Christian moral principles

• Theonomous Christian Ethics


  means that ethics are governed by God's law or commands (Bible)
• Heteronomous Christian Ethics


  means that ethics are governed by several sources of authority or law

  (biblical revelation, reason, tradition, conscience, church teachings)
• Autonomous Christian Ethics


  means that ethics are self-governed

  -on guiding principle is agape summarised in Jesus' own sacrifice for others

  -human reason has to decide how best to apply this love principle
• 2 Timothy 3:16


  "all scripture is inspired/ breathed out by God"

  -God is its author and therefore the Bible is infallible
• Strengths of theonomous Christian ethics

  1) humans are incapable to living good lives based on their own powers of reason as sinful and ignorant, need God's revelation

  2) God is the author of the Bible and it is therefore infallible, absolute therefore clear

  3) illustrated through real-life stories of Jesus, the supreme manifestation of moral integrity
• Literalism/ Biblical interpretation issues quotation example

  "if your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away"

  -obviously a metaphor
• Karl Barth (literalism and biblical interpretation)

  -bibliolarty

  -literalism falsely gives the Bible a divine status which may only be attributed to God

  -need human reason to decide whether symbolic etc., must be read critically as a source of inspiration

  -different writers over a long period of time (witness to the Word not word itself)
• Biblical contradictions example


  violence shifts between old and new testaments

  Old= 'eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth', war, capital punishment, retribution

  New= Jesus' sermon on the mount, reconciliation
• Weaknesses of Theonomous Christian ethics

  1) dangers of limited understanding and how to interpret the Bible

  2) dealing with contradictions

  3) time difference between now and time of writing, does not match modern scientific knowldge

  4) so many different writing styles suggesting some degree of human authorship
• How to reconcile apparently contradictory commands?

  -only a problem is Bible treated in narrow sense as a rule book

  -contradictions necessary for Christians to fully engage with the problems of ethical decisions

  (leads to heteronomous view)
• Strengths of heteronomous Christian ethics

  1) need reason to reflect and consider how to apply Christian principles in new situations

  2) the Bible is part of a historical traditions inspired by God to write down thoughts. Odd to think that should end with last book of the Bible
• Roman Catholic ethical heteronomy

  -not confined to Bible but also accessible through natural law, reason, conscience and Church authority

  -"law written on their hearts"

  -strongly criticise liberation theology

  -the magisterium
• Catholic Church teachings (quotation from Catechism of the Catholic church)

  Papal encyclical which express the Magisterium

  "to the Church belongs the right always and everywhere to announce moral principle" (Catechism of the Catholic Church)
• Papal encyclical


  letter issued by the Pope to his senior clergy on some significant topic or teaching

  considered to have doctrinal authority
• Magisterium


  the official and authentic teaching of the Church vested in the pope and his bishops
• Liberation theology


  - placed the bible at the centre of ethics

  - been suspicious of 'top-down' traditional church teaching

  - ethics from below beginning with the conditions which have exploited marginalised people
• Stanley Hauerwas


  -ethics only done within Christian worshipping community

  -part of the narrative which develops out of the Bible and continues through history

  -role of christian communities is to question societies values
• Issues with Heteronomous Christian ethics

  1) what are legitimate sources?

  2) do some sources have greater authority than others? if so, what determines the hierarchy?

  3) does it lead christian ethics being subjective and individual?
• autonomous christian ethics view of the Bible

  not a specially revealed document but a Christian 'classic
• Strengths of autonomous christian ethics

  1) Jesus specifically challenged rule based ethics and encouraged his disciples to take on personal responsibility for their actions
• Hans Kung


  -'global ethic'= binding values and fundamental moral attitude

  -argues there is nothing in the content of Christian ethics which could not be found elsewhere by any person of good will
• Sufficiency of love? issues with autonomous christian ethics

  1) more to Jesus' teachings than just love, too simplistic

  2) christian ethics are distinctive and sometimes at odds with societies values
• Carl F. H. Henry

  "this is actually no ethical decision in life which the Biblical revelation leaves wholly untouched and for which, if interpreted and applied, it cannot afford some concrete guidance"

  -broader moral themes are be transferred even if doesn't directly discuss modern dilemmas
• Paul Ramsey


  refers to agape as "the primitive idea" of Christian ethics

  "nothing else than love... can occupy the ground floor if Christian ethics is not to suffer fundamental alteration"
• Cherry-picking idea (scholar)


  Richard B. Hays- even Christians who claim to take Bible literally are probably being selective and bringing own judgements and biases to it
• Richard Mouw


  Christians need to be aware of the Bible as a whole, not just taking small rules and applying it without understanding of other passages
• Neil Messar


  guidance in Bible not just in commandments but also in role model figures
• Catholic sacred tradition


  idea that revelation of Jesus is communicated in addition to scriptures through the apostolic and authoritarian teaching of the Church councils and the Pope
• Issues raised about Church tradition

  -Rosmary Radford Reuther about gender

  -invented to enable the Church to keep hold of its power

  -Jesus criticised traditional teaching, people entrapped within tradition and rigid interpreations
• Sola Scriptura

  • Sola Scriptura (scripture alone) is a doctrine held by some Protestant Christian denominations.
  • It states that the Christian scriptures are the sole infallible source of authority for Christian faith and practice.
  • Theonomous Christian ethics place God at the centre:
  • God's commandments are what is required for living morally.
  • Theonomists propose biblical law as the standard by which the laws of nations may be measured.
• The Bible

  • The Bible contains the 10 commandments. For example:
  • ‘Do not bear false witness against your neighbour’.
  • 'You should ‘honour your father and mother’.'
  • The Bible is seen as having been dictated by God.
  • So, the Bible contains God’s own direct speech and it alone must be used for moral instruction.
  • Because it has been directly dictated by God, the Bible is seen as infallible. It cannot be in error.
• Fundamentalists

  • Fundamentalist Christians believe that the Bible is the Word of God.
  • They believe that the Bible was written by God as He is perfect and omniscient (all-knowing).
  • So, the Bible must all be true.
  • This type of understanding is often called a literal interpretation of scripture.
  • This is because the believers believe that every word of the holy book is literally true
• Jesus on love

  • When questioned on what the greatest commandment was in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus replies:
  • ‘"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: "Love your neighbour as yourself." All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.'
• Autonomous ethics

  • This type of ethical decision making is referred to as ‘autonomous Christian ethics’.
  • In this type of ethics, the authority is placed onto the individual.
  • Autonomous Christian ethics are often associated with situation ethics.
  • There are no absolute rules and commands like the Ten Commandments. The only real command is to love.
  • The most important thing is always to act out of love for others.
  • This understanding is associated with some modern liberal Protestants, especially Joseph Fletcher
• Jesus on love

  • Jesus commands us all to love. Rather than giving a complex set of commands, he regularly preaches love:
  • 'My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.' (John 15: 12-13).
  • We must use our reason to try to find out what the most loving thing to do is.
  • This might change from situation to situation.
  • So, the version of this theory put forward by Joseph Fletcher is called situation ethics.
• Situation ethics

  • Fletcher believes that all human beings can agree on what is the most loving thing to do.
  • He describes this in his words saying ‘love is the only universal’.
  • Fletcher says that Christian love is ‘goodwill at work in partnership with reason.’
  • He makes it clear that agape is not like a desire we may have for another person but it is a giving love.