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Blackwell Companions to Religion
The Blackwell Companion to Christian Ethics
The Blackwell Companion to Christian Ethics presents a comprehensive and systematic exposition of Christian ethics, seen through the lens of Christian worship.
528 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
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125 people want to read
About the author
Stanley Hauerwas
167 books287 followersStanley Hauerwas (PhD, Yale University) is the Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological Ethics at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. He is the author of numerous books, including Cross-Shattered Christ, A Cross-Shattered Church, War and the American Difference, and Matthew in the Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible.
America's Best Theologian according to Time Magazine (2001), though he rejected the title saying, "Best is not a theological category."
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 20, 2019
Somewhat difficult to read. Very heady topics, very challenging, but often I could not discern the individual authors' points in their given topic chapter. There was very little resolution to how we should treat, say, the Eucharist and (any given ethical topic here). Some chapters had greater depths than others, but this is a good book to have as a reference.
August 15, 2019
As per usual Hauerwas has delivered a beautiful take on Christian Ethics. There were somethings I disagreed with, somethings I agreed with, and somethings that made me change my perspective.
February 9, 2018
Quality in theological work can be described in a variety of ways: depth, breadth, ecumenical wisdom, denominational distinctives, Christocentric character, etc. The ideal theology book BOTH inspires its readers to a greater love of God and neighbor AND equips them to handle complex biblical-theological topics AND hands them tools for practically living such topics AND does so with academic-pastoral insight. These are sometimes tough to put all-together in one package. As such, it is an incredible rarity to get the kind of quality one finds in The Blackwell Companion to Christian Ethics. What Stanley Hauerwas and Samuel Wells have accomplished in this collection is a feat, and no mean one at that.
Their aims are not small either. In the Preface, the authors tell us that "[they] hope that, years from now, this book will be seen as a milestone for Christians." (xiii) What an ambition! And, yet, what better way to celebrate the culmination of work represented by such a collection! Who would have conceived of a formal, academic collection of essays on, of all things, Christian ethics taking the form of the progress of the Christian liturgy? (Brilliant!) And who other than Hauerwas and Wells, who assert so vividly, time and again, that there is no such thing as Christian ethics, really. "Once," starts one of their framing essays, "there was no Christian ethics." Instead, they assert, there was only worship and the logical workings-out of worship, baptism, and Eucharist. Who else could have composed and edited and dreamed up a book like this?
I am at a loss to say much more, since each and every essay progresses into its own topic so masterfully. The only true review of the BCCE is, rightly, to read it, to eat it, to consume it, to let it re-ignite our long-lost sacramental imagination, to see the world through the lens of the Church, to see the Church through the lens of the Spirit, to be baptized (rightly) into the Christian faith. In so many, and so few, and so many, words, the BCCE is perhaps the best Christian catechism I have ever received. If it weren't so academic and so bulky, I would suggest it rather than our paltry materials we have at present for the catechumenate (especially in evangelical Protestant circles).
With very few exceptions, each essay is a masterpiece and adequate representative of what is sometimes referred to as "New Traditionalist" thought. (You should have guessed that since it was edited by that theological center-of-gravity named Stanley Hauerwas.) And there is a surprising diversity between Roman Catholic, Episcopal, Anglican, Mennonite, and Methodist writers here. In a certain sense, the best of the "theological middle" is represented in this collection, including David Matzko McCarthy, R.R. Reno, Joel James Shuman, Kevin Vanhoozer, and Joseph L. Mangina. The essays take baptism and Eucharist and Church seriously as the base for each and every possible ethical concern, from genetic modification to global culture industries to IVF. And the handlings of the ethical contentions is wise, often surprising, and often un-settling (to our late modern American sensibilities, that is). Emmanuel Katongole's essay *against* "racial reconciliation" (!!!), which was my entry-drug to the book, is one of the finest examples of the complexities of liturgy, ethics, and opposing the suppositions of late modernity in its "right / left" dichotomies.
Altogether, this book is a masterpiece of theology, one of a few sorts of texts that is worth sitting on its own on the shelf, one of the few texts that I would recommend for all pastoral or ministerial leaders, and one of the few prophetic challenges to the spirit of our age that actually has behind the weight and power of Scripture, sacrament, and ekklesia all working together. Even if you minister in a "low church" context (like I do), I think the BCCE is a necessary read for what prophetic, culturally-savvy Christian witness looks like in the "secular age." Buy it. Read it. Live it.
Their aims are not small either. In the Preface, the authors tell us that "[they] hope that, years from now, this book will be seen as a milestone for Christians." (xiii) What an ambition! And, yet, what better way to celebrate the culmination of work represented by such a collection! Who would have conceived of a formal, academic collection of essays on, of all things, Christian ethics taking the form of the progress of the Christian liturgy? (Brilliant!) And who other than Hauerwas and Wells, who assert so vividly, time and again, that there is no such thing as Christian ethics, really. "Once," starts one of their framing essays, "there was no Christian ethics." Instead, they assert, there was only worship and the logical workings-out of worship, baptism, and Eucharist. Who else could have composed and edited and dreamed up a book like this?
I am at a loss to say much more, since each and every essay progresses into its own topic so masterfully. The only true review of the BCCE is, rightly, to read it, to eat it, to consume it, to let it re-ignite our long-lost sacramental imagination, to see the world through the lens of the Church, to see the Church through the lens of the Spirit, to be baptized (rightly) into the Christian faith. In so many, and so few, and so many, words, the BCCE is perhaps the best Christian catechism I have ever received. If it weren't so academic and so bulky, I would suggest it rather than our paltry materials we have at present for the catechumenate (especially in evangelical Protestant circles).
With very few exceptions, each essay is a masterpiece and adequate representative of what is sometimes referred to as "New Traditionalist" thought. (You should have guessed that since it was edited by that theological center-of-gravity named Stanley Hauerwas.) And there is a surprising diversity between Roman Catholic, Episcopal, Anglican, Mennonite, and Methodist writers here. In a certain sense, the best of the "theological middle" is represented in this collection, including David Matzko McCarthy, R.R. Reno, Joel James Shuman, Kevin Vanhoozer, and Joseph L. Mangina. The essays take baptism and Eucharist and Church seriously as the base for each and every possible ethical concern, from genetic modification to global culture industries to IVF. And the handlings of the ethical contentions is wise, often surprising, and often un-settling (to our late modern American sensibilities, that is). Emmanuel Katongole's essay *against* "racial reconciliation" (!!!), which was my entry-drug to the book, is one of the finest examples of the complexities of liturgy, ethics, and opposing the suppositions of late modernity in its "right / left" dichotomies.
Altogether, this book is a masterpiece of theology, one of a few sorts of texts that is worth sitting on its own on the shelf, one of the few texts that I would recommend for all pastoral or ministerial leaders, and one of the few prophetic challenges to the spirit of our age that actually has behind the weight and power of Scripture, sacrament, and ekklesia all working together. Even if you minister in a "low church" context (like I do), I think the BCCE is a necessary read for what prophetic, culturally-savvy Christian witness looks like in the "secular age." Buy it. Read it. Live it.
July 14, 2012
Amazing to read this book WHILE having the editor as the Professor!!!
February 15, 2015
Audible audio book. Liberal christian viewpoint. I had to quit at 57% and return the book. No wonder the liberal church is dying.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews