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Library | Item Barcode | Call Number | Material Type | Item Category 1 | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Searching... | 30000010253363 | BJ1188 M39 2010 | Open Access Book | Book | Searching... |
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Summary
Summary
This accessible introduction to religious ethics focuses on the major forms of moral reasoning encompassing the three 'Abrahamic' religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Draws on a range of moral issues, such as examples arising from friendship, marriage, homosexuality, lying, forgiveness and its limits, the death penalty, the environment, warfare, and the meaning of work, career, and vocation Looks at both ethical reasoning and importantly, how that reasoning reveals insights into a religious tradition Investigates the resources available to address common problems confronting Abrahamic faiths, and how each faith explains and defends its moral viewpoints Offering concrete topics for interfaith discussions, this is a timely and insightful introduction to a fast-growing field of interest
Author Notes
Charles Mathewes is Associates Professor of Religious Ethics at the University of Virginia. He is the author of Evil and the Augustinian Tradition (2001), A Theology of Public Life (2007), and several edited volumes.
Reviews 1
Choice Review
This splendid introduction to the ethical reasoning of the three Abrahamic traditions--Judaism, Christianity, and Islam--offers a highly readable analysis of the moral life by exploring the ethical dimensions of these faiths both individually and comparatively. Mathewes (Univ. of Virginia) examines how and what proponents of these faiths think about such issues as friendship, marriage, homosexuality, lying, forgiveness, capital punishment, the environment, and warfare. This book goes beyond a summary of predigested views to give readers a sense of the arguments animating the three traditions. How do the most serious and profound exponents of these traditions deliberate and decide about issues that they deem significant? Impressive as the book's extensive coverage is, the decision to focus on the three Abrahamic traditions to the exclusion of Stoicism, for example, may have led to the neglect of gratitude as a subject for more extended analysis. But perhaps this is a mere quibble, given Mathewes's laudable comprehensiveness. He also wrote Evil and the Augustinian Tradition (2001) and A Theology of Public Life (2007). Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-level undergraduates and above. P. L. Urban Jr. emeritus, Swarthmore College
Table of Contents
| Acknowledgments | p. vi |
| Introduction: Conviction and Argument | p. 1 |
| Part I Preliminaries | p. 19 |
| 1 God and Morality | p. 21 |
| 2 Jewish Ethics | p. 38 |
| 3 Christian Ethics | p. 53 |
| 4 Islamic Ethics | p. 65 |
| Part II Personal Matters | p. 81 |
| 5 Friendship | p. 83 |
| 6 Sexuality | p. 91 |
| 7 Marriage and Family | p. 106 |
| 8 Lying | p. 118 |
| 9 Forgiveness | p. 134 |
| Part III Social Matters | p. 145 |
| 10 Love and Justice | p. 147 |
| 11 Duty, Law, Conscience | p. 157 |
| 12 Capital Punishment | p. 167 |
| 13 War (I): Towards War | p. 182 |
| 14 War (II): In War | p. 199 |
| 15 Religion and the Environment | p. 209 |
| Part IV The Last Things | p. 223 |
| 16 Pursuits of Happiness: Labor, Leisure, and Life | p. 225 |
| 17 Good and Evil | p. 239 |
| Conclusion: What's So Funny 'bout Peace, Love, and Understanding? | p. 254 |
| Notes | p. 262 |
| Index | p. 270 |
