Christian Ethics

CHRISTIAN ETHICS

ES 501-000

Professor M. Christian Green

Candler School of Theology

Fall 2008

Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:30—10:50 AM

CST, Room 322

COURSE DESCRIPTION AND OBJECTIVES

 This course is both an introduction to the nature, foundations, and history of Christian Ethics, from antiquity to the present.  It is also an opportunity to consider the continuing relevance and development of Christian ethics, and particularly the role of the Church, in responding to some of the most compelling issues of our time.  The course thus covers the philosophical and theological principles of Christian ethics and the application of these principles to an array of concerns related to social, political, and economic justice. Key objectives of the course include both giving students a basic introduction to Christian ethics in preparation for further academic work and equipping those with vocations in ministry and related fields with the ethical tools for responsible social action and social transformation.

SCHEDULE OF CLASSES AND READINGS

Week 1—INTRODUCTION AND ANTECEDENTS

September 2—Christian Ethics: The Tools and the Trade

Primary Readings (for after class consumption):

  • Glenn Tinder, “Can We Be Good Without God?”
  • James M. Gustafson, “Theocentric Ethics: Is it Ethics in the Traditional Sense?” ch. 2 in Ethics from a Theocentric Perspective, vol. 1, pp. 86-113.
  • HAUERWAS, “A Story-Formed Community,” ch. 1 in COC, pp. 9-35.
  • Stanley Hauerwas, “The Task of Christian Ethics,” ch. 4 in The Peaceable Kingdom, pp. 50-64.
  • Jean Bethke Elshtain, “Christian Contrarian,” Time Magazine (2001) (article relating to TIME’s selection of Hauerwas as America’s Best Theologian in 2001).

September 4—Greco-Roman Antecedents

Primary Readings:

  • Plato, Euthyphro (“optional” reading)
  • Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics (“essential” reading)

○ Book II (Virtue), ch 6.

○ Book V (Justice), ch. 1, 3-7, 10.

○ Book VIII (Friendship), esp. chs. 1-8.

Optional Background Reading:

  • WOGAMON, “Philosophical Legacies,”ch. 2 in CEHI, pp. 16-20.
  • LOVIN, “Choices” and “Virtues” chs. 1 and 4 in CEEG, pp. 9-20.
  • HAUERWAS, “The Virtues in Our Communities: Human Nature as History” and “Character, Narrative, and Growth in the Christian Life,” chs. 6 and 7 in COC, pp. 111-52.
  • Jean Porter, “Virtue Ethics,” ch. 7 in GILL, CCCE, pp. 96-111.

Week 2—BIBLICAL ETHICS

September 9—Law, Justice, and the Prophets in the Hebrew Bible

Primary Readings:

  • Genesis 1-3 (creation, fall, gender, stewardship, covenant)
  • Exodus 19-23 (Ten Commandments, penal/social/ceremonial law)
  • Leviticus 19 (ritual and moral holiness)
  • Deuteronomy 21-24 (various laws)
  • Amos (entire)

Optional Background Readings:

  • WOGAMAN, “The Biblical Legacy of Christian Ethics,” ch. 1 in CEHI, pp. 2-15.
  • LOVIN, “Rules,” ch. 3 in CEEG, pp. 41-60.
  • Wayne Meeks, “Morals and Community,” ch. 1 in The Origins of Christian Morality, pp.1-17.
  • Gareth Jones, “The Authority of Scripture and Christian Ethics,” ch. 2 in GILL, CCCE, pp. 16-28.
  • Bruce C. Birch and Larry L. Rasmussen, “The Uses of the Bible in Christian Ethics,” Bible and Ethics in Christian Life, pp. 104-23.
  • Thomas Ogletree, “The Interpretive Task,” in The Use of the Bible in Christian Ethics, Ch. 1., pp. 1-14.
  • John Rogerson, “The Old Testament and Christian Ethics,” ch. 3 in GILL, CCCE, pp. 29-41.

September 11–“What Would Jesus Do?”: Ethics in the New Testament

Primary Readings:

  • Matthew 5-7 (sermon on the mount, beatitudes, moral teachings, golden rule) 19 (divorce, rich man), 25: 34-40 (charity, hospitality)
  • Luke 6:20-49 (sermon on the plain, beatitudes, moral teachings)
  • Romans 7:7-25 (law and sin, inner conflict), 12-15:13 (Christian life)
  • Corinthians 5-7 (sexual morality), 13 (love)
  • Galatians 3 (law, equality)
  • Ephesians 5 (gender, headship, Christian household)
  • I John (children of light, God is love)
  • HAUERWAS, “Jesus: the Story of the Kingdom” and “The Moral Authority of Scripture: The Politics and Ethics of Remembering,” chs. 2-3 in COC, pp. 36-71.

Optional Background Readings:

  • Lisa Sowle Cahill, “The Bible and Christian Moral Practices,” in Lisa Sowle Cahill and James F. Childress, eds., Christian Ethics: Problems and Prospects, pp. 3-17.
  • Allen Verhey, “Scripture and Ethics: Practices, Performances, and Prescriptions,” in Lisa Sowle Cahill and James F. Childress, eds., Christian Ethics: Problems and Prospects, pp. 18-44.
  • Jeffrey S. Siker, “Appealing to Scripture in Moral Debate: Five Hermeneutical Rules,” Princeton Theological Seminary Bulletin, 24:3(2003): 364-66
  • Jeffrey S. Siker, Scripture and Ethics: Twentieth-Century Portraits (contains chapters on the Niebuhrs, Ramsey, Gutierrez, Hauerwas, and Cone, among others)

Week 3—THE ROMAN CATHOLIC TRADITION

September 16—Augustine and Aquinas

Primary Readings:

  • Augustine 
    • Confessions, Bk. II
    • “On the Good of Marriage.”
    • City of God

○ Book XIV (original sin)

○ Book XIX (earthly and heavenly goods), chs. 1-7, 12, 15-17, 19-20, 24-25.

  • Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica
    • I-II, 6, 8, 12-13 (human acts)
    • I-II, 26 (love)
    • I-II, 55-56, 61-62 (virtues, cardinal and theological virtues)
    • I-II, 90-95, 100, 106-108 (law)
    • II-II, 25-26 (charity), 40 (war), 57 (right), 58 (justice) 64 (murder), 66: 1-2. (property) 120 (epikeia/equity), 153-54 (sex) 

Optional Background Readings:

  • WOGAMAN, “The Moral Vision of Saint Augustine” and “The Thomistic Synthesis,” chs. 5 and 8 in CEHI, pp. 51-60.
  • LOVIN, “Goals,” ch.2, in CEEG, pp. 21-40.
  • Stephen J. Pope, “Natural Law and Christian Ethics,” ch. 6 in GILL, CCCE, pp. 77-95.
  • Aquinas, Summa Theologica, II-II, articles on fear (19, 125), envy (36), commutative and distributive justice (61), usury (78) for their relevance to current events and scandals.

September 18—The Papal Social Encyclicals

Primary Readings:

  • Pope Leo XIII, Rerum Novarum (1891)
  • Pope John XXIII/Pope Paul VI, Gaudium et Spes  (1965) 
  • Pope John Paul II, Centessimus Annus (1991)

Optional Background Readings:

  • WOGAMAN, “The Social Encyclicals,” in CEHI, pp. 209-16.

Week 4—PROTESTANT TRADITIONS

September 23—Luther and Calvin: Reformation Protestant Traditions

Primary Readings:

  • Martin Luther, sermon selections from Luther’s Works
    • “The Estate of Marriage,” Works, 45:17-49
    • “The Freedom of a Christian,” Works, 31:337-77
    • “On Temporal Authority,” Works, 45:81-129
  • John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion
    • Bk. I, ch. 2 (knowledge of God)
    • Bk. II, chs. 7-9 (laws)
    • Bk. III, chs. 6-8, 19 (Christian life)
    • Bk. IV, 20 (civil government)

Optional Background Readings:

  • WOGAMAN, “The Reformers: Luther and Calvin,” ch. 10, in CEHI, pp.109-25.

September 25—Anabaptists, Anglicans, and Wesley: The Other Protestant Traditions

Primary Readings:

  • Menno Simons, “A Clear Account of Excommunication”
  • Schleitheim Confession of Faith
  • Thomas Müntzer, “Sermon Before the Princes”
  • John Milton, The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce, Bk. I, ch. 6-14.
  • Joseph Butler, “Sermons XI and XII Upon the Love of Our Neighbor”
  • John Wesley, A Plain Account of Christian Perfection, Sec. 26-28.

Optional Background Readings:

  • WOGAMAN, “The Radical Reformation,” ch. 12 in CEHI, pp. 138-45.
  • Manfred Marquardt, John Wesley’s Social Ethics: Praxis and Principles, chs. 7-9 (“Presuppositions of Wesley’s Social Ethics,” “Standards for Social Ethics,” “Aims of Wesley’s Social Ethics”)

Week 5—THE TWENTIETH CENTURY:  CULTURE, CRISIS, CRITICS

September 30—Barth, Bonhoeffer, and the Barmen Declaration

Primary Readings:

  • Karl Barth 

○ “Ethics as a Task of the Doctrine of God” in Church Dogmatics, II/2, Sec. 36.

○ “The Christian Community and the Civil Community,” in Community, State, and Church, pp. 149-89.

  • Dietrich Bonhoeffer

○ “Grace and Discipleship,” Sec. I in The Cost of Discipleship, pp. 11-30.

○ Clips from “Bonhoeffer,” dir. Martin Doblmeier, 2003 to be shown in class.

  • Barmen Declaration

Optional Background Readings:

  • WOGAMAN, CEHI, pp. 221-28.
  • LOVIN, “Church,” ch. 5 in CEEG, pp. 11-99.

October 2—Tillich, the Niebuhrs, King

Primary Readings:

  • Paul Tillich, “Problems, Confusions, Method” and “The Unity of Justice, Love, and Power in Group Relations,” chs. 1 and 6 in Love and Justice, pp. 1-17 and 91-106.
  • H. Richard Niebuhr,  “The Meaning of Responsibility,” ch. 1 in The Responsible Self, pp. 47-68.
  • Reinhold Niebuhr

○ “The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness,” in Children of Light, Children of Darkness, ch. 1.

○  “The Preservation of Moral Values in Politics” and ‘The Conflict Between Individual and Social Morality,” Moral Man, Immoral Society, chs. 9-10.

  • King, “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”

Optional Background Readings:

  • WOGAMAN, CEHI, pp. 225-29, 217-20.
  • LOVIN, “Society,” ch. 6 in CEEG, pp. 101-20.
  • Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. “Forgetting Reinhold Niebuhr,” The New York Times Magazine, September 18, 2005.

Week 6—BLACK THEOLOGY AND LIBERATION THEOLOGIES

October 7—Black Theology: Race and the Church

Primary Readings:

  • W.E.B. DuBois, “Of Spiritual Strivings” ch. 1 in The Souls of Black Folk, pp. 1-9.
  • James Cone, A Black Theology of Liberation, chs. 1, 2, 5 (“The Content of Theology,” “The Sources and Norms of Black Theology,” and “The Human Being in Black Theology”), pp. 1-39 and 83-109.
  • Malcolm X, “The Bullet or the Ballot”
  • Cornel West
    • Prophesy Deliverance, Introduction (“The Sources and Tasks of Afro-American Critical Thought”) and Ch.3 (“The Four Traditions of Response”), pp. 15-24 and 69-91 
    • “Nihilism in Black America,” in Race Matters, pp. 15-32
    • “Black Strivings in a Twilight Civilization,” in The Cornel West Reader, pp. 87-118

Optional Background Readings:

  • WOGAMAN, “Black Theology of Liberation,” in CEHI, pp. 251-54
  • Robert M. Franklin, Liberating Visions, Chs.1-2

October 9—Liberation Theologies/Queer Theologies: Quests for Justice and Recognition

Primary Readings:

Liberation Theology

  • Gustavo Gutierrez, A Theology of Liberation: History, Politics, and Salvation, Chs. 1, 6, and 13 (“Theology: A Critical Reflection,” “The Process of Liberation in Latin America,” and “Poverty: Solidarity and Protest”), pp. 3-12, 49-57, 162-73.
  • Flora Keshgegian, “‘I Remember, It Happened’: Retrieving Voices and Reconstructing Histories” and “The Call to Remembrance and Witness in Contemporary Theology,” chs. 3 and 4 in Redeeming Memories:  A Theology of Healing and Transformation, pp. 89-113 and 133-62

Queer Theology

  • Carter Heyward, “Heterosexist Theology: Being Above It All,” in DALY, Feminist Theological Ethics, ch. 12, pp. 172-82.
  • Mark Jordan, The Ethics of Sex, chs. 1 and 7 (“The Vices of Christian Ethics” and “Redeeming Pleasures”)
  • Marcella Althaus-Reid

○ “On Queer Theology and Liberation Theology: The Irruption of the Sexual Subject in Theology,” in Homosexualities (2008)

○ “From Liberation Theology to Indecent Theology: The Trouble with Normality in Theology, in Latin American Liberation Theology: The Next Generation (2005)

Background Readings:

  • Johan-Baptist Metz, “The Dangerous Memory of Jesus Christ: On the Church’s Presence in Society” and “The Future Seen from the Memory of Suffering: On the Dialectic of Progress,” chs. 5 and 6, in Faith in History and Society: A Fundamental Practical Theology

Week 7—FEMINIST THEOLOGICAL ETHICS

October 14—Justice, Care, Sin, and Grace: Issues in Feminist Theological Ethics

Primary Readings:

  • Valerie Saiving, “The Human Situation: A Feminine View,” in Womanspirit Rising, pp. 25-42.
  • Judith Plaskow, Sex, Sin, and Grace, chs. 1 A-B, 2 B-C [pp. 9-48, 54-73]
  • Barbara Hilkert Andolsen, “Agape in Feminist Ethics,” ch. 10 in DALY, Feminist Theological Ethics, pp. 69-81.
  • Christine Gudorf, “Parenting, Mutual Love, and Sacrifice,” in Women’s Consciousness, Women’s Conscience, pp. 175-192.
  • Lisa Sowle Cahill, “Gender and Christian Ethics,” ch. 8 in GILL, CCCE, pp. 112-24.

October 16—Difference, Appropriation, and Welcome: Womanist, Mujerista, &Asian Feminists

Readings:

  • Katie G. Cannon, “Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick: The Womanist Dilemma in the Development of a Black Liberation Ethic,” ch. 3 in DALY, Feminist Theological Ethics, pp. 33-41.
  • Delores S. Williams, “The Color of Feminism: Or Speaking the Black Woman’s Tongue,” ch. 3 in DALY, Feminist Theological Ethics, pp. 42-58.
  • Katie G. Cannon and Carter Heyward, “Can We Be Different But Not Alienated? An Exchange of Letters,” ch. 5 in DALY, Feminist Theological Ethics,pp. 59-76.
  • Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz, “Solidarity: Love of Neighbor in the 1980’s,” ch. 6 in DALY, Feminist Theological Ethics, pp. 77-87.
  • Chung Hyun-Kyung, “Welcome the Spirit: Hear Her Cries,” (1991 Address to the World Council of Churches) 
  • Toinette Eugene, et al., “Appropriation and Reciprocity in Womanist/Mujerista/Feminist Work,” ch. 7 in DALY, Feminist Theological Ethics, pp. 88-120.

Optional Additional Viewing:

  • Karen Baker-Fletcher, “Dancing with God in a Time of Crucifixion,” William James Lecture on Religious Experience, Harvard Divinity School, April 2006.

Week 8— CHURCH AND STATE, RELIGION AND POLITICS

October 21—Render Unto Caesar: Does Church/State Separation Require Religion/Politics Separation?

Readings:

  • H. Richard Niebuhr, “The Enduring Problem,” in Christ and Culture, ch. 1, pp. 1-34.
  • Joseph L. Allen, “Recent Theological Discussions of Democracy,” in Lisa Sowle Cahill and James F. Childress, eds., Christian Ethics: Problems and Prospects, pp. 299-314.
  • HAUERWAS, “The Church and Liberal Democracy: The Moral Limits of a Secular Polity,” in COC, pp. 72-86.

October 23—Witnesses and Prophets: Contemporary Christians in the Political Realm

Readings:

  • Jim Wallis
    • God’s Politics, Intro and ch. 13 (“Introduction: Why Can’t We Talk About Religion and Politics” and “The Poor You Will Always Have With You: What Does the Bible Say About Poverty”), pp. xiii-xxiv, 209-20.
    • The Great Awakening, ch. 3 (“How to Change the World and Why: Rules of Engagement”), pp. 53-78.
  • Tony Campolo, Red Letter Christians: A Citizen’s Guide to Faith and Politics, chs. 1-2 (“Who Are Red Letter Christians?” and “A Biblical Approach to Politics”),  pp. 21-46
  • Jeremiah Wright
    • “The Audacity of Hope,” sermon preached 1990
    • “The Day of Jerusalem’s Fall,” sermon preached September 16, 2001
  • Dorothy Day (clips from “Dorothy Day: Don’t Call Me a Saint,” dir. Claudia Larson, 2006, to be shown in class)

Week 9— WAR AND PEACE

October 28—Just War and Pacifism

Readings:       

  • John Elford, “Christianity and War,” ch. 12 in GILL, CCCE, pp. 171-82
  • Richard D. Miller, “Just War Criteria and Theological Ethics,” in Lisa Sowle Cahill and James F. Childress, eds., Christian Ethics: Problems and Prospects, pp. 334-56.
  • Stanley Hauerwas and Paul Griffiths, “War, Peace, and Jean Bethke Elshtain,” (including Jean Bethke Elshtain’s response) 136 First Things (October 2003): 41-47. 
  • Jim Wallis, God’s Politics, ch. 7 (“Be Not Afraid: A Moral Response to Terrorism”), pp.  87-107.
  • Duane Friesen, John Langan, S.J., and Glen Stassen, “Introduction: Just Peacemaking as a New Ethic,” in Just Peacemaking: Ten Practice for Abolishing War, pp.  1-31. (NOTE:  Reading possibly to be superseded by a selection from Stassen’s Just Peacemaking: The New Paradigm for the Ethic of Peace and War, after it is published August 30, 2008)

Optional Background Readings:

  • Paul Ramsey, selected pages from “The Uses of Power,” “The Ethics of Intervention,” and “Counting the Costs,” in The Just War, pp. 5-13, 19-38, 523-26

October 30—The Age of Apology: Punishment, Forgiveness, Reconciliation, & Restorative Justice

Readings:

  • Martha Minow, Between Vengeance and Forgiveness, Introduction and ch. 2 (“Vengeance and Forgiveness”), pp. 1-24.
  • Daniel Philpott, “Beyond Politics as Usual: Is Reconciliation Compatible with Liberalism?,” in The Politics of Past Evil: Religion, Reconciliation, and the Dilemmas of Transitional Justice, pp. 11-44.
  • Christopher Marshall, Beyond Retribution: A New Testament Vision for Justice, Crime, and Punishment, ch. 3 (“Punishment that Fits: The Purpose and Ethics of Punishment”), pp. 97-143.

Week 10— SEX, MARRIAGE, AND FAMILY

November 4— Marriage, Family, and Divorce 

Readings:

  • WINNER, Real Sex (begin reading entire)
  • John Witte, From Sacrament to Contract: Marriage, Religion , and Law in the Western Tradition, Introduction, pp. 1-15
  • Milton C. Regan, “The Modern Construction of Intimacy,” ch. 2, in Family Law and the Pursuit of Intimacy, pp. 34-67.
  • Linda J. Waite and Maggie Gallagher, “The Marriage Bargain” and “The Cohabitation Deal,” chs. 2-3, in The Case for Marriage, pp. 13-46.
  • Elizabeth Marquardt, Between Two Worlds: The Inner Lives of Children of Divorce, Ch. 7
  • Orlando Patterson, “Gender Attitudes, Ideologies and Perceptions” and “The Isolation of the African Americans,” in Rituals of Blood: Consequences of Slavery in Two American Centuries, pp. 93-116 and 150-67.
  • Jonathan Rauch, “The Marrying Kind,” The Atlantic Monthly, May 2002
  • Transforming Families, Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy, General Assembly Council, Presbyterian Church, U.S.A., 2004.

Optional Additional Readings:

  • John Witte, “The Goods and Goals of Marriage: The Health Paradigm in Historical Perspective,” ch. 3 in Marriage, Health, and the Professions, John Wall and Don S. Browning, eds., pp. 49-89.
  • Joe Allen, “Marriage,” ch. 8 in Love & Conflict, pp. 221-53.
  • HAUERWAS, “The Moral Value of the Family” and “The Family: Theological and Ethical Reflections,” chs. 8-9 in COC, pp. 155-74.

November 6— Is All Ethics Sexual Ethics?:  Covenant, Commitment, and Community as Relational Frameworks

Readings:

  • Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, “The Changing Pathway to Marriage: Trends in Dating, First Unions, and Marriage Among Young Adults,” in Family Transformed, Steven M. Tipton and John Witte, Jr., eds., pp. 168-84.
  • Donna Freitas, “Seeking a Sexy Spirituality on Campus,” in Sex and the Soul, ch. 10
  • James B. Nelson, “Love, Power, and Justice in Sexual Ethics,” in Lisa Sowle Cahill and James F. Childress, eds., Christian Ethics: Problems and Prospects, pp. 284-98
  • Margaret Farley, Personal Commitments, Chs. 1-3
  • WINNER, Real Sex (read to conclusion)

Optional Additional Readings:

  • Norval Glenn and Elizabeth Marquardt, “Hooking Up, Hanging Out, and Hoping for Mr. Right:  College Women on Dating and Mating Today”
  • HAUERWAS, “Sex in Public: Toward a Christian Ethics of Sex,” ch. 10, in COC, 175-95.

 Week 11—ABORTION AND EUTHANASIA: WHAT’S NEW BEHIND THE RHETORIC?

November 11— Abortion, Contraception, and other Beginning-of-Life Issues

Readings:

  • HAUERWAS, “Why Abortion Is a Religious Issue?,” and “Abortion: Why the Arguments Fail,” chs. 10-11, in COC, pp. 196-229.
  • Beverly Wildung Harrison and Shirley Cloyes, “Theology and Morality of Procreative Choice,” ch. 20 in DALY, Feminist Theological Ethics, pp. 213-32.
  • Mary Eberstadt, “The Vindication of Humanae Vitae,” First Things, August, September 2008)
  • Amy Laura Hall, “Introduction,” in Conceiving Parenthood: American Protestantism and the Spirit of Reproduction, pp. 1-20.

Background Readings:

Pope Paul VI, Humanae Vitae. 

November 13—Euthanasia, Assisted Suicide, and other End-of-Life Issues

Readings:

  • Pope John Paul II, Address of John Paul II to the Participants in the International Congress on “Life-Sustaining Treatments and Vegetative State: Scientific Advances and Ethical Dilemmas,” March 20, 2004.
  • Daniel Sulmasy, “Are Feeding Tubes Morally Obligatory?” Accessible at:

      http://www.americancatholic.org/Messenger/Jan2006/Feature1.asp#F5

  • John Hardwig, “Is There a Duty to Die?” 27:2, Hastings Center Report (March/April 1997):  34-42.
  • Gilbert Meilaender, “I Want to Burden My Loved Ones,” First Things (October 1991): 12-14. 
  • Susan M. Wolf, “Gender, Feminism and Death: Physician Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia,” ch. 10 in Feminism & Bioethics, pp. 282-317.
  • “A Gift of Treatment,” The Register-Guard (Eugene, Oregon) June 3, 2008. 
  • Pam Belluck, “As Life Ebbs, the Ultimate Family Quarrel,” New York Times, September 27, 2004.

Optional Background Readings:

  • Other recent Catholic statements on beginning and end of life issues.

 Week 12— WORK, CONSUMPTION, GLOBALIZATION, IMMIGRATION

November 18— Not by Bread Alone: Working to Live and Living to Work

Readings:

  • John Wesley, “Sermon on the Use of Money”
  • Pope John Paul II, Laborem Exercens (On Human Work) (1981)
  • Jon P. Gunneman, “Thinking Theologically about the Economic,” in Lisa Sowle Cahill and James F. Childress, eds., Christian Ethics: Problems and Prospects, pp. 299-314.
  • Max L. Stackhouse, “Business, Economics, and Christian Ethics,” ch.16 in GILL, CCCE, pp. 228-42.
  •  Institute for American Values, “For a New Thrift: Confronting the Debt Culture”
  • United Methodist Church, “Economic Justice for a New Millennium” (2000)

Optional Background and Additional Readings:

  • Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, chs. 4 and last three pages of 5 (“The Religious Foundations of Worldly Asceticism” and “Asceticism and the Spirit of Capitalism”), pp. 95-154 and 181-83.
  • Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto, pp. 473-500.
  • M. Cathleen Kaveny, “Billable Hours in Ordinary Time: A Theological Critique of the Instrumentalization of Time in Professional Life, 33:1, Loyola University of Chicago Law Journal (Fall 2001): pp. 173-220. 

November 20— Poverty, Migration, and Globalization:  Hospitality Toward Our Others

Readings:

  • Stephanie J. Nawyn, “Welcoming the Stranger: Constructing an Interfaith Ethic of Refuge,” ch. 10 in Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo, Religion and Social Justice for Immigrants, pp. 141-56.
  • Gioacchino Campese, “Beyond Ethnic and National Imagination: Toward a Catholic Theology of U.S. Immigration,” ch. 12, in Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo, Religion and Social Justice for Immigrants, pp. 175-90.
  • “Strangers No Longer: Together on the Journey of Hope,” A Pastoral Letter Concerning Migration from the Catholic Bishops of Mexico and the United States (2003)

Optional Additional Readings:

  • Selection of news and opinion articles from leading Christian news journals to be posted online.

Week 13— ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY

November 25— From Consumers to Sustainers: Theological Ethics and the Environment

Readings:

  • Larry Rasmussen, “Ecology and Morality: The Challenge to and from Christian Ethics,” in Religion and the New Ecology (2006)
  • Michael S. Northcott, “Ecology and Christian Ethics,” ch. 15 in GILL, CCCE, pp. 209-27.
  • Catherine Keller, “Women Against Wasting the World:: Notes on Eschatology and Ecology, ch. 20  in DALY, Feminist Theological Ethics, pp. 282-94.
  • Lois K. Daly, “Ecofeminism, Reverence for Life, and Feminist Theological Ethics,” ch. 20, in DALY, Feminist Theological Ethics, pp. 295-314.
  • Jim Wallis, The Great Awakening, ch. 6 (“Stewardship and Renewal: The Earth Is the Lord’s”), pp. 135-56.

November 27—THANKSGIVING—NO CLASS!!!

CLASSES END–DECEMBER 5

TEXTS AND RESOURCES

 Daly, Lois K., ed. Feminist Theological Ethics: A Reader (Westminster/John Knox, 1999)

 Gill, Robin. The Cambridge Companion to Christian Ethics (Cambridge University Press, 2001)

 Hauerwas, Stanley. A Community of Character: Toward a Constructive Christian Social Ethic (University of Notre Dame Press, 1981)

 Lovin, Robin W. Christian Ethics: An Essential Guide (Abingdon, 2000)

 Winner, Lauren F. Real Sex: The Naked Truth about Chastity (Brazos Press, 2006)

 Wogaman, J. Philip. Christian Ethics: A Historical Introduction (Westminster/John Knox Press, 1993)