Stanley Hauerwas is arguably the most well-known figure in theological ethics of the last generation. Having published voluminously over the last 30 years, late in his career he has also published two volumes of essays discussing his corpus retrospectively, as well as a widely acclaimed memoir. The sheer volume of his work can be daunting to readers, and it is easy to get the impression that his retrospective volumes are restating positions developed earlier. Brian Brock delves into Hauerwas' formation as a theologian at Yale, his first book, Character and the Christian Life, and examines some of his early, and outspoken, criticisms of the guild of Christian ethics. This chapter is followed by a discussion of his memoir, Hannah's Child, and raises tricky questions about the role of autobiography in Christian ethics, as well as the troubling problem of race in the modern academy. Brock explores Hauerwas' work on disability, his criticisms of the discipline of medical ethics, and the role played by vulnerability in his work. The next chapter examines his views on just war and pacifism, here probing the sensitive issue of the role of gender in his work, and leading into a discussion on the nature of the church's peaceable politics, in which his supposed hyper-ecclesiocentricism is examined. Brock examines the role of virtue in Hauerwas' thought, and teases out why he hates to be called a virtue ethicist. A final chapter asks him to respond to the recently levelled criticism that scripture does no work in his theology, focusing especially on his under-appreciated commentary on the gospel of Matthew. The editor of this volume has managed to maneuver Hauerwas into positions where he has directly faced tricky questions that he normally does not discuss, such as the accusation that he is racist, too soft on Yoder, or misogynist.

What is the significance of the Protestant Reformation for Christian ethical thinking and action? Can core Protestant commitments and claims still provide for compelling and viable accounts of Christian living. This collection of essays by leading international scholars explores the relevance of the Protestant Reformation and its legacy for contemporary Christian ethics.

Harasta and Brock show how lament seems to introduce notes of mistrust into an otherwise confident relationship with faith, God and His will. In prayer all experiences may be brought to God in openness and trust. Yet lament seems to introduce notes of mistrust into a relationship properly characterized by confident faith in God and His will. Sustained attention to lament presents a challenge to theological reflection in reminding it of the acuteness of the experience of suffering and evil. This volume suggests that a robust concept and practice of lament is an appropriate response to questions of evil and suffering in its refusal to close off questions that cannot and should not be closed. Lament takes place in the eye of the storm of theodicy, and when the distinct content of Christian lament is discovered here the question of theodicy is transformed. The first section reflects on the anthropological conditions of lament, describing it as a hermeneutic for negotiating adverse experiences that transcends the simple opposition of innocent suffering and guilt. The second section reflects on why and how lament has faded from modern theological thought that is over reliant on systematic accounts of evil and whose abstractions have drifted free of religious experience. The third section develops an understanding of trust that includes expressions of lament while not sanitizing its rawness. The final section inquires after the distinct Christian profile of lament. Lament, even as an experience of isolation, stands within the believing community and its traditions. Moreover, because Christian lament is based on Christ's passion and resurrection, Christ endorses and shapes the believers' lament as he shapes their praise.

Leading ethicist and pastoral theologian Brian Brock reflects on the challenge of disability, refuting widely held misconceptions and helping readers respond well to the pastoral implications of disability. Brock, the father of a child with special needs, weaves together theological commentary with narrative reflection, offering rich theological wisdom for shepherding people with disabilities. He shows pastors and ministers-in-training that thinking more closely and theologically about disability is a doorway into a more vibrant and welcoming church life for all Christians.

The moral theology of Hans G. Ulrich is presented here in English for the first time. These collected essays represent the culmination of a lifetime of reflection on Christian living from this German theologian in conversation with Luther, Bonhoeffer, and contemporary philosophers and theologians. Ulrich's ethics affirm the lively presence of the living work of God in orienting the daily life of Christians. This presence enables members of the Church to live as creatures trusting in God's promises, bearing witness in political and economic spheres, and trusting in life as a gift in response to bioethical issues. Ulrich's fresh take on living out of the promise of God yields further guidance on issues in international relations, economics, parenting, disability, and more.

This ground-breaking book provides fascinating insights into the fast-emerging body of research that explores the relationship between sport, theology and disability within a social justice framework. In the shadow of two major sport-faith events that fore-fronted the theology of disability sport, the Vatican's international conference-Sport at the Service of Humanity and the Inaugural Global Congress on Sports and Christianity York St John University, UK, at which Dr Brian Brock led a thematic strand on the topic-this book provides a foundation for further research and practice. This text is a timely and important synthesis of ideas that have emerged in two previously distinct areas of research: (i) 'disability sport' and (ii) the 'theology of disability'. Examples of subjects addressed in this text include: elite physical disability sport-Paralympics; intellectual disability sport-Special Olympics; equestrian sport; church, sport and disability, and; theologies of embodiment, competition and mercy. This book, written by leaders in their respective fields, begins a critical conversation on these topics, and many others, for both researchers and practitioners. The chapters originally published in the Journal of Disability and Religion and Quest.

The premise of Fallen Animals is that some how and in some way The Fall of Adam and Eve as related in the Bible has affected all living beings from the largest to the smallest, from the oldest to the youngest, regardless of gender and geography. The movement from the blissful arena of the Garden of Eden to the uncertain reality of exile altered in an overt or nuanced fashion the attitudes, perceptions, and consciousness of animals and humanity alike. Interpretations of these reformulations as well as the original story of the Paradise Garden have been told and retold for millennia in a variety of cultural contexts, languages, societies, and religious environments. Throughout all those retellings, animals have been a constant presence positively and negatively, actively and passively, from the creation of birds, fish, and mammals to the agency of the serpent in the Fall narrative. The serpent in the Garden of Eden is but one example of the ambivalence which has characterized the human-animal relationship over the centuries, both across, and within, cultures, societies and traditions. The book examines the interpretations, functions and interactions of the Fall - physical, moral, artistic and otherwise - as represented through animals, or through human-animal interactions.

In this wide-ranging and engaging collection of interviews, Brian Brock discusses how Christian faith makes a difference for life in the modern world. Beginning with a discussion of teaching Christian ethics in the contemporary academy, Brock takes up environmental questions, political and medical ethics, the modern city and Christian responsibility to it, energy use, the information age, agriculture, political consensus and coercion, and many other issues. The reader is thus offered a broad and incisive discussion of many contemporary topics in a brief, illuminating, but never superfcial manner. The book's unusual conversational style allows strikingly clear, creative, and concrete theological connections to emerge in the spaces between moral questions rarely thought of as linked. As the title suggests, the running theme of the interviews is being bound to Christ and placed into the contemporary world. Brock's theological readings of contemporary cultural trends are vigorous, unapologetic, and insightful, and they offer delightful surprises as well as fertile new ways through the sterile impasses of many issues currently being debated in the public square.This book provides an excellent starting point for those interested in fresh theological insights into contemporary ethical questions and an accessible introduction to Brock's previous works.

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 ground-breaking book provides fascinating insights into the fast-emerging body of research that explores the relationship between sport, theology and disability within a social justice framework. In the shadow of two major sport-faith events that fore-fronted the theology of disability sport, the Vatican's international conference-Sport at the Service of Humanity and the Inaugural Global Congress on Sports and Christianity York St John University, UK, at which Dr Brian Brock led a thematic strand on the topic-this book provides a foundation for further research and practice. This text is a timely and important synthesis of ideas that have emerged in two previously distinct areas of research: (i) 'disability sport' and (ii) the 'theology of disability'. Examples of subjects addressed in this text include: elite physical disability sport-Paralympics; intellectual disability sport-Special Olympics; equestrian sport; church, sport and disability, and; theologies of embodiment, competition and mercy. This book, written by leaders in their respective fields, begins a critical conversation on these topics, and many others, for both researchers and practitioners. The chapters originally published in the Journal of Disability and Religion and Quest.

The moral theology of Hans G. Ulrich is presented here in English for the first time. These collected essays represent the culmination of a lifetime of reflection on Christian living from this German theologian in conversation with Luther, Bonhoeffer, and contemporary philosophers and theologians. Ulrich's ethics affirm the lively presence of the living work of God in orienting the daily life of Christians. This presence enables members of the Church to live as creatures trusting in God's promises, bearing witness in political and economic spheres, and trusting in life as a gift in response to bioethical issues. Ulrich's fresh take on living out of the promise of God yields further guidance on issues in international relations, economics, parenting, disability, and more.

For two millennia Christians have thought about what human impairment is and how faith communities and society should respond to people with perceived impairments. But never has one volume collected the most significant Christian writings on disability. This book fills that gap. Brian Brock and John Swinton's Disability in the Christian Tradition brings together for the first time key writings by thinkers from all periods of Christian history - including Augustine, Aquinas, Julian of Norwich, Luther, Calvin, Hegel, Kierkegaard, Bonhoeffer, Barth, Hauerwas, and more. Fourteen contemporary experts in theology and disability studies guide readers through each era or group of thinkers, offering clear commentary and highlighting important themes.

Harasta and Brock show how lament seems to introduce notes of mistrust into an otherwise confident relationship with faith, God and His will. In prayer all experiences may be brought to God in openness and trust. Yet lament seems to introduce notes of mistrust into a relationship properly characterized by confident faith in God and His will. Sustained attention to lament presents a challenge to theological reflection in reminding it of the acuteness of the experience of suffering and evil. This volume suggests that a robust concept and practice of lament is an appropriate response to questions of evil and suffering in its refusal to close off questions that cannot and should not be closed. Lament takes place in the eye of the storm of theodicy, and when the distinct content of Christian lament is discovered here the question of theodicy is transformed. The first section reflects on the anthropological conditions of lament, describing it as a hermeneutic for negotiating adverse experiences that transcends the simple opposition of innocent suffering and guilt. The second section reflects on why and how lament has faded from modern theological thought that is over reliant on systematic accounts of evil and whose abstractions have drifted free of religious experience. The third section develops an understanding of trust that includes expressions of lament while not sanitizing its rawness. The final section inquires after the distinct Christian profile of lament. Lament, even as an experience of isolation, stands within the believing community and its traditions. Moreover, because Christian lament is based on Christ's passion and resurrection, Christ endorses and shapes the believers' lament as he shapes their praise.

Noting that academic biblical scholars and Christian ethicists have been methodologically estranged for some decades now, Brian Brock seeks to reframe the whole Bible-and-ethics discussion in terms of this question: What role does the Bible play in God's generation of a holy people - and how do we participate in that regeneration? Brock first examines various contemporary accounts of the role of the Bible in Christian ethics: the "hermeneutical solution" of Elisabeth Schussler-Fiorenza, Daniel Patte, and Charles Cosgrove; the "communitarian solution" of Bruce Birch-Larry Rasmussen and Stephen Fowl-L. Gregory Jones; the "biblical ethics solution" of Frank Matera, Richard Hays, and John Howard Yoder; the "biblical theology solution" of Brevard Childs and John Webster; and the "exegetical theology solution" of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. In the second part of his book, Brock undertakes major discussions of Augustine, the "last ancient," and Martin Luther, the "last medieval," immersing us in their work of interpreting Scripture; the path he takes into Scripture through these two saints is the "broad heartland of Christian exegesis," the Psalms. Finally, Brock articulates the processes of renewal in God's people. His close study of a few individual psalms shows how we enter the world of praise in which all human life is comprehended within God's work - and is thus renewed. Throughout most of the Christian exegetical tradition, Brock points out, the Bible has been read as "reiterating the morally stupendous claim" that all reality is created and remade by God's overflowing goodness. He believes that immersion in the exegetical tradition of the Christian faith must be the heart and soul of theology and ethics.

The church welcomes all - or it should. The church has long proven itself a safe refuge despite the sad reality that it can be, and has been, unwelcoming toward those perceived as different. This is especially true of the contemporary church's response to those with disabilities-a response often at surprising variance with its historic practices of care. The church once helped shape western morality to cherish these individuals with love and acceptance. It is thus ironic when today's church neglects this care, or practices care with no awareness of the rich theological history out of which such moral sensibilities originally emerged. In Wondrously Wounded, Brian Brock reclaims the church's historic theology of disability and extends it to demonstrate that people with disabilities, like all created in God's image, are servants of God's redemptive work. Brock divides his volume into five parts. Part one chronicles how early Christianity valued and cared for those with disabilities, putting into practice Jesus' teachings about divine mercy in decidedly countercultural ways. Part two details how a rise in the fear of disability tempted the church away from these merciful practices as well as its confession of the infinite worth of all God has created. Part three traces how the fear of difference continues to negatively shape contemporary practices in today's schools, churches, and politics. Part four lays the foundations of a vision of Christian life that is resistant to this pervasive fear. Finally, Part five shows how the recognition of all people as part of the body of Christ not only demonstrates the love of Christ but displaces the fear of disability in a manner that invites the church beyond even the most ambitious contemporary hopes for full inclusion. Brock interweaves his historical and theological analysis with the narrative of his own disabled son, Adam. These stories vividly bring into view the vulnerability, as well as the power, of the disabled in contemporary society. Ultimately, Brock argues, those with disabilities are conduits of spiritual gifts that the church desperately needs. Wondrously Wounded is an appeal to the church to find itself broken and remade by the presence of Christ on offer in the lives of those society has labeled 'disabled.'

Stanley Hauerwas is arguably the most well-known figure in theological ethics of the last generation. Having published voluminously over the last 30 years, late in his career he has also published two volumes of essays discussing his corpus retrospectively, as well as a widely acclaimed memoir. The sheer volume of his work can be daunting to readers, and it is easy to get the impression that his retrospective volumes are restating positions developed earlier. Brian Brock delves into Hauerwas' formation as a theologian at Yale, his first book, Character and the Christian Life, and examines some of his early, and outspoken, criticisms of the guild of Christian ethics. This chapter is followed by a discussion of his memoir, Hannah's Child, and raises tricky questions about the role of autobiography in Christian ethics, as well as the troubling problem of race in the modern academy. Brock explores Hauerwas' work on disability, his criticisms of the discipline of medical ethics, and the role played by vulnerability in his work. The next chapter examines his views on just war and pacifism, here probing the sensitive issue of the role of gender in his work, and leading into a discussion on the nature of the church's peaceable politics, in which his supposed hyper-ecclesiocentricism is examined. Brock examines the role of virtue in Hauerwas' thought, and teases out why he hates to be called a virtue ethicist. A final chapter asks him to respond to the recently levelled criticism that scripture does no work in his theology, focusing especially on his under-appreciated commentary on the gospel of Matthew. The editor of this volume has managed to maneuver Hauerwas into positions where he has directly faced tricky questions that he normally does not discuss, such as the accusation that he is racist, too soft on Yoder, or misogynist.