Christian Ethics

Western, secularized capitalism appraises the “worth” of a worker through a wage, a numerical value assumed to reflect the value of one’s time (in the case of hourly jobs) or contribution (in the case of salary or commision-based work). Computers and AI models are capable of matching and even exceeding human performance on a variety of tasks such as mathematical computation, handwritten digit recognition, and even complex tasks such as playing the game Go. Furthermore, they can work around the clock (...) with no need for sleep, healthcare, or even a salary. As a result, computers are more “valuable” than humans under capitalism because they are more productive (in terms of quantity and, in many cases, quality of work). Combined with an erosion of the religious idea of explicit human worth or dignity, other humans are seen as mere means to the ends of those powerful enough to exploit them. Any hope of reducing inequality or promoting justice must come from an explicit belief in the “value” of human life independent of his or her ability to produce. (shrink)

v. 2. La moral en el cristianismo antiguo (ss. I-VII) -- Moral y espiritualidad en cristiandad medieval (ss. VIII-XIV) -- v. 4-1. La moral en la Edad Moderna (ss. XV-XVI). Humanismo y reforma -- v. 4-2. La moral en la Edad Moderna (ss. XV-XVI). América: "problema moral" -- v. 5. Del Trento al Vaticano II : 5-1. Crisis de la razón y rigorismo moral en el barroco (s. XVII) -- 5-3, tomos 1-2. Alfonso de Liguori (1696-1787) : el triunfo de (...) benignidad frente al rigorismo --. (shrink)

In the debate about whether death is harmful to the one who dies, both Epicureans and anti-Epicureans assume that death is the end of existence. What happens to the debate if we assume that there is an afterlife? I restrict my attention in this paper to the afterlives offered in the world’s Abrahamic religions. I argue that in these religions, dying falls under the category of transformative experience. I then argue that while adding an afterlife causes some Epicurean arguments fail (...) outright, the fate of others becomes sensitive to the details of how we reckon well-being. Specifically, versions of Deprivationism that take into account time-relative interests may still be vulnerable to Epicurean counterarguments. I also argue that an Abrahamic afterlife allows the Epicurean to solve one of their puzzles about death by giving a novel explanation for why killing can be wrong even though it does not harm the victim. (shrink)

Unrepresented patients cannot make their own medical decisions and do not have any surrogate decision-maker. This patient population is highly vulnerable to being harmed, wronged, ignored, and exploited. But the ethical issues related to their care have gotten little attention from Christian bioethicists, which is problematic in light of Christianity’s concern for the poor, the needy, and the vulnerable. This article claims that Christian bioethicists must address these issues, and that Christian morality demands an approach that is different from the (...) status quo. First, it lays out moral principles pertaining to the care of unrepresented patients, focusing on the special obligation to prioritize and protect the vulnerable. Second, it applies these principles to one major ethical problem—the appropriate decision-maker for unrepresented patients—arguing that Christians should favor institutional committees instead of the conventional practices of courts and clinicians. (shrink)

This study offers a comparative analysis of the symbolism of the soul’s ascent in Gregory of Nyssa’s De vita Moysis and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola’s Oratio. Rather than attempting to establish a linear or exclusive dependence, it focuses on a series of Mosaic themes that articulate a dynamic conception of perfection in both authors. Beginning with Moses as a paradigm of virtuous life, the paper examines the shared anthropology of desire underlying Nyssen’s notion of unending progress and Pico’s sacra ambitio. (...) It then traces the ordered sequence of symbols as it develops in Gregory’s treatise: light and darkness, the mountain of the knowledge of God, Jacob’s ladder, the tabernacle, the eagle, death as consummation, and divine friendship. Through the interplay of these symbols both thinkers configure spiritual growth as an ever-deepening participation in divine unity and truth. Particular attention is given to integration of the classical disciplines of the ancient philosophical curriculum within the Mosaic itinerary, as well as to the conception of truth as gradually apprehensible but ultimately inexhaustible. The paper concludes by pondering the results of the comparative study and reflecting on Pico’s way of assimilating the wide variety of sources in his project of philosophical concord. (shrink)

Review of Rebecca Leong, _Living More Human(e)ly? Towards Better Approaches to Dating and Couple Relationships in Contemporary Anglo-American Contexts_ (Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2025); xxiv + 327 pp.: 9798385201945, $65/£49 (hbk); 9798385201938, $45/£34 (pbk).

This article argues that algorithmically mediated communication environments displace phronesis, or practical wisdom, by making anticipatory, reception-oriented deliberation increasingly normative. The central issue is not merely how agents act within such environments, but whether the conditions for wise deliberation have themselves been structurally transformed. The article names this mode of reasoning pronoia: not ordinary foresight, but a form of deliberation in which anticipated reception becomes constitutive of intelligible action under conditions of quantified visibility. Drawing on Aristotelian and Thomistic accounts of (...) practical judgment alongside media theory and digital theology, the article argues that algorithmic feeds reorganize moral deliberation through ranking, commensuration, and recursive feedback. These mechanisms do not simply influence behavior externally but reshape agency internally by normalizing predictive calibration to visibility conditions. Theologically, the article distinguishes this form of pronoia from divine providence, arguing that algorithmic pronoia contracts deliberation into the management of reception. The result is a deformation of moral formation that weakens habituation and redirects agency toward signal management. The article concludes by identifying liturgical counter-formation and ascetic withdrawal as practices capable of sustaining phronesis under algorithmic conditions. (shrink)

Le persone transgender sono migliaia solo in Italia e chiedono di essere ascoltate e riconosciute dalle comunità cristiane. Eppure, nel nostro Paese, la riflessione teologica è spesso rimasta indietro rispetto alle scienze, e la pastorale – di conseguenza – balbetta. Questo volume, primo nel suo genere in Italia, prova a colmare quel ritardo con un approccio intenzionalmente transdisciplinare. Clinica, sociologia, antropologia culturale, filosofia, teologia morale, teologia biblica e teologia pastorale si interrogano insieme: non per costruire sintesi affrettate, ma per mantenere (...) aperte le domande e lasciarsi provocare da saperi, sensibilità e vissuti plurali. Le tre parti in cui si articola questo libro – scienze, teologie, pastorali – sono precedute da testimonianze di vita e di fede, perché prima delle idee vengono le persone (e le loro esperienze). Non è un trattato ideologico né una raccolta di indicazioni operative. È uno strumento di lavoro, onesto ma anche provvisorio, per le comunità cristiane che vogliono coniugare ascolto autentico e pensiero teologico rigoroso. Perché le transidentità rappresentano una sfida che è urgente accogliere e affrontare. (shrink)

With death bots, AI-enabled digital representations of deceased individuals can be created. While religions have long played a central role in death and mourning practices, this domain is increasingly being taken over by companies and commercial enterprises. In this article, I aim to reintroduce the perspective of religions, specifically that of Christian ethics, into the emerging discourse on death tech. I ask how a Christian ethical perspective might approach death technology, whether such technology is compatible with Christianity, whether it is (...) meaningful, what challenges it presents, and how it can be responsibly shaped. The article introduces three key ethical lenses from the standpoint of Christian ethics: (a) Anthropology and Relationality, (b) Vulnerability and Deception, and (c) Justice: Humans and Earth. Here, in addition to necessary critique, I also explore constructive ways in which technology can be beneficial for religious communities. I conclude with a perspective of hope (Jürgen Moltmann)—a hope grounded in the present. (shrink)

Discover how pressing contemporary moral issues can be approached and discussed in a distinct and coherently theological fashion. This book displays a more direct approach that has the distinct advantage of being approachable, dramatic, and contemporary. Each chapter approaches its subject matter by demonstrating how the sources of Christian moral reasoning-Scripture and church doctrine-can be imaginatively brought to bear on contemporary moral perplexities. This mode of teaching shows in tangible ways how the Christian gospel does in fact reveal our moral (...) world in clear and penetrating ways. (shrink)

A brief discussion of the ethics of immigration and the responsibilities of political and ecclesiastical leadership toward migrants, framed by Catholic Social Teaching.

Many traditions and worldviews have held that patience is a virtue—a habit that is morally praiseworthy. In this essay we orient readers to recent work on what patience is and what patience does. What are the distinctive markers of the disposition of patience? And why have people regarded it as so important to living well? We outline four contemporary views all anchored in historical philosophical traditions and then suggest future directions for work on patience in normative ethics and political philosophy.

Using solidarity as a touchstone, this integrated and cohesive volume illuminates the dynamic voices of a diverse group of contemporary feminist scholars from a wide range of religious traditions to demonstrate the evolution, value, and necessity of feminist contributions to the field of religious ethics.

Cet ouvrage collectif donne des exemples concrets illustrant comment l'université catholique de Lille (UCL), portée depuis 150 ans par le courant du catholicisme social, est une communauté « d'Église en sortie », selon l'expression du pape François.

How do we live responsibly in a world shaped by narrative? When Stories Wound explores the significance of narrative for moral agency and engages the harm that our current polarizations have inflicted and our apathy and indifference towards it. When Stories Wound urges readers to be conscious of the stories we live and to re-imagine what responsibility looks like.

Wesleyan moral theology is often approached teleologically, as a form of either virtue ethics or natural law ethics, and this approach is often motivated by an interpretation of John Wesley’s writings. In this paper, I critically examine this consensus. I argue that Wesley’s writings underdetermine the shape of Wesleyan moral theology because Wesley’s own views are equally consistent with recent developments in the neighborhood of divine command theory. I contend that a crucial case test for Wesleyan moral theology comes in (...) John Wesley’s rejection of supererogation, a rejection which places him at odds with much of the natural law tradition and raises some questions for virtue ethical expositions of his moral theology. I close with the suggestion that perhaps the more important question is not how to interpret John Wesley, but how the contemporary Wesleyan should think about supererogation and what implications this might have for the shape of Wesleyan moral theology. (shrink)

Your News story describes how robots and chatbots are being used to perform religious rituals and support personal devotion. Such use of artificial intelligence (AI) comes with risks, including religious or political manipulation, spiritual abuse and dependence. We propose four red lines — stricter than baseline AI laws and ethical guidelines — that would reduce these risks.

This volume examines the role and relevance of exemplars and the practice of imitation in character development and formation. While the role of exemplars and imitation in spiritual and moral formation has been an integral part of many religious and philosophical traditions, in recent times there has been limited theological and philosophical investigation into it and a dearth of interdisciplinary discussion. The book brings together relevant research and insights from leading experts within philosophy, psychology, and theology, with a slight emphasis (...) on Christian approaches to exemplars and imitation given the reflection on these themes throughout the history of the Christian intellectual and mystical tradition. Many of the contributions display an interdisciplinary approach into these issues; hence, this volume will be of interest to philosophers, psychologists, theologians, and others who work in moral psychology and character development. (shrink)

A lucid introduction to Catholic moral theology with individual chapters exploring such controversial issues as abortion, the death penalty, gender, economics, immigration, and more.

We see children squealing with delight in new-fallen snow. We see shocked survivors of the tsunami hugging broken bodies. We are not at first objective, detached, or neutral. Instantly we are joyful or horrified. A singular force fuels our joy and our horror: agape. Agape is as palpable as gravity. As weight is to gravity, so good is to agape (or, in violation, so evil is to agape). Predominant Western rationalities preclude theorizing of agape. So secular intellectuals, awakened to agape (...) but conceptually hobbled, lament a "crisis of foundations" in ethics and a "legitimization crisis" in political theory. In the light of agape, however, there is no question about any sovereign's basic ethical responsibilities nor about myriad ethical issues (the evils of pedophilia, rape, slavery, racism, exploiting illness for profit). Thus, agape can ground ethics globally. Moreover, insofar as "faithful" signifies not propositional assent but living fidelity to agape, agape can ground interfaith spiritual consensus. Engaging intellectuals from Augustine and Dostoevsky to Emmanuel Levinas and Peter Singer, tackling issues from animal rights and the essence of spirituality to the passion of Torah and interfaith relations, Greenway demonstrates the spiritual fecundity and real-world ethical potentials that flow from philosophical exploration of agape."--Back cover. (shrink)

The author explains in 42 thorough chapters what the Bible says about ethical questions regarding marriage, government, abortion, and dozens of other issues in this highly practical, biblically based volume on Christian ethics.

The collected essays and consensus statements of the second round of the National Evangelical-Catholic Dialogue, and the second book of the series on Evangelicals and Catholics in dialogue. The essays address the Christian ideal of life lived in pursuit of the good that is God, and the witness and imitation of God's action in Christ, as a pathway to fruitful dialogue between Catholics and Evangelicals.

This book addresses what it means to teach and learn ethics. While teaching ethics is universally applauded, how one goes about it is much more difficult and contested than is often recognized. The approach of the work is historical, philosophical, and theological. It begins with the historical transformation in the mid nineteenth century by Henry Sidgwick, who rejected establishing ethics on theology or metaphysics. G. E. Moore, John Rawls, Thomas Hurka, Bart Schultz, and Peter Singer later explicitly developed ethics indebted (...) to Sidgwick. However, G. E. M. Anscombe and Philippa Foot's important interventions in modern moral philosophy opened new possibilities for teaching and learning ethics that bear strong resemblances to pre-Sidgwick moral philosophy. The common thread between them is Thomas Aquinas, who had a different understanding of human action than Sidgwick. For Aquinas, Foot, and Anscombe, ethics does not concern a procedure to guide action to what is right or what ought to be, but exists within a metaphysical and theological realm in which the good is more basic than the right. The good is attractive so desire for it is an essential element of the moral life. (shrink)

In Christian Ethics: A Short Companion, renowned ethicist Gilbert Meilaender makes the case that all Christian ethics are an outworking of this command to love one another.

This book explains how qualitative awareness-content of human moral experience can have intentional features indicating God's reality and goodness. Chapters offer a range of topics such as Moral Rapport and Inspiration from God, Experiencing God without Philosophy, Justifying Divine Ways, Co-Valuing with God, and Persons as Deciders in Dissonance.

This book is a collection of the reports read at the scientific symposium, Eternal Values and the Constantly Changing World, which was held in Tbilisi on February 16-17, 2023. This was an event dedicated to the 45th anniversary of enthronement and the 90th anniversary of the birth of His Holiness and Beatitude Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, Archbishop of Mtskheta-Tbilisi, Metropolitan of Bichvinta and Tskhum-Abkhazeti, Ilia II. Three sections at the symposium were: I. Eternal values and education II. Eternal values and (...) culture II. Eternal values and society Theologians, scientists, and clerics from Austria, Azerbaijan, the USA, Belarus, Germany, Israel, Liechtenstein, Poland, Romania, Greece, and Armenia all took part in the symposium. (shrink)

The Development of Anglican Moral Theology is the successor volume to The Origins of Anglican Moral Theology. It describes how Anglican theologians interacted closely with the moral philosophers of their day while providing a pastoral resource in the fast-changing period between 1680-1950. The book shows how vibrant and intellectually rigorous the tradition was, and includes detailed studies of the sermons of Butler, Wesley and Newman, the writings of William Law and Coleridge, and the later work of Maurice, Gore, Scott Holland, (...) Moberly, William Temple and Kirk. This is the first account of this lively tradition of moral theology. (shrink)

This book explores the connection between God and happiness, with happiness understood as a life of well-being or flourishing that goes well for the one living it. It provides a historical and contemporary survey of philosophical questions, theories, and debates about happiness, and it asks how they should be answered and evaluated from a theistic perspective. The central topics it covers are the nature of happiness (what is it?), the content of happiness (what are the constituents of a happy life?), (...) the structure of happiness (is there a hierarchy of goods?), and the possibility of happiness (can we be happy?). It argues that God's existence has significant, positive, and desirable implications for human happiness. (shrink)

Aristotle's moral and political thought formed the backbone of education in practical philosophy for centuries during the classical and medieval periods. It has often been presumed, however, that with the advent of the Protestant Reformation, this tradition was broken. Countering this widespread view, Manfred Svensson discusses dozens of commentaries on Aristotle's Ethics and Politics that emerged from Protestant universities and academies throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, showing that early modern Protestants never lost their connection to Aristotle. He offers a (...) broad contextualisation of these works and in-depth discussion of their key ethical and political concepts. (shrink)

Christian Ethics Introduced asks why humans count as ends in themselves. The biblical answer was/is that humans have standing--inherent worth--as creatures in the image of God. This traditional answer yielded to seventeenth and eighteenth century enlightenment secularism. To these secularists, human reason promised to be a surer and more peaceable foundation for a just culture than religion. Human rationality--the light of human reason--would enlighten and improve the human condition. Two world wars and more realistic trends in new social sciences created (...) not just awareness of human irrationality but fostered skepticism of sound foundations for morality and justice. It seemed that both traditional religion and enlightened reason fell short of what had been hoped. And the cause of failure may not lie in traditional religion or in human irrationality. Rather, the problem might lie in human conduct. Specifically, it may lie in the human inclination to favor self over others, of the "me" outranking the "we." Christian responses to the human failure to live a moral and just life recognize the persistence of immoral conduct, acknowledge it in regard to oneself, ask for forgiveness, and make amends and peace with God and with those wronged. (shrink)

Essays honoring the work of Catholic ethicist James F. Keenan.

An introduction to Christian ethics that provides a new, constructive framework for Christian moral and political thought. It draws on and integrates classic sources and approaches with contemporary liberationist and critical voices while making the ethical relationship between human and nonhuman life a central concern.

Tijdens zijn bewogen leven schreef Dirck Volckertsz Coornhert (1522-1590) vele teksten en voerde hij talloze gesprekken. Zijn doel: zijn medemensen overtuigen van het belang om niet slaafs achter anderen aan te lopen maar zélf na te denken. Want elk mens heeft voldoende redelijke vermogens om het leven zelfstandig vorm te geven en het goede te doen. De Kruidhofjes bevat twee bundels met dialogen – gesprekken die Coornhert zelf voerde of onderweg heeft gehoord. De dialogen zijn te zien als medicijnen tegen (...) wat Coornhert zag als de ziekte van zijn tijd: onnadenkendheid en religieuze scherpslijperij. Enerzijds probeert Coornhert obstakels voor een goed en gelukkig persoonlijk leven weg te halen. Hier gaat het vooral om het bestrijden van onbegrip en onwetendheid. Anderzijds probeert Coornhert obstakels voor vreedzaam samenleven op te ruimen. Dat is de reden waarom nogal wat dialogen ingaan op religieuze kwesties als kerkbezoek, de mis en kerkelijke ceremonies; onenigheid over deze onderwerpen vormde immers de belangrijkste oorzaak van de heftige onderdrukking, vervolging en oorlog in de zestiende eeuw. Dit verklaart ook de felheid van veel van de dialogen. Discussies over religieuze denkbeelden en gebruiken waren niet zomaar interessant tijdverdrijf voor bij de borrel. Het ging ergens om: om de waarheid, je zielenheil en de inrichting van de maatschappij. In 45 dialogen probeert Coornhert zo zijn medemens te motiveren tot eerlijkheid naar zichzelf en verdraagzaamheid naar de ander. (shrink)

Develops the hermeneutic circle of liberation theology for ethical action.

In this book, David Deane proposes a renewal of Catholic moral theology by deconstructing dominant secular positions and restoring Catholic positions to their theological roots.