What Would Jesus Really Do?: The Power & Limits of Jesus' Moral Teachings

by Andrew Fiala

For many years many Christians have exhibited bumper stickers and wrist bands challenging themselves to live up to WWJD―What Would Jesus Do? Now Andrew Fiala, a professor who has encountered many such students in his classes, objectively assesses just what it actually is that Jesus does (and doesn't ) say about the essential moral issues that face us today.

Andrew Fiala appreciates Jesus as a moral teacher with an ethical vision centered in love, generosity, forgiveness, tolerance, and peace. But he argues that it is often difficult to determine exactly what Jesus would say or do about tough contemporary issues, such as abortion, euthanasia, the death penalty, war, homosexuality, and politics. Hence, Fiala believes we need to engage in philosophical reflection and critical thinking to arrive at answers to today's ethical questions that Jesus never anticipated, such as those involving technology, scientific discoveries, ethical advances.

The book shows how philosophers and psychologists―from Kant and Mill to Nietzsche and Freud―struggled to make sense of the ethics of Jesus. The book concludes by arguing that we cannot pretend that Jesus and the Bible provide all the answers to our ethical dilemmas, although Jesus does provide perennial moral wisdom. Thus, Fiala shows that Jesus' moral teachings must be filled out with contemporary ethical reflection to determine what Jesus, as a moral ideal, would really do today.

Genres: Nonfiction, Philosophy

216 pages, Hardcover

First published March 20, 2007

About the author

Andrew Fiala is professor of philosophy and Director of the Ethics Center at Fresno State. He writes a column on ethics, religion, and politics for the Fresno Bee: https://www.fresnobee.com/living/liv-...

Fiala has published books and articles on war, pacifism, political philosophy, and religion. He also writes about applied ethical issues such as euthanasia, abortion, the death penalty, and animal welfare.

Fiala loves the classroom, where he encourages students to think carefully about the tough issues of our day. He teaches courses in ethics, applied ethics, political philosophy, and the history of philosophy.

More information, including links to articles and interviews, can be found at www.andrewfiala.com.

Reviews

[Brodie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Christians, do not purposely avoid this book!

This book does not deface Christianity, nor does it ask the reader to accept any non-Christian views. It provides a guide to viewing the teachings of Jesus in a modern context, not by rejecting the teachings of Jesus, but by using what he taught to analyze the arguments on both sides of current controversies.

The book is deeply philosophical and explores the writings of many other ethics philosophers throughout history. The author gives his interpretation of those earlier philosophers and uses their theories to help shed light on the limitations of the teachings of Jesus. The book is slow to get started but gets depthy and insightful as you progress.

Don't be disappointed when this book provides more questions than answers.

[Logan Streondj · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book should be retitled: "The Insufficiency of Christ: cause Jews reject him". Namely Jews like Freud and Nietzsche, as well as humanists like Locke, Kant and other hot air bags. The entire premise of the book is "Jesus is inadequate" and he cherry picks irrelevant parables in order to claim Jesus didn't have anything relevant to say. He denies most of Jesus's Commandments, and doesn't even mention most of them. Like you shall not judge. The most characteristic quote from the book is "you don't need Jesus". Really this book is a disgrace.