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 the course will include theological and methodological guidance for discipleship, and issues of violence and peacemaking, sanctity of life, sexual faithfulness, truth-telling, love, justice (economic, racial, and ecological), and prayer.

SIGNIFICANCE FOR LIFE AND 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 forming 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.

LEARNING OUTCOMES: The first course objective is that you understand and dialogue with some of the key variables or assumptions 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, help you identify key ingredients in reasoning ethically about other issues beyond those we can study in this one term.

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

REQUIRED READING:

King, Martin Luther, Jr. Strength to Love. Fortress, 2010. ISBN: 978-0800697402. Pub. price: $20.00.

Sider, Ronald. Just Generosity: A New Vision for Overcoming Poverty in America. Baker, 1999. ISBN: 978-0801066139. Pub. price: $17.99.

Stassen, Glen, and David Gushee. Kingdom Ethics: Following Jesus in Contemporary Context. InterVarsity Press, 2003. ISBN: 978-0830826681. Pub. price: $35.00.

Students will also choose one of the following parallel reading tracks:

1. De La Torre, Miguel A. Christian Ethics from the Margins. Orbis, 2004. ISBN: 978-1570755514. Pub. price: $24. And Tooley, M. Voices of the Voiceless: Women, Justice, and Human Rights in Guatemala. Herald, 1997. ISBN: 978-0836190571. Pub. price: $4.50.

2. Sanders, Cheryl. Empowerment Ethics for a Liberated People. Fortress Press, 1995. ISBN: 978-0800629175. Pub. price: $18.00. And Thurman, Howard. Jesus and the Disinherited. Beacon, 1996. ISBN: 978-0807010297. Pub. price: $15.00.

3. Smedes, Lewis. Mere Morality. Eerdmans, 1987. ISBN: 978-0802802576. Pub. price: $20. And Smedes, Lewis. Sex for Christians: The Limits and Liberties of Sexual Living. Eerdmans, 1994. ISBN: 978-0802807434. Pub. price: $20.

4. Stassen, Glen, ed. Just Peacemaking: The New Paradigm for the Ethics of Peace and War. Pilgrim, 2008. ISBN: 978-0829817935. Pub. price: $18. And Kimball, Charles. When Religion Becomes Evil. HarperSanFrancisco, 2002. ISBN: 9780061552014. Pub. price: $14.99.