The field of Christian ethics is the subject of frequent conversation as Christians seek to understand how to live faithfully within a pluralistic society. The range of ethical systems and moral philosophies available can be confusing to people seeking clarity about what the different theories mean for everyday life. Christian Ethics: Four Views presents a dialogue between four main approaches to ethics in the Christian tradition. Virtue ethics focuses less on the action itself and more on the virtuous character of the moral agent. A divine command approach looks instead at whether an action has been commanded by God, in which case it is morally right. Natural law ethics argues for a universal, objective morality grounded in nature. Finally, prophetic ethics judges what is morally right in light of a biblical understanding of divine justice and shalom. The four views and their proponents are as follows:

Christian Ethics: Four Views, edited by noted ethicist Steve Wilkens, presents an accessible introduction to the key positions in Christian ethics today.

Kevin J. Brown s Designed for Good is a study of classical virtue
ethics from a Christian perspective. This book shows Christians
that their faith contains resources to help them recover the
idea of virtue in the face of our modern moral bewilderment.

Although we may not realize it, we live in a world that is full of
competing ethical systems. Appeals to rights, personal freedom,
or even equality often come with their own meta-values. Each
of these values has something in common with the Christian
message, but none of them tells the whole story.

In this Christian take on classical virtue ethics, Brown weaves in
modern-day examples from economics, politics, and pop culture
to create a relevant framework that relates faith to contemporary
ethical questions. Brown argues that true virtue the kind we can
actually strive for in our day-to-day lives requires a holistic vision
of the good life, not a list of rules determined by our preferences
or the latest market trends. Instead, it is precisely what we were
designed for by our Creator: life in the community of Christ s body,
the church. Virtue then becomes the pursuit of wholeness in
harmony with God s design.

Brown introduces the problem of modern ethics and analyzes
common meta-values that readers will likely have encountered in
their workplaces, schools, and possibly even churches. Readers will
especially resonate with the second half of the book, where Brown
outlines the foundations of the holistic, Christian concept of virtue:
to act justly, and love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.

Physicians, philosophers, and theologians consider how to address death and dying for a diverse population in a secularized century.

Most of us are generally ill-equipped for dying. Today, we neither see death nor prepare for it. But this has not always been the case. In the early fifteenth century, the Roman Catholic Church published the Ars moriendi texts, which established prayers and practices for an art of dying. In the twenty-first century, physicians rely on procedures and protocols for the efficient management of hospitalized patients. How can we recapture an art of dying that can facilitate our dying well? In this book, physicians, philosophers, and theologians attempt to articulate a bioethical framework for dying well in a secularized, diverse society.

Contributors discuss such topics as the acceptance of human finitude; the role of hospice and palliative medicine; spiritual preparation for death; and the relationship between community, and individual autonomy. They also consider special cases, including children, elderly patients with dementia, and death in the early years of the AIDS epidemic, when doctors could do little more than accompany their patients in humble solidarity.

These chapters make the case for a robust bioethics--one that could foster both the contemplation of finitude and the cultivation of community that would be necessary for a contemporary art of dying well.

Contributors

Jeffrey P. Bishop, Lisa Sowle Cahill, Daniel Callahan, Farr A. Curlin, Lydia S. Dugdale, Michelle Harrington, John Lantos, Stephen R. Latham, M. Therese Lysaught, Autumn Alcott Ridenour, Peter A. Selwyn, Daniel Sulmasy