of it, but nobody seems to know how to make sure that we get it. From presidential candidates to crusading journalists to the lords of collegiate sports, everybody promises to deliver integrity, yet all too often, the promises go unfulfilled.

Stephen Carter examines why the virtue of integrity holds such sway over the American political imagination. By weaving together insights from philosophy, theology, history and law, along with examples drawn from current events and a dose of personal experience, Carter offers a vision of integrity that has implications for everything from marriage and politics to professional football. He discusses the difficulties involved in trying to legislate integrity as well as the possibilities for teaching it.

As the Cleveland Plain Dealer said, "In a measured and sensible voice, Carter attempts to document some of the paradoxes and pathologies that result from pervasive ethical realism... If the modern drift into relativism has left us in a cultural and political morass, Carter suggests that the assumption of personal integrity is the way out."

What is the ethical import of contemporary scientific cosmology? How does our understanding of the universe relate to our most pressing social concerns? How do the disparate fields of theology, ethics, and the sciences relate to each other? Murphy and Ellis offer a coherent construction of these relations and show how a particular moral vision-a "kenotic" ethic-is supported "from below" by the social sciences and "from above" by theology. The theological import of contemporary cosmology, they argue, points ultimately to an ethic that centers on self-sacrifice and nonviolence. In ambition, rigor, and scale, in its search for an integrated and coherent worldview at a time of unprecedented complexity and uncertainty, readers will find this volume daring and important.

Evil: A Guide for the Perplexed is a lively examination of the philosophical and theological problems raised by the existence of widespread evil. It explores classic debates around this problem and also engages with more recent ones, from new challenges posed by scientific advances in evolutionary theory, neuroscience, and cosmology, to concerns of climate change and environmental degradation, to questions raised by increasing religious and secular violence. This second edition also contains new chapters and topics such as Jewish, Christian, and Islamic responses to evil and skeptical theism. The result is an even-handed guide to both traditional and contemporary issues raised by the reality and ubiquity of evil.

Devoted to Nature explores the religious underpinnings of American environmentalism, tracing the theological character of American environmental thought from its Romantic foundations to contemporary nature spirituality. During the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era, religious sources were central to the formation of the American environmental imagination, shaping ideas about the natural world, establishing practices of engagement with environments and landscapes, and generating new modes of social and political interaction. Building on the work of seminal environmental historians who acknowledge the environmental movement's religious roots, Evan Berry offers a potent theoretical corrective to the narrative that explained the presence of religious elements in the movement well into the twentieth century. In particular, Berry argues that an explicitly Christian understanding of salvation underlies the movement's orientation toward the natural world. Theologically derived concepts of salvation, redemption, and spiritual progress have not only provided the basic context for Americans passion for nature but have also established the horizons of possibility within the national environmental imagination.

The Stoics are known to have been a decisive influence on early Christian moral thought, but the import of this influence for contemporary Christian ethics has been underexplored. Elizabeth Agnew Cochran argues that attention to the Stoics enriches a Christian understanding of the virtues, illuminating precisely how historical Protestant theology gives rise to a distinctive virtue ethic. Through examining the dialogue between Roman Stoic ethics and the work of Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Jonathan Edwards, Cochran illuminates key theological convictions that provide a foundation for a contemporary Protestant virtue ethic, consistent with theological beliefs characteristic of the historical Reformed tradition.

Moral injury is a profound violation of a human being's core moral identity through experiences of violence or trauma. This is the first book in which scholars from different faith and academic backgrounds consider the concept of moral injury not merely from a pastoral or philosophical point of view but through critical engagement with the sacred texts of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and American Civil Religion. This collection of essays explores the ambiguities of personal culpability among both perpetrators and victims of violence and the suffering involved in accepting personal agency in trauma. Contributors provide fresh and compelling readings of texts from different faith traditions and use their findings to reflect on real-life strategies for recovery from violations of core moral beliefs and their consequences such as shame, depression and addiction. With interpretations of the sacred texts, contributors reflect on the concerns of the morally-injured today and offer particular aspects of healing from their communities as support, making this a groundbreaking contribution to the study of moral injury and trauma.

Ethics is the culmination of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's theological and personal odyssey and one of the most important works of Christian ethics of the last century. Using the acclaimed DBWE translation, adapted to a more accessible format, this new edition features an insightful introduction by Clifford Green and supplemental material from Victoria J. Barnett. Written in the midst of the conspiracy to overthrow the Hitler regime, it is nonetheless chiefly concerned with ethics for the postwar time of reconstruction and peace. Though caught up in the vortex of momentous forces in the Nazi period, Bonhoeffer systematically envisioned a radically Christocentric, incarnational ethic for a postwar world, purposefully recasting Christians' relation to history, politics, and public life. Focused on Christ, the God who became human, and the vision of a world reconciled with God, Ethics shuns abstraction, seeks the will of God in concrete historical reality, and calls the church to be a transforming community in the world with a new responsibility to public life. This edition allows all readers to appreciate the cogency and relevance of Bonhoeffer's vision.

Moral Wisdom introduces readers to moral theory through a Catholic lens. In a warm, conversational style, Father Keenan shares a wealth of stories and examples to highlight the resources in the Catholic tradition for developing moral wisdom. Connecting formative influences of the Catholic heritage with themes of love, consciences, sin, and suffering, the book helps readers appreciate what gives meaning to our lives. The third edition has been revised throughout to help the reader better understand how to develop and apply moral wisdom in real life. It features additional examples, as well as new material on the teachings of Pope Francis. Chapters on the Ten Commandments and the teachings of Jesus have been re-worked in light of new scholarship. The book also features a new final chapter, Moral Agency, which addresses making practical decisions based on the lessons and texts from the book. Each chapter includes study questions to help readers further reflect on key themes.

Ethics in Ancient Israel is a study of ethical thinking in ancient Israel from around the eighth to the second century BC. The evidence for this consists primarily of the Old Testament/ Hebrew Bible and Apocrypha, but also other ancient Jewish writings such as the Dead Sea Scrolls and various anonymous and pseudonymous texts from shortly before the New Testament period. Professor John Barton argues that there were several models for thinking about ethics, including a 'divine command' theory, something approximating to natural law, a virtue ethic, and a belief in human custom and convention. Moreover, he examines ideas of reward and punishment, purity and impurity, the status of moral agents and patients, imitation of God, and the image of God in humanity. Barton maintains that ethical thinking can be found not only in laws but also in the wisdom literature, in the Psalms, and in narrative texts. There is much interaction with recent scholarship in both English and German. The book features discussion of comparative material from other ancient Near Eastern cultures and a chapter on short summaries of moral teaching, such as the Ten Commandments. This innovative work should be of interest to those concerned with the interpretation of the Old Testament but also to students of ethics.

Many Christians find that today's increasingly secular world is not in line with their beliefs. And rather than turn away from society, they are faced with the options of trying to impose their beliefs on others or suppressing their faith. Either option provokes a stream of difficult questions about what it means to be a good Christian, and how a Christian life should be led. In Why You're Here John Stackhouse proposes another path for these people, one that might reconcile Christian beliefs with a world that is often perceived as being openly hostile to those beliefs. Moreover, Stackhouse offers a pragmatic theology that promotes effective action for the challenges of real life. This compact volume offers an accessible, concrete program for faithful Christian living in today's world. Written in engaging and lucid prose, Stackhouse speaks directly to these everyday Christians who are searching for straightforward advice on some of their most complex quandaries about the challenges inherent in staying true to the Bible's teachings. Why You're Here is a thoroughly readable and resolutely practical book designed to help people understand who they are in the sight of God, and therefore what they are to do according to God's calling on their lives here and now.

Dependency is a central aspect of human existence, as are dependent care relations: relations between caregivers and young children, persons with disabilities, or frail elderly persons. In this book, Sandra Sullivan-Dunbar argues that many prominent interpretations of Christian love either obscure dependency and care, or fail to adequately address injustice in the global social organization of care. Sullivan-Dunbar engages a wide-ranging interdisciplinary conversation between Christian ethics and economics, political theory, and care scholarship, drawing on the rich body of recent feminist work reintegrating dependency and care into the economic, political, and moral spheres. She identifies essential elements of a Christian ethic of love and justice for dependent care relations in a globalized care economy. She also suggests resources for such an ethic ranging from Catholic social thought, feminist political ethics of care, disability and vulnerability studies, and Christian theological accounts of the divine-human relation.