Plurality And Christian Ethics

Too many parts of the world testify to the difficulties religions have in tolerating each other. It is often concluded that the only way tolerance and plurality can be protected is to keep religion out of the public sphere. Ian Markham challenges this secularist argument. In the first half of the book, he advances a careful critique of European culture which exposes the problem of plurality. His analysis of the Christendom Group is contrasted with the outlook found in the USA, where a religiously informed culture may be seen to be tolerant. In the second half of the book, the author argues that plurality is better safeguarded by a theistic, rather than a secularist, foundation. He submits that too often secularists use relativist arguments, while theists want to appeal to the complexity of God's world. He concludes that in our post-modern world the religious affirmation of diversity offers genuine political possibilities for cultural enrichment.

Australian Christians, like Christians in many socities, live in a pluralistic culture. This makes the issues of faith, freedom and their interelationship all the more critical. In a pluralist context, Christian faith and freedom must be expressed and embodied in a coherent rather than discordant way. The authors of these reflections on key ethical concerns represent the Anabaptist, Anglican, Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic and Uniting Church traditions, yet there is a hamrony within this plurality of theological and ecclesiological voices. Contributors include: John Howard Yoder, Charles Birch, Stanley Hauerwas, and Thorwald Lorenzen.

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.

Christian theology of religions remains a central component of the Christian response to global religious diversity. In the face of theological refusals to engage with issues of religious absolutism and new impressions from interreligious encounters, this book seeks to inject fresh energy into a debate that has stalled in recent years. The encounter between Christians and people of different religious persuasions raises questions of how to interpret Christian absolutism for a new and developing consciousness that values the experience of the religious other. This book argues that interreligious dialogue, interreligious ethical collaboration, and comparative studies all point to a pluralist future, where we are obliged to recognize the spiritual authenticity of the experience animating many religions. Building friendly relations between faith communities is to be applauded but it is insufficient in the face of the many challenges confronting the global human community. Whether we are speaking of cooperation in civil society, peace in the world, or the overarching ecological crisis encompassing the planet as a whole, the acceptance of the diversity of religions as a positive religious value will strengthen the sense of global responsibility that is needed.

This important work explores the distinctiveness of Christian ethics, particularly through its interconnections with doctrine and the wider history of religions.Brian Hebblethwaite shows how the distinctiveness of Christian ethics can be understood and appreciated. He brings out the complex nature of that distinctiveness - in Christian individuals and communities as they reflect something of the triune love of God, and in contemporary humanism and major world faiths in which this love is also discernable.He concludes with an extended exploration of the strengths and weaknesses of the different religions in their contributions to the overcoming of evil.

A few years ago, the first distinction that ethicists drew was the line between Christian ethics and philosophical ethics. However, in our global context, Christian ethicists must now, in addition, compare and contrast various ethics. Christian ethics has become increasingly multivocal not only because of a plurality of faiths but also because of a plurality of Christianities. In light of these new realities, this book will introduce Christian ethics. It will lay out history, methods, and basic principles every student must know. The author also will include case studies for further explanation and application.

This book is an extended, critical reflection on the state of interrelgious dialogue in its modern version. While there has been some important writing in the field of comparative theology, there has been no extended, critical reflection on the state of the discipline in its modern version, its strengths and problematic areas as it grows as a serious theological and scholarly discipline. This work of young scholars in conversation with one another, remedies this lack by, as it were, taking the discipline apart and putting it back together again. The volume seeks to understand how to learn from multiple religions in a way that is truly open to those religions on their own terms, while yet being rooted in the tradition/s that we bring to our interreligious study.

Is Christian faith the only or best route to relationship with God? New relationships, shared common action and dialogue between people whose experiences differ are changing the way Christian theologians are thinking about religious pluralism. No longer objects of ridicule or condemnation, world religions are genuine vehicles of spiritual vision, capable of transforming human hearts and minds. It has taken Christian theology many years to come to this point and there is no going back. Alan Race is an outstanding expert in the interreligious field and has, throughout his career and ministry, built up a high reputation for understanding and dialogue between faith communities. Here, he deals with the use of Scripture, inclusivism and exclusivism, pluralism and particularism, mission and dialogue. The next phase of Christian thought, he argues, will be shaped by new appreciation and insight stemming from the fact that Christianity is one religion among many.