situational ethics

Cards (64)

  • Who noted that 3/4 gospels are similar?
    Bultmann
  • What did Bultmann focus on in the gospels?
    Historical elements to find 'authentic' passages
  • What did Darwin cast doubt on?
    The Genesis creation story
  • Who was Dietrich Bonhoeffer?
    A German Lutheran pastor
  • What church did Bonhoeffer belong to?
    The Confessing Church
  • Why was Bonhoeffer arrested?
    Money used to help Jews traced to him
  • What did Bonhoeffer question in his letters from prison?
    Christianity
  • Who was Paul Tillich?
    A theologian in the 1930-40s
  • What did Tillich argue about God?
    God must be the 'ground of our being'
  • What social change occurred in the 1960s regarding women?
    Women's role in the workforce became more important
  • What event caused unhappiness with traditional roles in the 1960s?
    Kennedy's assassination and Vietnam involvement
  • What was "Honest to God"?
    A book by JAT Robinson in 1963
  • Who was Joseph Fletcher?
    An American professor
  • What did Fletcher publish in 1966?
    'Situation Ethics: The New Morality'
  • What did Fletcher promote in his argument?
    A compromise between legalism and antinomianism
  • What does Fletcher say about church principles?
    They can't be moral absolutes
  • What should be considered first in Fletcher's ethics?
    The situation
  • What is 'pure Christian love' according to Fletcher?
    Agape
  • How does Fletcher link to natural law?
    Using reason to make ethical decisions
  • What is Fletcher's view on scripture?
    Accepted as a crucial source of the norm
  • What did Fletcher reject from scripture?
    All 'revealed laws' except love
  • What anecdote illustrates Fletcher's argument?
    The taxi conversation about principles
  • What does the play "The Rainmaker" illustrate?
    Seeing what's good over what's right
  • What did Fletcher criticize about his own argument?
    It's not a new idea
  • What are the possible options for decision making?
    Legalistic, antinomian, situational
  • What is Fletcher's middle way?
    Principled relativism
  • How does Fletcher view laws?
    As 'illuminators' for agape
  • What is Fletcher's view of the conscience?
    A function responding to ethical issues
  • What is the traditional view of the conscience?
    An innate, radar-like faculty
  • What does Fletcher reject about morality?
    It's a manual for the conscience
  • Should agape replace all other religious rules?
    Yes, Jesus prioritized people over rules
  • Why might agape not replace all religious rules?
    Rules are needed for guidance
  • What is the degree to which agape is the only intrinsic good?
    Agape is an action to be good
  • What do some disagree about agape as intrinsic good?
    God's laws are intrinsically good
  • What is consequentialism?
    Based on the consequences of an action
  • How is situation ethics seen as relativistic?
    No universal moral rules, each situation unique
  • How is situation ethics seen as consequentialist?
    Judgment based on outcomes and experience
  • How is situation ethics teleological?
    Concerned with the end purpose of actions
  • What is agape?
    Compassion to everybody, altruistic love
  • How does agape link to Jesus' teachings?
    Love God, love your neighbor and enemy