Christian ethics and the community /
James M. Gustafson.
- Philadelphia [Pilgrim Press, 1971]
- 224 pages ; 22 cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
Theology and Ethics -- Christian Ethics in America -- Theology and Ethics -- Context Versus Principles: A Misplaced Debate in Christian Ethics -- Two Approaches to Theological Ethics -- God's Transcendence and the Value of Human Life -- The Moral Virtues -- The Moral Conditions Necessary for Human Community -- The Personalist Factor -- The Christian Style of Life: Problematics of a Good Idea -- Christian Humanism and the Human Mind -- The Conditions for Hope: Reflections on Human Experience
With two major works Gustafson established himself as a highly original thinker theologically sound and immediately practical. Both Christ and the Moral Life and The Church as Moral Decision-Maker have gained ethicians' appreciation, whether situationalists or contextualists, Protestant or Catholic. In Christian Ethics and the Community he makes a significant new contribution to ethics and theology. In this new book Gustafson marks out the meaning and functions of ethics as a basis for thought and action in human life. The structure and exposition are uniquely his. Part one contains a masterful survey of ethics in America that has been highly praised by a variety of scholars and a comprehensive exploration of the nature of ethics which takes account of new and recent developments in the debates about God and transcendence and relates these to ethics. Part Two explores five basic themes of ethics in man's life: the moral conditions for a human community; ethics and personal life; the shape and the style of Christian life; ethics and personal life; the shape and style of Christian life; ethics, humanism and reason; and the nature and expectations of hope.