Spring 2006/Pasadena
ET501
Stassen

ET501: CHRISTIAN ETHICS. Glen Stassen.


DESCRIPTION: This introduction to Christian ethics aims to identify and compare fundamental assumptions that shape how Christians practice their Christian discipleship, seeking a method that aids repentance and correction, and growth in wholeness and commitment to serve Jesus Christ as Lord in all of life and ministry. The agenda will be set by the Sermon on the Mount, and so issues of violence and peacemaking, sanctity of life, sexual faithfulness, truth-telling, love, justice (economic, racial, and ecological), and prayer, will be included.

COURSE OBJECTIVES/LEARNING OUTCOMES: The first course objective is that you understand and dialogue with some of the key variables in different ways of reasoning besides your own. Second, that your own ethics grows in its relation with biblical faith, especially Jesus' kingdom ethics, and in your ability to explain your ethics to someone else. Third, that you increase your skill in teaching or communicating your Christian ethics in your present and future places of ministry, and in helping others live Christian ethics. Fourth, that you be able to reason articulately in relation to several contemporary ethical issues that we will study. Fifth, that the course's holistic method, with its variables, could help you identify key ingredients in reasoning ethically about other issues beyond those we can study in this one term.

RELEVANCE FOR MINISTRY: Christian ministers teach Christians to be disciples and to make disciples, and to do the teachings of Jesus, equipping persons to be Christians in character and lifestyle, followers of Christ, rather than unaware captives of a secular culture. Christian ethics seeks to develop skills for that central ministry, which is at the heart of what Jesus did and taught. Such skills begin with growth in our own Christian ethics as well as in understanding the fundamental assumptions in others' ethics. We will study how biblical and theological faith are integrated with experiential information in growing character and in confronting moral problems faced by church members and other folks. We will include a focus on practices of Christian churches, not only individual decision-making.

COURSE FORMAT: Lectures and discussion. Class will meet twice a week for two-hour sessions.

REQUIRED READING:

King, Martin Luther, Jr. Strength to Love. Walker & Co., 1996.

Sider, Ronald. Just Generosity: A New Vision for Overcoming Poverty in America. Baker, 1999.

Stassen, Glen and David Gushee. Kingdom Ethics: Following Jesus in Contemporary Context. InterVarsity Press, 2002.
Students will also choose one of the following parallel reading tracks:
  1. Roberts, Samuel K. African American Christian Ethics. Pilgrim, 2001. And
    Thurman, Howard. Jesus and the Disinherited. Beacon, 1996.

  2. De La Torre, Miguel A. Christian Ethics from the Margins. Orbis, 2004. And
    Tooley, M. Voices of the Voiceless: Women, Justice, and Human Rights in Guatemala. Herald, 1997.

  3. Smedes, Lewis. Mere Morality. Eerdmans, 1987. And
    Mount, Eric. Covenant, Community, and the Common Good. Pilgrim, 1999.

  4. Clark, David K. and Robert V. Rakestraw. Readings in Christian Ethics, Vol. 2: Issues and Applications. Baker, 1996.

  5. Stassen, Glen, ed. Just Peacemaking: Ten Practices for Abolishing War. Pilgrim, 1998 or 2004. And
    Kimball, Charles. When Religion Becomes Evil. HarperSanFrancisco, 2002.

ASSIGNMENTS: Reading and analyzing assigned texts; class participation; five brief-essay quizzes. Optional term paper on suggested topics.

PREREQUISITES: None.

RELATIONSHIP TO CURRICULUM: Meets MDiv core requirement in Christian Ethics (ETH).

FINAL EXAMINATION: No final exam; students may make up a quiz at exam time.