How should Christians respond to violence, health care, and creation care issues? What choices face us regarding sexuality and systemic racism? To deepen ability to think ethically, students will examine major approaches to the moral life and decision making that draw upon the resources of Christian faith and theology, especially the role of Scripture, Jesus, and the church in ethics.
Thinking Ethically: Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary
Learning Outcomes:
By the end of the course, students should be able to affirm:
- I have thought critically about what it means to be ethically responsible, especially through a Christian lens.
- I have gained a broader and deeper understanding of the methods and sources of Christian ethics.
- I have applied these ethical concepts to practical situations in order to make more thoughtful and informed judgments.
Required Text(s):
De La Torre, Miguel. Ethics: A Liberative Approach. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2013. ISBN 0800697871.
Driver, Julia. Ethics: The Fundamentals. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2007. ISBN 1405111542.
Wells, Samuel. Christian Ethics: An Introductory Reader. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2010. ISBN 1405168870.
Electronic articles and other digital resources required for the course will be posted online.
Augustine. Confessions. Translated by R.S. Pine-Coffin. New York: Penguin, 1961.
Birch, Charles and John Cobb. The Liberation of Life: From the Cell to the Community. Denton, TX: Environmental Ethics Books, 1990.
Blum, Peter. For a Church to Come: Experiments in Postmodern Theory and Anabaptist Thought. Harrisonburg, VA: Herald Press, 2013.
Elliott, Carl. Better than Well: American Medicine Meets the American Dream. New York: Norton, 2003.
Grotius, Hugo. “Natural Laws and the Laws of War.” In War and Christian Ethics: Classic and Contemporary Readings on the Morality of War. Edited by Arthur Holmes. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2005.
Habermas, Jürgen. Moral Consciousness and Communicative Action. Translated by Christian Lenhardt and Shierry Weber Nicholsen. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1990.
Kahn, Paul. Sacred Violence: Torture, Terror, and Sovereignty. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2008.
Lyotard, Jean-François. The Differend: Phrases in Dispute. Translated by Georges Van Den Abbeele. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1988.
MacIntyre, Alasdair. Whose Justice? Which Rationality? Notre Dame, IN: Notre Dame University Press, 1988.
Niebuhr, H. Richard. “The Grace of Doing Nothing.” Christian Century 49 (23 Mar. 1932): 379.
Niebuhr, Reinhold. “Must We Do Nothing?” Christian Century 49 (30 Mar. 1932): 416-7.
Plato. Dialogues. Translated by Benjamin Jowett. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1951.
Rand, Ayn. The Virtue of Selfishness: A New Concept of Egoism. New York: New American Library, 1964.
Schüssler Fiorenza, Elisabeth. Jesus: Miriam’s Child, Sophia’s Prophet. New York: Continuum, 1995.
Taylor, Mark C. After God. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007.
Winslade, John and Gerald Monk. Narrative Mediation: A New Approach to Conflict Resolution. San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons, 2000.
Winter’s Bone. Directed by Debra Granik. 2010. Los Angeles, CA: Roadside Attractions. DVD.
Yoder, John Howard. The Politics of Jesus, 2nd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1994.
Course Schedule: (subject to change, as needed)
Introduction
Driver, Introduction
De La Torre, Introduction
Biblical Sources for Christian Ethics
Driver, ch. 1-2
Isaiah 25-26, Jeremiah 7-8, Matthew 5-7, Luke 16
Yoder, ch. 1
Schüssler Fiorenza, pp. 109-128
Greek Sources for Christian Ethics
Wells, pp. 52-58 (Plato, Aristotle)
Plato, Crito and Apology
The Early Church and Augustine
Wells, pp. 4-6, 30-36, 42-44, 75-77 (Tertullian, Diognetus, Perpetua, Clement, Yoder, Augustine)
Augustine, Confessions, Book I-II
Thomas Aquinas and Virtue Ethics (watch video)
Driver, ch. 8
Wells, pp. 78-80, 103-104, 163-165 (Aquinas)
MacIntyre, Whose Justice? Which Rationality? ch. 20
Video: Winter’s Bone
Ethical Debates of the Reformation
Focus Issue: Christian relationship to society
Wells, pp. 42-44, 48-51, 81-85, 186-188 (Yoder, Niebuhr, Luther, Simons, Barmen)
Taylor, After God, ch. 2
Deontology and Utilitarianism
Focus Issue: Bioethics
Driver, ch. 3-5
Wells, pp. 68-69, 107-112 (Beauchamp, Kant, Mills)
Elliott, ch. 1
Human Rights and International Law
Focus Issue: State violence and torture
Wells, pp. 125-127 (UN)
Grotius
Kahn, ch. 5 and Conclusion
Discourse and Contract Ethics
Focus Issue: Economic justice and globalization
Driver, ch. 6
Wells, pp. 119-121, 128-130, 209-210 (Leo XIII, Rawls, Smith)
Habermas, TBD
De La Torre, ch. 1, 4
Christian Realism
Focus Issue: Christian participation in war
Wells, pp. 89-91, 200-207 (Niebuhr, Ramsey, Torres, Day)
Richard Niebuhr, “The Grace of Doing Nothing,” and “Must We Do Nothing?”
Blum, ch. 7
Ethical Egoism and Cultural Relativism
Focus Issue: Sexuality
Driver, ch. 10
Wells, pp. 258-267 (Pope, Boswell, Rogers)
Rand, ch. 1
De La Torre, ch. 11
Narrative Ethics
Focus Issue: Conflict resolution and criminal punishment
Wells, pp. 163-165, 189-198 (Hauerwas, O’Donovan, Berrigan, Gorringe)
Winslade and Monk, ch. 1-2
Lyotard, TBD
Liberation Ethics
Focus Issue: Ecology
Driver, ch. 9
Wells, pp. 122-124, 132-134, 315-321 (de las Casas, Gutierrez, Moltmann, McFague)
De La Torre, ch. 5-6, 10
Birch and Cobb, ch. 5