Rs Ethics - Christian Ethics Flashcards
Liberal Protestants dislike natural law because it assumes everyone has an inherently ‘do good and avoid evil’ which is?
Rigid
Some denominations like evangelicals believe
The bible has true inerrancy
Divine command theory
Something is good just because god commands it
Deontolgical - doesn’t care about evil consequences as long God commanded it it’s good
Aquinas / William Temple
Strenghts of divine command theory
Divine sovereignty- commits to a theistic God
Objective moral law (like Kant)- not based on human preference/ universal
Emphasizes the importance of obedience and obligation (Robert Adams devloped this)
Consistent with the concept of Christians being ‘slaves of Christ’
Weaknesses of the divine command theory
Euthyphro Dilema
To what extent is Christianity about obedience to god isn’t he supposed to be a loving god
Early Christians rejected the legislation of the Torah - Ten Commandments from God to Moses
Sources of Christian authority the Bible?
Has to be interpreted- humans aren’t perfect
Have to look at passages in context (St. Paul)
Written by infallible humanity- bible us supposed to be without fault
Scriptures - hold literal truths transmit the Word of God
Weight of authority depends on authority:
Some Christians believe humans were inspired by God to write it down
So the writings are subject to cultural relativism- may contain errors
Useful source of guidance NL holds it high as divine law in hierarchy
Not absolute
Others believe
Bible literally contains Gods words handed down to humans (Moses)
Rules are absolute
New Testament is particulary important essential to follow Jesus teachings
Church
Priests have a vocation/ training that allows them to interpret and transmit the word of god
Church tradition- based on interpretation of the bible
Books of Acts- account of th early church being directly inspired by the Holy Spirit
Gives the church authority to formulate ethical codes for Chrisitans
Relativist
Varies from teleogical eg
Deontolgical eg
Theories that have elements of both eg
Situation ethics
Divine command theory
Natural law
