Reenvisioning Christian Ethics

146 Pages·2020·2.375 MB·English

by  Darryl W. Stephens (editor)

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Reenvisioning
Christian Ethics
Edited by
Darryl W. Stephens
Printed Edition of the Special Issue Published in Religions
www.mdpi.com/journal/religions
Reenvisioning Christian Ethics

Reenvisioning Christian Ethics
SpecialIssueEditor
DarrylW.Stephens
MDPI•Basel•Beijing•Wuhan•Barcelona•Belgrade•Manchester•Tokyo•Cluj•Tianjin
SpecialIssueEditor
DarrylW.Stephens
LancasterTheologicalSeminary
USA
EditorialOffice
MDPI
St.Alban-Anlage66
4052Basel,Switzerland
ThisisareprintofarticlesfromtheSpecialIssuepublishedonlineintheopenaccessjournalReligions
(ISSN2077-1444)(availableat:https://www.mdpi.com/journal/religions/specialissues/Christian
Ethics).
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Contents
AbouttheSpecialIssueEditor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
DarrylW.Stephens
ReenvisioningChristianEthics:AnIntroductionandInvitation
Reprintedfrom:Religions2020,11,74,doi:10.3390/rel11020074 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
AntjeSchnoor
TransformationalEthics:TheConceptofObedienceinPost-ConciliarJesuitThinking
Reprintedfrom:Religions2019,10,342,doi:10.3390/rel10050342 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
KevinJ.O’Brien
TheScalesIntegraltoEcology:HierarchiesinLaudatoSi’andChristianEcologicalEthics
Reprintedfrom:Religions2019,10,511,doi:10.3390/rel10090511 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
KateOtt
TakingChildren’sMoralLivesSeriously:CreativityasEthicalResponseOfflineandOnline
Reprintedfrom:Religions2019,10,525,doi:10.3390/rel10090525 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
IlsupAhn
ReconstructinganEthicsofCreditinanAgeofNeoliberalism
Reprintedfrom:Religions2019,10,484,doi:10.3390/rel10080484 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
TylerB.Davis
LiberatingDiscernment:Language,Concreteness,andNamingDivineActivityinHistory
Reprintedfrom:Religions2019,10,562,doi:10.3390/rel10100562 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
ShajiGeorgeKochuthara
ChallengeofDoingCatholicEthicsinaPluralisticContext
Reprintedfrom:Religions2020,11,17,doi:10.3390/rel11010017 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
JamesFrancisKeenan
PursuingEthicsbyBuildingBridgesbeyondtheNorthernParadigm
Reprintedfrom:Religions2019,10,490,doi:10.3390/rel10080490 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
LukeBeckKreider
ChristianEthicsandEcologiesofViolence
Reprintedfrom:Religions2019,10,509,doi:10.3390/rel10090509 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
v

About the Special Issue Editor
Darryl W. Stephens (Director of United Methodist Studies) teaches at Lancaster Theological
Seminary,Pennsylvania,USA,andholdsaPh.D.inChristianEthicsfromEmoryUniversity,Georgia,
USA.Stephenshasauthoredover60articles,chapters,andbooksforscholarlyandchurchaudiences
andisasought-afterspeaker,workshopleader,andeditor.Hisscholarshiponethicsatthejunctureof
churchandsocietyfocusesparticularlyonsexualethics,churchpolity,andecclesialsocialteaching.
Hiswritingshavebeenpublishedinavarietyofpeer-reviewedjournals,includingJournalofReligious
Ethics,InternationalJournalofPracticalTheology,MethodistHistory,MethodistReview,EcumenicalReview,
Religions,TheologicalEducation,andReligiousEducation. HeistheauthorofMethodistMorals: Social
PrinciplesinthePublicChurch’sWitness(UniversityofTennesseePress,2016),OutofExodus:AJourney
of Open and Affirming Ministry (Cascade, 2018), and Bearing Witness in the Kin-dom: Living into the
Church’s Moral Witness through Radical Discipleship (United Methodist Women, forthcoming 2021).
Heisalsoco-editorofProfessionalSexualEthics: AHolisticMinistryApproach(FortressPress,2013),
Liberating the Politics of Jesus: Renewing Peace Theology through the Wisdom of Women (T&T Clark,
forthcoming2020),andTeachingSexualityandReligioninHigherEducation:EmbodiedLearning,Trauma
SensitivePedagogy,andPerspectiveTransformation(Routledge,forthcoming2020).
vii

religions
Editorial
Reenvisioning Christian Ethics: An Introduction
and Invitation
DarrylW.Stephens
LancasterTheologicalSeminary,555WestJamesStreet,Lancaster,PA17603,USA;
[email protected]@alumni.rice.edu;Tel.:[phone]
(cid:2)(cid:3)(cid:4)(cid:2)(cid:5)(cid:6)(cid:7)(cid:8)(cid:9)
Received:20January2020;Accepted:4February2020;Published:6February2020 (cid:2)(cid:3)(cid:4)(cid:5)(cid:6)(cid:7)(cid:8)
Abstract:ThisarticlebytheguesteditorintroducesthethemeofthisspecialissueofReligions,reveals
someofhisunderlyingconvictionsandassumptionsregardingthetaskofreenvisioningChristian
ethics,andintroduceseachoftheeightarticlesinthiscollection.Ratherthanadiscipline,Christian
ethicsmightmoreaccuratelybedescribedasafieldofscholarlyendeavorengagingarangeofpartner
disciplines.Eachcontributorwasinvitedtoofferadistinctperspectiveonthistask,contributingtoa
collectivereenvisioningofthefield.Theguesteditordescribeshisunderlyingconvictions,thatthe
taskofreenvisioningChristianethicsisreal,perspectival,dialogical,collaborative,andpurposeful.
Correspondingly,heseesthetaskasawe-filled,discerning,responsive,participatory,andhopeful.
Envisionedisaconfluenceofintersectional,interdisciplinary,andinterculturalapproachesexpanding
beyondtheacademyandevenbeyondtheChristianinordertopartnerwithallmembersofglobal
societyforthecommongood,sharedjustice,andfullflourishingofallofcreation.
Keywords:Christianethics;theologicalethics;socialethics;ethicalmethodology;H.RichardNiebuhr;
ecumenicalethics;SocietyofChristianEthics
1.Introduction1
Christianethicsisawide,variedfield.Sodiversearethemethodsandapproaches,theological
perspectives and starting points, and scopes of inquiry and purposes—dare we even call it a
“discipline”?—thatthefieldisrarelyconsideredasawhole. Christianethicsincludeshistorical,
descriptive,critical,constructive,andappliedprojectsoncountlesstopics.Lendingcreativeenergy
tothisfieldofscholarlyendeavorarearangeofpartnerdisciplines,including,mostprominently,
theology,philosophy,andsociology—eachcontainingmultipleschoolsthemselves.The2014report
on“TheFutureofChristianEthics”bythe2020CommitteeoftheSocietyofChristianEthics(SCE)
identifiedtwentydifferentacademicfieldspartneredwithChristianethics.2 Toenvisiontheentire
fieldofChristianethicsisadifficulttask;toreenvisiontheentirefield,perhapsimpossibleforone
person.Thus,toexplorethetheme“ReenvisioningChristianEthics,”Iinvitedpapersofferingadistinct
perspectivefromtheirprimarypartnerdiscipline,eachcontributingtoacompositereenvisioningof
thefield.ThepurposeofthisspecialissueofReligionsistoreenvisionChristianethicsbyrefracting
1 AwordofthanksisduetoPatriciaBeattieJungforhercollegialencouragementandsupportleadingtomytakingontherole
asguesteditor;toKevinO’Brienforhisinsightful,oftenchallenging,andalwaysencouragingconversationandfeedbackon
theinitialcallforpapersandthisintroductoryessay;andtotheentirestaffofMDPI,allofwhomexhibitedthehighestlevel
ofprofessionalismandcompetency,includingassistanteditorsBingjinHe,MamieLu,CarrieLiang,JoyJi,KateYang,Macy
Zong,AngeliaWang,andMichelleCai.
2 TheSCEidentified20differentacademicfieldslistedwithethicsinthejobtitleorasco-primaryinthejobdescription,
basedondatacollectedfromtheChronicleofHigherEducationfortheyears1998–1999and1999–2000andfromtheAmerican
AcademyofReligion(AAR)AnnualMeetingJobsListingsfortheyears2001–2012(SCE2014).
Religions2020,11,74;doi:10.3390/rel11020074 1 www.mdpi.com/journal/religions