Christian Ethics As Witness

Christian ethics is less a system of principles, rules, or even virtues, and more of a free and open-ended responsible witness to God's gracious action to be with and for others and the world. Postmodernity has left us with the risky uncertainty of knowing and doing the good. It also leaves us with the global risks of political violence and terrorism, economic globalization and financial crisis, and environmental destruction and global climate change. How should Christians respond to these problems? Thisbook creatively explores how Christian ethics is best understood as a witness to God's action, thereby providing the ethical framework for addressing the various problematic social issues that put our world at risk. Haddorff develops the notion of witness through a detailed study of Karl Barth's theological ethics. Barth, he argues, provides a language enabling us to know what a Christian ethics of witness actually looks like in both theory and in practice. In correspondence to God's gracious action, Christians remain free to think and act in faith, hope, and love in respondence to their unique circumstances, even in a world at risk. In their witness, Christians remain confident that God has not abandoned the world but loves and cares for its future.

Christian ethics is less a system of principles, rules, or even virtues, and more of a free and open-ended responsible witness to God's gracious action to be with and for others and the world. Postmodernity has left us with the risky uncertainty of knowing and doing the good. It also leaves us with the global risks of political violence and terrorism, economic globalization and financial crisis, and environmental destruction and global climate change. How should Christians respond to these problems? This book creatively explores how Christian ethics is best understood a witness to God's action, thereby providing the ethical framework for addressing the various problematic social issues that put our world at risk. Haddorff develops the notion of witness through a detailed study of Karl Barth's theological ethics. Barth, he argues, provides a language enabling us to know what a Christian ethics of witness actually looks like in both theory and in practice. In correspondence to God's gracious action, Christians remain free to think and act in faith, hope, and love in respondence to their unique circumstances, even in a world at risk. In their witness, Christians remain confident that God has not abandoned the world but loves and cares for its future.

Christian ethics is less a system of principles, rules, or even virtues, and more of a free and open-ended responsible witness to God's gracious action to be with and for others and the world. Postmodernity has left us with the risky uncertainty of knowing and doing the good. It also leaves us with the global risks of political violence and terrorism, economic globalization and financial crisis, and environmental destruction and global climate change. How should Christians respond to these problems? This book creatively explores how Christian ethics is best understood a witness to God's action, thereby providing the ethical framework for addressing the various problematic social issues that put our world at risk. Haddorff develops the notion of witness through a detailed study of Karl Barth's theological ethics. Barth, he argues, provides a language enabling us to know what a Christian ethics of witness actually looks like in both theory and in practice. In correspondence to God's gracious action, Christians remain free to think and act in faith, hope, and love in respondence to their unique circumstances, even in a world at risk. In their witness, Christians remain confident that God has not abandoned the world but loves and cares for its future.

What does it mean to evangelize ethically in a multicultural climate? Following his successful Evangelism after Christendom, Bryan Stone addresses reasons evangelism often fails and explains how it can become distorted as a Christian practice. Stone urges us to consider a new approach, arguing for evangelism as a work of imagination and a witness to beauty rather than a crass effort to compete for converts in pluralistic contexts. He shows that the way we lead our lives as Christians is the most meaningful tool of evangelism in today's rapidly changing world.

Description: Because God calls his people to be a living witness to him, morality is mission. Conversely, immorality is ""anti-mission,"" a failure to give true testimony or witness. This, in essence, is the theme of this stimulating and challenging volume. The whole life of the people of God, not just verbal proclamation, testifies to the church's faith--or lack of faith--in her Lord. The contributors explain that mission and ethics are intricately and necessarily interwoven, and explore why this is so by unpacking the biblical and theological roots of ""missional ethics,"" probing its limits and exploring its possibilities through examination of some foundational themes and a selection of specific issues. Intended primarily for pastors and church leaders, this volume encourages reflection and conversation that will feed the life of the body of Christ. ""Missional ethics"" concerns all the ways in which Christian ethical practice flows out of, supports, and advances the wider mission of the church to proclaim the gospel. The contributors are Brian Brock, M. Daniel Carroll R., Jonathan Chaplin, Guido de Graaff, Sean Doherty, Andy Draycott, Joshua Hordern, Matt Jenson, Grant Macaskill, Nathan Moser, Jonathan Rowe, Sarah Ruble, and Christopher J. H. Wright. Endorsements: ""The Western church needs to rediscover not only its missional identity in an increasingly post-Christian context, but also its missional theology. So it's a delight to welcome this look at ethics from a missional perspective. But the significance of Living Witness goes beyond the academy, for it offers a thought-provoking contribution to the discussion of how we can be missional in the context of ordinary life."" --Tim Chester ""This stimulating and groundbreaking collection explores the connections between two disciplines that are often treated separately: ethics and mission. In doing so, it sets God's calling to ethical living in a missionary context, arguing that the whole of our lives, not just our words, are to be a living testimony to the reality of the gospel. It deserves a wide readership, and will doubtless inspire fresh biblical reflection, challenge complacency, and encourage Christians to live out the whole of life as a response to the gospel."" --Paul Weston, Lecturer in Mission Studies, Ridley Hall, Cambridge ""Here, at last, is a genuine step forward for the 'missional' conversation. Exploring the integral link between morality and mission, this theologically informed set of essays provides a rich resource on the centrality of ethics as encompassing the whole life of the people of God--called to live in a distinctive way as witnesses to the redemptive activity of God in the world. Concerned for the transformation of existing thinking and practices, the authors issue a strong reminder that mission occurs wherever God is at work through his people--in families and friendships, in the challenges that come with handling money as well as migration, in politics as much as in preaching."" - Antony Billington, Head of Theology, The London Institute for Contemporary Christianity About the Contributor(s): Andy Draycott is Assistant Professor of Theology, Talbot School of Theology at Biola University. Jonathan Rowe (PhD, St Andrews), Tutor and Director of Development, South West Ministry Training Course, Exeter. Author of Michal's Moral Dilemma: A Literary, Anthropological and Ethical Interpretation (T. & T. Clark).

Because God calls his people to be a living witness to him, morality is mission. Conversely, immorality is anti-mission, a failure to give true testimony or witness. This, in essence, is the theme of this stimulating and challenging volume. The whole life of the people of God, not just verbal proclamation, testifies to the church's faith--or lack of faith--in her Lord.The contributors explain that mission and ethics are intricately and necessarily interwoven, and explore why this is so by unpacking the biblical and theological roots of missional ethics, probing its limits and exploring its possibilities through examination of some foundational themes and a selection of specific issues.Intended primarily for pastors and church leaders, this volume encourages reflection and conversation that will feed the life of the body of Christ. Missional ethics concerns all the ways in which Christian ethical practice flows out of, supports, and advances the wider mission of the church to proclaim the gospel.The contributors are Brian Brock, M. Daniel Carroll R., Jonathan Chaplin, Guido de Graaff, Sean Doherty, Andy Draycott, Joshua Hordern, Matt Jenson, Grant Macaskill, Nathan Moser, Jonathan Rowe, Sarah Ruble, and Christopher J. H. Wright.

This book introduces Christian ethics from a theological perspective. Philip Turner, widely recognized as a leading expert in the field, explores the intersection of moral theology and ecclesiology, arguing that the focus of Christian ethics should not be personal holiness or social reform but the common life of the church. A theology of moral thought and practice must take its cues from the notion that human beings, upon salvation, are redeemed and called into a life oriented around the community of the church. This book distills a senior scholar's life work and will be valued by students of Christian ethics, theology, and ecclesiology.

George Kalantzis and Gregory W. Lee edit twelve essays that explore the topic of Christian political witness, originally presented at the 2013 Wheaton Theology Conference. Contributors include Stanley Hauerwas, Mark Noll, William Cavanaugh, Peter Leithart and Scot McKnight.

Earth is changing in ways it hasn't for hundreds of thousands of years. At the same time, Christianity is breaking away from its millennium-long geographical and cultural center in the Euro-West. Its growth is in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, primarily in Pentecostal, evangelical, and independent churches. These dramatically changed planetary and ecclesial landscapes have led many to conclude that we need a new way of thinking about our collective existence: who are we and what is the nature of our responsibility in this deeply altered world? To address that question, biblical scholars Bruce C. Birch and Jacqueline E. Lapsley and Christian ethicists Larry L. Rasmussen and Cynthia Moe-Lobeda carry on "a new conversation" that engages how Christians are to understand the authority and use of Scripture, the basic elements of any full-bodied Christian ethic attuned to our circumstances, and the nature of our responsibility to our planetary neighbors and creation itself.

We live amid increasing ethical plurality and fragmentation while at the same time more and more questions of moral gravity confront us. Some of these questions are new, such as those around human cloning and genetics. Other questions that were previously settled have re-emerged, such as those around the place of religion in politics. Responses to such questions are diverse, numerous and often vehemently contested. Hospitality as Holiness seeks to address the underlying question facing the church within contemporary moral debates: how should Christians relate to their neighbours when ethical disputes arise? The problems the book examines centre on what the nature and basis of Christian moral thought and action is, and in the contemporary context, whether moral disputes may be resolved with those who do not share the same framework as Christians. Bretherton establishes a model - that of hospitality - for how Christians and non-Christians can relate to each other amid moral diversity. This book will appeal to those interested in the broad question of the relationship between reason, tradition, natural law and revelation in theology, and more specifically to those engaged with questions about plurality, tolerance and ethical conflict in Christian ethics and medical ethics.