PE001-512 - Christian Ethics

  • 2,784 Standard Tuition Fee
  • 12
    Credit Points
  • 0.125 EFT 
  • 5
    AQF level
  • Category foundational unit
    A
  • philosophy ethicsUnit Discipline

Exclusions

Prior to 2020, this unit content was delivered under the unit code PE301. Unit exclusions: PE004-506, PE004-706, PE002-612, PE002-712, PE002-812 , PC054

At the time of publication of this statement, ACT permits students to include up to 24cps from the following PE units as contributing towards the Ministry & Practice requirement of ACT awards, provided any unit(s) in question are not also counted towards Christian Thought requirements: PE001-512/712/812 Christian Ethics, PE002-612/712/812 Theological Ethics, PE003-612/712/812 Christian Social Ethics, PE007-612/712/812 Christian Apologetics.

Learning outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, students will

A. Know and understand

Demonstrate Foundational knowledge and understanding of biblical and philosophical ethics.

B. Be able to

1. Trace the major themes of biblical ethics

2. Demonstrate skills of Christian ethical reasoning and decision making in relation to a selection of contemporary ethical issues

3. Present Organised evidence-based perspectives on Christian ethics

C. Be in a position to

1. Relating perspectives from ‘Christian Ethics’ to contemporary Christian living and ministry contexts

Content

Section A: Philosophical and Theological Ethics

1. Introducing Ethics as a discipline: its nature and function.

2. Types of Ethical Theories:

1. Theories of Obligation: deontological & teleological;

2. Theories of Virtue: traits, character, motivation, disposition;

3. The relationship between obligation and virtue.

Section B: Ethics and Scripture

1. Using the Bible in Ethics:

1. Methodological issues raised in moving from the Bible to contemporary ethical issues.

2. A brief survey of how the Bible has been used in ethics.

2. Ethical themes in Scripture - both Old Testament and New Testament themes should be covered. These may include, but are not limited to:

1. The framework of creation, sin, covenant, prophecy and wisdom

2. Kingdom and eschatology

3. righteousness/justice

4. love command

Section C: Ethics in Contemporary Context

1. Moral discernment in the church today

2. The relationship between Christian ethics and secular culture

Note: The topics in Section C may be taught and assessed alongside the issues studied in Section D. 

Section D: Applied Ethics

Students synthesise insights from the first three sections and apply them to at least two issues that may include, but are not limited to: 

1. Gender, sexuality, and marriage (including divorce & remarriage)

2. Beginning and end of life issues (assisted reproduction technologies, voluntary assisted dying)

3. Privilege and power (race, culture, wealth and poverty)

4. Ecological sustainability and consumerism

5. Technology

Set Readings

Austin, Victor Lee. Christian Ethics: A Guide for the Perplexed (London, Bloomsbury T & T Clark, 2012).

Bachelard, Sarah. Resurrection and Moral Imagination (Farnham: Ashgate, 2014).

Banner, Michael. Christian Ethics and Contemporary Moral Problems (Cambridge and New York: CUP, 1999).

Banner, Michael. The Ethics of Everyday Life: Moral Theology, Social Anthropology, and the Imagination of the Human (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014).

Brock, Brian. Christian Ethics in a Technological Age (Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 2010).

Cahill, Lisa Sowle. Global Justice, Christology and Christian Ethics. (Cambridge, CUP, 2015).

Cahill, Lisa Sowle. Sex, Gender and Christian Ethics. (Cambridge, CUP, 1996).

Cameron, Andrew. Joined-Up Life: A Christian Account of How Ethics Works (Nottingham: IVP, 2011).

Coakley, Sarah. The New Asceticism: Sexuality, Gender and the Quest for God (London: Bloomsbury, 2016).

Deane-Drummond, Celia (ed.) Brave New World? Theology, Ethics and the Human Genome (London: T & T Clark, 2003).

Fletcher, Joseph. Situation Ethics: the New Morality (London: SCM, 1966).

Goroncy, Jason. “Euthanasia: Some Theological Considerations for Living Responsibly,” Pacifica 29(3), 2016: 221-243.

Grenz, Stanley. The Moral Quest: Foundations of Christian Ethics (Leicester: Apollos, 1998).

Gushee, David. Changing Our Mind (Read the Spirit Books, 2017).

Harrington Daniel and James Keenan. Jesus and Virtue Ethics: Building Bridges between New Testament Studies and Moral Theology (Lanham, MD: Sheed and Ward, 2002).

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

Hauerwas, Stanley. “On Doctrine and Ethics”. In The Cambridge Companion to Christian Doctrine ed. Colin Gunton (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), 21-40.

Hays, Richard. Moral Vision of the New Testament (San Fransisco: Harper, 1996).

Jersild, Paul. Spirit Ethics: Scripture and the Moral Life (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000).

Marlow, Hilary. Biblical Prophets and Contemporary Environmental Ethics: Re-Reading Amos, Hosea and First Isaiah (Oxford, OUP, 2009).

MacIntyre, Alasdair. After Virtue (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1981).

MacIntyre, Alasdair. A Short History of Ethics: A History of Moral Philosophy from the Homeric Age to the Twentieth Century (London: Routledge, 2003).

McKenny, Gerald. To Relieve the Human Condition: Bioethics, Technology and the Body (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1997).

Nussbaum, Martha. The Fragility of Goodness: Luck and Ethics in Greek Tragedy and Philosophy (Cambridge, CUP, 1986).

O’Donovan, Oliver. Resurrection and Moral Order (Leicester: IVP, 2nd edition. 1994).

Reuschling, Wyndy Corbin. Reviving Evangelical Ethics: The Promises and Pitfalls of Classic Models of Morality. (Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2008).

Stassen, Glen and David Gushee. Kingdom Ethics: Following Jesus in Contemporary Context. (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2002).

Wright, Christopher. Old Testament Ethics for the People of God (Leicester: IVP, 2004).

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