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Philosophy, Theology, and the Claims of Justice

Karen Lebacqz

David E. Guinn (ed.)

in Handbook of Bioethics and Religion

Thirty years ago, both the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research and the collaborative team of Tom L. Beauchamp and James Childress placed ... More

Thirty years ago, both the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research and the collaborative team of Tom L. Beauchamp and James Childress placed justice on a short list of principles that should undergird medical treatment and research. It is difficult to sort out contributions of religious or theological ethics to justice theory in bioethics. Nonetheless, some claims can be made both for the influence of religious ethics on the public discussion of bioethics and for the distinctive voice of religious or theological ethics in matters of justice. Taking a biblically based view of justice, it is argued at that a religious view (1) extends the scope of justice; (2) makes oppression and liberation primary categories for understanding justice; and (3) makes justice the first principle rather than the second or third.Less

Retrospective

Russell Hardin

in David Hume: Moral and Political Theorist

This chapter pulls together the strands of argument that arise in throughout this book. It discusses Hume's sometimes explicit, sometimes implicit views of other moral theories — as opposed to ... More

This chapter pulls together the strands of argument that arise in throughout this book. It discusses Hume's sometimes explicit, sometimes implicit views of other moral theories — as opposed to strictly political theories. It also compares Hume to his forerunners, such as Hobbes, who seems to have set out the main initial problems for Hume's own theory of social order, and Locke, who is one of Hume's greatest antagonists in political philosophy, even while he is an important influence in Hume's epistemology.Less

The Emotional Detachment from the Sacred

Douglas V. Porpora

in Landscapes of the Soul: The Loss of Moral Meaning in American Life

Argues that through a felt lack of religious experience, many Americans are emotionally detached from the sacred. Whereas religious ethics ought to be the inspired emulation of God's perceived ... More

Argues that through a felt lack of religious experience, many Americans are emotionally detached from the sacred. Whereas religious ethics ought to be the inspired emulation of God's perceived goodness, religious ethics too often degenerate into divine command theory, where ethical rules are followed simply because they have been commanded by God. This emotional estrangement from the sacred has been an overlooked element in the secularization debate.Less

Religious Diversity: Familiar Problems, Novel Opportunities

Philip L. Quinn

in The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Religion

This chapter surveys recent work on philosophical issues raised by religious diversity or pluralism. It focuses on four topics. The first is the epistemological challenge of religious diversity. ... More

This chapter surveys recent work on philosophical issues raised by religious diversity or pluralism. It focuses on four topics. The first is the epistemological challenge of religious diversity. The rationality of commitment to any particular religious tradition seems to be threatened by the existence of rival traditions. The second is the political problem of religious toleration. Religious conflict throughout the world suggests a need for better arguments against religious intolerance than those currently available. The third is the task of understanding the concept of religion. Religious pluralism fuels debate about whether the concept of religion can be defined in terms of necessary and sufficient conditions or, if it cannot, whether it must be analyzed in terms of family resemblances. And the fourth is the enterprise of making constructive comparisons in religious ethics. Similarities and differences between the virtue theories of diverse religious traditions illuminate strengths and weaknesses in the ethical thought of the religions subjected to comparison. The chapter argues from these examples to the conclusion that religious diversity gives rise to several exciting and important problems that ought to be high on the agenda of philosophy of religion.Less

American Modernity

Lawrence A. Scaff

in Max Weber in America

This chapter examines Max Weber's thoughts on American modernity based on his observations during his trip to New York City. It first considers Max and Marianne Weber's experience with religious ... More

This chapter examines Max Weber's thoughts on American modernity based on his observations during his trip to New York City. It first considers Max and Marianne Weber's experience with religious services in New York, including a Presbyterian service at the Marble Collegiate Church, the service of the First Church of Christ Scientist, and the service of the Ethical Culture Society. It then discusses Max's views about the social implications of religious faith and social capital, as well as Marianne's thoughts about Americanization. It also analyzes Weber's account of the “cool objectivity of sociation” and his ideas on the issues of class, race, and gender; the relationship between religious ethics and economic action; and cultural pluralism.Less

Farm, Land, Church: Anabaptist Agriculture and Community

Anna L. Peterson

in Seeds of the Kingdom: Utopian Communities in the Americas

This chapter describes the religious, social, and environmental practices of Old Order Amish communities in the midwestern United States, focusing on the communities around Holmes County, Ohio. It ... More

This chapter describes the religious, social, and environmental practices of Old Order Amish communities in the midwestern United States, focusing on the communities around Holmes County, Ohio. It looks at the sustainability of Amish agricultural practices, the relations between social and environmental ethics in the Anabaptist tradition, and the ways that religious ethics are translated into practical guidelines for everyday life.Less

Community

Anna L. Peterson

in Seeds of the Kingdom: Utopian Communities in the Americas

This chapter looks at the extent to which the Salvadorans and Amish settlements have achieved social justice, protection for vulnerable groups, and democratic institutions and processes in their ... More

This chapter looks at the extent to which the Salvadorans and Amish settlements have achieved social justice, protection for vulnerable groups, and democratic institutions and processes in their communities. It analyzes and compares the distinctive contributions of Anabaptist and progressive Catholic theology to these issues. Particular attention is given to the religious dimensions of social movements and other mechanisms for seeking political change, and to the interactions between religious ethics and the actual practices of religious communities.Less

Difference, Resemblance, Dialogue: Some Goals for Comparative Political Theology in a Plural Age

Michael Jon Kessler

in Political Theology for a Plural Age

This chapter explores how political theology is, in a plural age, a necessarily comparative enterprise. Reflection about political practices and norms and political engagement require encounters with ... More

This chapter explores how political theology is, in a plural age, a necessarily comparative enterprise. Reflection about political practices and norms and political engagement require encounters with those of different normative viewpoints and those who are citizens of other political orders, necessitating communicative clarity across divergent background assumptions, worldviews, and legitimating norms. Political theology as a discipline has not yet developed a robust justification for the comparative enterprise. The chapter examines the challenges in the related field of comparative religious ethics—a field from which lessons can be drawn about the need for systematic and methodological clarity about the goals for and possibilities of comparative political theology.Less

Beyond Comparative Religious Ethics

Thomas A. Lewis

in Why Philosophy Matters for the Study of Religion—and Vice Versa

Both participants and observers often conceive of “comparative religious ethics” (CRE) as a distinct subfield within the larger field of religious ethics. Against this conception, Lewis argues that ... More

Both participants and observers often conceive of “comparative religious ethics” (CRE) as a distinct subfield within the larger field of religious ethics. Against this conception, Lewis argues that it is time to move beyond thinking of a separate subfield for studies of two or more figures, texts, or groups. Instead, religious ethics as a whole should appreciate the methodological fruits of the body of literature labeled CRE over the last several decades—in particular the realization of the extent to which all interpretation involves comparison as well as the import of the work done in the scholar’s own mind. The resulting vision of religious ethics further undermines the hegemony of Christianity within religious ethics by engaging a variety of traditions and bringing that engagement into a common conversation whose guiding concepts and categories are continually supplemented and expanded through encounters with materials from a wide range of contexts.Less

Philo’s Reproductive City of God

Kathy L. Gaca

in The Making of Fornication: Eros, Ethics, and Political Reform in Greek Philosophy and Early Christianity

This chapter argues that Philo's religious sexual ethic is an innovative synthesis which combines the Pentateuchal laws and sexual poetics of spiritual fornication with the sexual-reform plans of the ... More

This chapter argues that Philo's religious sexual ethic is an innovative synthesis which combines the Pentateuchal laws and sexual poetics of spiritual fornication with the sexual-reform plans of the Pythagoreans and Plato. Despite the differences in the specific laws of Plato and Moses, Philo and the Christian Platonists such as Clement found it irresistible to regard Moses' Law and Plato's Laws as part one and part two of the same dispensation. Philo appropriates the Stoic terminology of the passions to recast the biblical danger of spiritual fornication in psychological terms. The chapter indicates that Philo develops a forceful new program against sexual desire through his synthesis of Hellenistic Jewish and Platonic ideas about wrongful desire. Philo's limited synthesis of his criteria of impermissible sexual activity is covered. Philo also lays the ground for a paradigm shift in biblical sexual norms, but he remains relatively conservative himself.Less

What Is Our Sacred Responsibility in the World?

Madhuri M. Yadlapati

in Against Dogmatism: Dwelling in Faith and Doubt

This chapter examines four particular ways in which faith has been expressed as a commitment to one's responsibilities vis-à-vis one's community and God. It discusses Hindu epic illustrations of ... More

This chapter examines four particular ways in which faith has been expressed as a commitment to one's responsibilities vis-à-vis one's community and God. It discusses Hindu epic illustrations of dharma, or sacred duty; an allegorical extrapolation of Christian responsibility in C. S. Lewis's Narnia series as well as his discussion of the relationship between faith and works; Islamic understanding of human beings as God's caliphs (khalifa) and the responsibility for jihad; and Jewish articulations of human responsibility in a covenantal relationship with God. These examples concern a specific interface of religious ethics and the commitment to faith, by which one embraces a tremendous sense of responsibility for the very fate of the human world.Less

Introduction

Laura M. Hartman

in That All May Flourish: Comparative Religious Environmental Ethics

This chapter establishes flourishing as an ethical issue. The chapter explores unequal human flourishing, as well as human flourishing that comes at the cost of ecosystem health, both of which occur ... More

This chapter establishes flourishing as an ethical issue. The chapter explores unequal human flourishing, as well as human flourishing that comes at the cost of ecosystem health, both of which occur in a case study of the oil fields of the Niger Delta. The history of the concept of flourishing follows, from its origin as one translation of Aristotle’s central concept, eudaimonea—the goal of all human lives, the necessary effect of a life of virtue—to its expansion into religious belief. The chapter then introduces the book by reference to the fields of comparative religious ethics and religious environmental ethics. Finally, the chapter introduces the method and contents of the volume.Less

Ge Hong’s Doctrine of Immortal Beings

Ji Zhang

in One and Many: A Comparative Study of Plato's Philosophy and Daoism Represented by Ge Hong

This chapter talks about Ge Hong's attempt to systematize the Western Han's beliefs in immortality, to defend them against detractors, and to insist on their core value for his tradition. Ge Hong ... More

This chapter talks about Ge Hong's attempt to systematize the Western Han's beliefs in immortality, to defend them against detractors, and to insist on their core value for his tradition. Ge Hong argues that physical immortality is possible and can be attained through the practice of instrumental alchemy; he builds his ethics and political philosophy on the basis of these beliefs. Ge Hong's doctrine of immortal beings insists, on one hand, that suffering and death can be avoided. On the other hand, it forms an ethical platform upon which he presents his religious ethics by defining what life is and how it ought to be lived. The doctrine of immortal beings professes that by preserving the One, the continuity of ontological life, humans are capable of embarking on the journey of return from the many to the One.Less

Conclusion

Stephen S. Bush

in Visions of Religion: Experience, Meaning, and Power

The concluding chapter of this book presents a summary overview, drawing from the points developed in prior chapters, of what is involved in thinking of religion as a social practice that ... More

The concluding chapter of this book presents a summary overview, drawing from the points developed in prior chapters, of what is involved in thinking of religion as a social practice that incorporates experience, meaning, and power. One important upshot is that any particular religious event, object, or action must be understood in the broader social practical context in which it occurs. Another is that experience, meaning, and power must not be neglected in the studies of religious people. Then the chapter discusses the benefits to the study of religion of such a theory of religion, with reference to various subfields in religious studies: ethnography, history, textual studies, philosophy of religion, religious ethics, and religious thought.Less

“It’s Ethics, Jim, but Not as We Know It”: Reflections on the Absence of Moral Philosophy in Buddhism

Damien Keown

in A Mirror Is for Reflection: Understanding Buddhist Ethics

This essay explores the paradox of how a religion as ethical as Buddhism appears to have no ethics, or at least to lack the philosophical discipline that normally goes by that name. Buddhism is ... More

This essay explores the paradox of how a religion as ethical as Buddhism appears to have no ethics, or at least to lack the philosophical discipline that normally goes by that name. Buddhism is rightly admired for its moral teachings, but the tradition itself has shown a curious lack of interest in critical reflection on those teachings. Ethical dilemmas are rarely explored, and discussion of meta-ethical issues is almost entirely lacking. Instead Buddhist intellectual energy appears to have been channeled predominantly into metaphysics and certain related fields like logic and epistemology. Not until modern times has a discipline of Buddhist ethics emerged. The background to this situation is explored in section 1.2, and in section 1.3 a number of possible explanations for the contrast between the Buddhist and Western philosophical traditions are suggested.Less