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Showing 1 - 12 of 12 matches in All Departments
The wide range of readings in Working: Its Meaning and Its Limits proposes different ways of thinking about something most of us do every day -- work. As part of the Ethics of Everyday Life series, these readings are an invitation to reflection and conversation. They focus not on rules for the workplace or on dilemmas in business ethics but on one of the most fundamental aspects of human existence in every time and place. Gilbert C. Meilaender presents varied readings that explore many of the ways in which human beings have thought about the place of work in life -- its meanings, its limits, and its relation to other obligations, to the life cycle, to play, and to rest. The readings in this volume range in time from the world of ancient Israel and the classical world of Greece and Rome to contemporary American society. They range in complexity from "The Little Red Hen" to philosophers such as Charles Taylor and Alasdair MacIntyre, and in genre from poetry by Kipling and George Herbert to essays by Dorothy Sayers and Roger Angell; from novels by Tolstoy and Twain to treatises by Marx, Aristotle, and Karl Barth -- all placed in the context of an extended discussion of the meaning of work in human life by Meilaender's introduction. Working: Its Meaning and Its Limits enables any reader interested in understanding the moral and spiritual significance of work in our lives to enter into a conversation not only about what we do but who we are.
In the face of rapid advances in medical research and treatment, bioethics has become a serious social concern. Originally published in 1996 and later chosen by "World magazine as one of the top 100 books of the twentieth century, Gilbert Meilaender's "Bioethics covers a wide range of pressing bioethical issues and offers discerning guidance on how Christians ought to think about them. In admirably clear language Meilaender discusses abortion,
assisted reproduction, genetic advance and prenatal screening, care
for the dying and euthanasia, human experimentation, and more. This
new edition of his "Bioethics features updated information
throughout, a fuller discussion of human embryos -- including stem
cell research -- and a thorough rewrite of the chapter on organ
donation. Praise for the first edition "The Christian who simply wants to get a reliable handle on
[bioethics] will find nothing better than this splendid little
book." "Concise and definite, this primer does its duty well." "A clarion call for a more circumspect examination of current
medical procedures." "An edifying, informative, and most welcome challenge to the
superficial secularism that holds salvation to be scientific rather
than divine." "Sets out in clear, accessible, and often eloquent language the
core issues of bioethics from a Christian viewpoint." "This pithy little book offers a vision and wisdom rarely found
in volumes many times its size."
The wide range of readings in Working: Its Meaning and Its Limits proposes different ways of thinking about something most of us do every day -- work. As part of the Ethics of Everyday Life series, these readings are an invitation to reflection and conversation. They focus not on rules for the workplace or on dilemmas in business ethics but on one of the most fundamental aspects of human existence in every time and place. Gilbert C. Meilaender presents varied readings that explore many of the ways in which human beings have thought about the place of work in life -- its meanings, its limits, and its relation to other obligations, to the life cycle, to play, and to rest. The readings in this volume range in time from the world of ancient Israel and the classical world of Greece and Rome to contemporary American society. They range in complexity from "The Little Red Hen" to philosophers such as Charles Taylor and Alasdair MacIntyre, and in genre from poetry by Kipling and George Herbert to essays by Dorothy Sayers and Roger Angell; from novels by Tolstoy and Twain to treatises by Marx, Aristotle, and Karl Barth -- all placed in the context of an extended discussion of the meaning of work in human life by Meilaender's introduction. Working: Its Meaning and Its Limits enables any reader interested in understanding the moral and spiritual significance of work in our lives to enter into a conversation not only about what we do but who we are.
Gilbert Meilaender here offers reflections on the moral life from within the life of faith. Drawing on such diverse sources as E.B. White, Alasdair MacIntyre, Augustine and Felix Salten, the author of "Bambi", Meilaender focuses on the particular shape of the Christian life as it pertains to the commitments of believers and to the way in which those commitments form moral vision. Beginning with Christianity as a particular way of life, Meilaender suggests that Christians should not try to develop an autonomous ethic; neither, however, need they deny the common ground that exists with those who stand in other traditions. He then discusses human nature as creaturely, sinful and justified - using these categories to think about such topics as the relation of humans to their environment, the meaning of personhood, the meaning of original sin, and the relation of indicative and imperative in the Christian life. Meilaender argues that a particular kind of moral theory, one that is non-consequentialist, is appropriate for those working within the Christian tradition. In a chapter on the relation of Church and society he argues for the necessity of the Church's works of both mercy and witness. In a chapter on mortality Meilaender considers the sense in which - for Christians - death is both natural and unnatural, and he explores some of the implications for both public policy and personal life of such a view. Finally, Meilaender uses the story told by St. Augustine in his "Confessions" reading it - over against Rousseau's "Confessions" - as a narrative embodiment of the Christian ethic.
Many students of philosophical and theological ethics have recently experienced a renewed interest in what may be called an ethic of virtue. Such an ethic focuses less on the concept of duty—or doing—and more on being. Central to an ethic of virtue is a division of moral life that emphasizes character and character development or moral education. The Theory and Practice of Virtue presents a series of connected essays—drawing on the thoughts of such diverse figures as Josef Pieper, Plato Lawrence Kohlberg, and Martin Luther—which explore theories of virtue and the practical task of being virtuous. Meilaender follows his consideration of the conceptual difficulties of moral education with a discussion of the practical problems and dangers of attempting to teach virtue, and more generally, of the problems of observing an ethic which emphasizes virtue within a theology that emphasizes grace. Chapters devoted to particular virtues and vices—the vice of curiosity and the virtue of gratitude—explicitly illustrate the book's central thematic concerns.
Working from within the contours of Christian faith, this book examines the relation between two ways of forming families-through nature (by procreation) and through history (by adoption). Christians honor the biological tie between parents and children, for it is the work of God in creation. Yet Christians cannot forget that it is adoption, and not simply natural descent, that is at the center of the New Testament's depiction of God's grace. Gilbert Meilaender takes up a range of issues raised by the practice of adoption, always seeking to do justice to both nature and history in the formation of families, while keeping at the center of our vision the truth that it is not by nature but by grace that we can become adopted children of the one whom Jesus called his Father. Meilaender begins with reflection on the puzzling relation of nature and history in forming families and proceeds to unpack the meaning of huiothesia, the word used in the New Testament to name the grace by which a follower of Jesus becomes an adopted child of God. That perspective is applied to a range of questions that regularly arise in Christian theological discussions of adoption: Is adoption only for the infertile? Should single persons adopt? Is it wise for adoption to take place across racial or national boundaries? Special attention is paid to the relation between adoption and new reproductive technologies and to what is called "embryo adoption." Interspersed between the chapters are letters written by the author to his own son by adoption. But if the argument of the book is taken seriously, these letters are written not to one who falls within a special category of "adopted son or daughter," but to one who is, simply and entirely, a son or daughter.
Certain relationships are of profound importance for the moral life. Gilbert C. Meilaender explores some of the tensions which Christian experience discovers in one such relationship, the bond of friendship. These tensions help to explain why friendship was a more important topic in the life and thought of the classical civilizations of Greece and Rome than it has unusually been within Christendom. The bond of friendship (philia) involves special preference; Christian love (agape) is thought to be like the love of the heavenly Father who makes his sun rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the just and the unjust. Philia requires that love be returned; agape is to be shown even the enemy, who does not love in return. Friendships sometimes fade away; Christians are enjoined to be faithful in love. These tensions have permeated our lives and helped to shape our world. We think politics a more important sphere than the private friendship bond. We seek fulfillment in and identify ourselves with our vocations - by which we now mean, work for pay - not our friendships. And in a world where politics and vocation are all-important, lasting friendships become more difficult to sustain. Friendship examines the tension between philia and agape and probes its significance for Christian thought and experience.
In this book noted theologian and ethicist Gilbert C. Meilaender examines how the field of bioethics has developed over the last quarter century and reconsiders some of its central concepts and arguments. Because the literature of bioethics has become increasingly less influenced by religious and theological concerns over the past three decades, it is Meilaender's specific aim to uncover and recapture the importance of theological reflection for current debates in bioethics. Meilaender suggests that the development of bioethics as a discipline in its own right has not been entirely benign. He argues that an increasing focus on public policy has obscured the importance of background beliefs about human nature and destiny, and that without drawing attention to those beliefs one cannot fully see what is at stake in many bioethical debates. Rather than seeking a minimalist consensus, Meilaender explores ethical problems surrounding the end and beginning of life in order to uncover the "soul"-that is, some of the deeper issues within bioethics that need our attention. Abortion, the issue that so often lurks just beneath the surface of bioethical argument, is discussed in the final chapter. Throughout the book Meilaender emphasizes the "soul" of all these issues -questions about who we are and what we may become, and suggests that recapturing that soul will lead us to a new appreciation of the living body as the locus of personal presence. Ethicists, theologians, and bioethicists will appreciate Body, Soul, and Bioethics for redirecting bioethical discussion away from its current focus on public policy back toward questions of metaphysical and religious significance.
In Faith and Faithfulness Gilbert C. Meilaender suggests that Christians should not try to develop an autonomous ethic; neither, however, need they deny the common ground that exists with those who stand in other traditions. He then discusses human nature as creaturely, sinful, and justified--using these categories to think about such topics as the relation of humans to their environment, the meaning of personhood, and the meaning of original sin.
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