The Blackwell Companion to Christian Ethics

The Blackwell Companion to Christian Ethics presents a comprehensive and systematic exposition of Christian ethics, seen through the lens of Christian worship.

• An innovative exposition of Christian ethics, seen through the lens of Christian worship
• Challenges conventional approaches to the subject
• Restores a sense of the integral connection between Christian ethics and theology
• Stanley Hauerwas is one of the most influential figures in Christian ethics around the world
• Embraces contributors from the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Methodist, Presbyterian, Mennonite and Pentecostal traditions
• Designed to be accessible to introductory students
• Will have a major impact on the discipline of Christian ethics

List of Contributors x

Preface xiii

Part I Studying Ethics through Worship 1

1 Christian Ethics as Informed Prayer
Stanley Hauerwas and Samuel Wells 3

2 The Gift of the Church and the Gifts God Gives It
Stanley Hauerwas and Samuel Wells 13

3 Why Christian Ethics Was Invented
Stanley Hauerwas and Samuel Wells 28

4 How the Church Managed Before There Was Ethics
Stanley Hauerwas and Samuel Wells 39

Part II Meeting God and One Another 51

5 Gathering: Worship, Imagination, and Formation
Philip Kenneson 53

6 Greeting: Beyond Racial Reconciliation
Emmanuel Katongole 68

7 Naming the Risen Lord: Embodied Discipleship and Masculinity
Amy Laura Hall 82

8 Being Reconciled: Penitence, Punishment, and Worship
John Berkman 95

9 Praising in Song: Beauty and the Arts
Kevin J. Vanhoozer 110

10 Collecting Praise: Global Culture Industries
Michael L. Budde 123

Part III Re-encountering the Story 139

11 Reading the Scriptures: Rehearsing Identity, Practicing Character
Jim Fodor 141

12 Listening: Authority and Obedience
Scott Bader-Saye 156

13 Proclaiming: Naming and Describing
Charles Pinches 169

14 Deliberating: Justice and Liberation
Daniel M. Bell, Jr 182

15 Discerning: Politics and Reconciliation
William T. Cavanaugh 196

16 Confessing the Faith: Reasoning in Tradition
Nicholas Adams 209

Part IV Being Embodied 223

17 Praying: Poverty
Kelly S. Johnson 225

18 Interceding: Giving Grief to Management
Michael Hanby 237

19 Being Baptized: Bodies and Abortion
Frederick Christian Bauerschmidt 250

20 Becoming One Body: Health Care and Cloning
M. Therese Lysaught 263

21 Becoming One Flesh: Marriage, Remarriage, and Sex
David Matzko McCarthy 276

22 Sharing Peace: Discipline and Trust
Paul J. Wadell 289

Part V Re-enacting the Story 303

23 Offering: Treasuring the Creation
Ben Quash 305

24 Participating: Working toward Worship
R. R. Reno 319

25 Remembering: Offering our Gifts
D. Stephen Long and Tripp York 332

26 Invoking: Globalization and Power
Timothy Jarvis Gorringe 346

27 Breaking Bread: Peace and War
Gerald W. Schlabach 360

28 Receiving Communion: Euthanasia, Suicide, and Letting Die
Carole Bailey Stoneking 375

29 Sharing Communion: Hunger, Food, and Genetically Modified Foods
Robert Song 388

30 Eating Together: Friendship and Homosexuality
Joel James Shuman 401

31 Being Silent: Time in the Spirit
Michael S. Northcott 414

32 Being Thankful: Parenting the Mentally Disabled
Hans S. Reinders 427

33 Washing Feet: Preparation for Service
Mark Thiessen Nation 441

Part VI Being Commissioned 453

34 Being Blessed: Wealth, Property, and Theft
Stephen Fowl 455

35 Bearing Fruit: Conception, Children, and the Family
Joseph L. Mangina 468

36 Being Sent: Witness
Michael G. Cartwright 481

Afterword
Rowan Williams 495

Index 499

"An important, often insightful and almost always provocative book that would be unwise to ignore." Studies in Christian Ethics

"Substantial and significant… the early fruit of an important recent theological turn in theology, towards taking worship as a major source of insight, challenge and guidance… Stanley Hauerwas is probably the most creative, provocative, and exasperating theologian in the English-speaking world. He has enlisted a mighty band of able and argumentative disciples who dominate much theological discussion today, especially in Christian ethics." Times Literary Supplement

"Love God and love your neighbour have been the twin commandments in the New Testament from the beginning. Nevertheless, worshipping God and practising neighbourly charity have usually gone in tandem, essential but separate activities. At best, moral theology may come in as a sequel or even appendix to dogmatics. The originality of this book lies in grounding Christian ethics not even in dogmatics but in the liturgy of the eucharist. Wonderfully worked out by the many fine scholars gathered by Hauerwas and Wells, this is a genuinely new turn in the history of Christian experience." Fergus Kerr, Regent, Blackfriars, Oxford

“This accessible volume will interest undergraduates and more advanced scholars alike.” Karen Melham, Emory University

“The volume offers a salutary reminder that Christian ethics is not simply one among other theoretical enterprises, but rather a sustained and disciplined attempt to understand the deepest dimensions of the Christian life. It rightly observes that Christian worship (at least when done well) is paradigmatic for discipleship and central means of moral information. The best chapters in this Companion communicate a deep sense of the distinctive nature of Christian ethics in a way that benefits us all.” Stephen J. Pope, Boston College

"I recommend this work especially for faculty of Christian ethics courses and worship courses at seminaries and church affiliated colleges." Teaching Theology & Religion

Stanley Hauerwas is Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological Ethics at the Divinity School, Duke University, North Carolina. He is regarded as a, if not the, leading figure in Christian ethics. His book, A Community of Character: Toward a Constructive Christian Social Ethic, was selected as one of the 100 most important books on religion of the twentieth century. He is one of the most brilliant and original thinkers of his generation. He has written numerous books including: The Peaceable Kingdom (1983), A Community of Character (1981), Resident Aliens (1989), Christians Among the Virtues (1997), Wilderness Wanderings: Probing Twentieth Century Theology (1997), Sanctify Them in the Truth (1998), and With the Grain of the Universe: the Church’s Witness and Natural Theology (2001).

Samuel Wells is Priest-in-Charge of St Mark's, Newnham, Cambridge, and a writer in theological ethics. He has published several books, including Transforming Fate into Destiny (1998), Faithfulness and Fortitude (2000), and Improvisation and the Drama of Christian Ethics (2004).

The Blackwell Companion to Christian Ethics presents an innovative exposition of Christian ethics, seen through the lens of Christian worship. Editors Stanley Hauerwas and Samuel Wells challenge conventional approaches to the subject, contending that it is Christian worship that shapes the moral life of Christians. In this way, they restore a sense of the integral connection between Christian ethics and theology. The structure of the volume reflects this fresh approach to the discipline, following the practices of the Eucharist in a liturgical sequence from the “Gathering” through to the “Dismissal”. The Companion is ecumenical in spirit and embraces contributions from leading commentators within the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Methodist, Presbyterian, Mennonite, and Pentecostal traditions. Designed to be accessible to introductory students, it will have a major impact on the study of Christian ethics.