CCL Open Night 1 - An Overview of Christian Ethics

Welcome to the Centre for Christian

Living’s first

Open NightAn Overview of Christian Ethics

with some comments about how we use our money

A JOINED-UP LIFE: an overview of

Christian ethics

Andrew Cameron

www.ccl.moore.edu.au

1. Awareness:where ethics hits us

2. Unawareness:desire and groups

3. Christians and others:where we overlap

1. Awareness:where ethics hits us

2. Unawareness:desire and groups

3. Christians and others:where we overlap

4. Jesus Christ:how he makes a

difference 5. Christian ethics

its shape and its ways 6. Bible reading and cameo:

how money works

... How to handle sibling/parent/ex at Christmas?

... Should I use my work time on this or that priority?

... Should I obey or support this rule or policy?

(at work or in society)?

Where life hits us …




(at work or in society)? ... Will I buy that house? ... How do I deal with this bully? ... Will I date or divorce this person?





(at work or in society)? ... Will I buy that house? ... How do I deal with this bully? ... Will I date or divorce this person? ... Should I keep this baby? ... Should I put my parent in palliative care? ... It is time to switch off that machine?


Oxford English Dictionary:

ethics =

‘The science of morals: the department of study concerned with the principles of human duty.’

give it a name …

Oxford English Dictionary:

ethics =

... thoughts and actions about right and wrong

give it a name …

moral/morals/morality =‘Ethical wisdom’ (!!) ...... concerning ‘character or disposition, considered as good or bad, virtuous or vicious’ and ‘the distinction between right and wrong, or good and evil, in relation to the actions, volitions or character of responsible beings: ethical’

another name …

moral/morals/morality =‘Ethical wisdom’ (!!) ...... concerning ‘character or disposition, considered as good or bad, virtuous or vicious’ and ‘the distinction between right and wrong, or good and evil, in relation to the actions, volitions or character of responsible beings: ethical’

(so ‘morals’ are not just about sex)

another name …

(no longer strictly upheld)

ethics = the study of thoughts about and actions of right and wrong

a classic distinction

(no longer strictly upheld)

ethics = the study of thoughts about and actions of right and wrong

morals/morality =specific lists of what people and community think to be right and wrong

a classic distinction

Rights

Awareness: where ‘ethics’ hits us

Rights


to equality, autonomy, protection and security, property ownership, privacy, reputation

Rights



to freedomfrom forced workof movementof associationof thoughtof speech and expressionof peaceful assemblyof religion and beliefof consciencefrom wantfrom fear

Rights



to freedomfrom forced workof movementof associationof thoughtof speech and expressionof peaceful assemblyof religion and beliefof consciencefrom wantfrom fear

to justice:fair hearingshumane treatmentagainst retrospective laws

Values

… settled patterns of action and feeling … how someone usually thinks, feels, acts


Values

… settled patterns of action and feeling … how someone usually thinks, feels, acts

A school: ‘responsibility, respect, care, honesty, excellence, inclusion, understanding, tolerance’

A doctor: ‘professionalism, customer focus, working together, quality, honesty, integrity.’

A student: ‘assertiveness, self-fulfilment, self-esteem, independence, self-acceptance.’


Results


Results

e.g. health

harm-minimization

education

cost-cuttingshareholder return


Results

e.g. health

harm-minimization

education

cost-cutting

shareholder return

‘Consequentialism’:... Only results matter (for self, family,

corporation)... ‘Ends’ justify ‘means’


Results

e.g. health

harm-minimization

education

cost-cuttingshareholder return

‘Consequentialism’:... Only results matter (for self, family, corporation)

... ‘Ends’ justify ‘means’

‘Utilitarianism’ (= consequentialism for whole

society) : ... Old: ‘Greatest good for the greatest number’... New: ‘Maximum satisfied preferences’


Rules


Rules

e.g. ‘Faithfulness in Service’:4.8: ‘You are not to disclose confidential information received in pastoral ministry ...’6.9: You are not knowingly to make statements that are false, misleading or deceptive.’8.8: ‘You are to avoid situations of conflict between your personal financial interest and your pastoral ministry responsibilities.’5.11: ‘When engaged in pastoral ministry you are not to administer corporal punishment to children ...’


Rules

Rights Results

Values


Rights Results

Rights and results don’t always agree

Rights Results

Rights and results don’t always agree

Rules

Values

Values and rules don’t always agree

Rules

Values

Values and rules don’t always agree

Rights Results

Values

? Rules

Rights Results

Values

? Rules

‘Morality is how I feel too, because in my heart, I could feel it. You could feel what’s right or wrong in your heart as well as your mind. Most of the time, I always felt, I feel it in my heart and it makes it easier for me to morally decide what’s right and wrong. Because if I feel about doing something, I’m going to feel it in my heart, and if it feels good, I’m going to do it.’

- from Chris Smith, Souls in Transition

Unawareness: desire

includes wanting, longing, attraction, yearning, interest, enjoyment,

delight ... our God-given response to whatever is

good

Unawareness: desire



good God made a ‘very good’ world;

he loads it with what we want, love, delight in

Augustine (4th century): humanity made for ‘the enjoyment of God and of one another in God’

+ we rightly delight in all the non-human creation

Unawareness: desire



good God made a ‘very good’ world;

he loads it with what we want, love, delight in

Augustine (4th century): humanity made for ‘the enjoyment of God and of one another in God’

+ we rightly delight in all the non-human creation

... but our ‘loves’ (desires) are ‘disordered’

Unawareness: desire

There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God ...’ [2 Timothy 3:1-4]

Unawareness: desire

There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God ...’ [2 Timothy 3:1-4]

Unawareness: desire

ww

w.luci

fere

ffect

.co

m

Unawareness: groups

Hannah Arendt

Adolf Eichmann

Hannah Arendt

Adolf Eichmann

the

fearsom

e, word-

and-

thought-

defying

banality of evil.

Calvin (16th century): ... when we come to our own case,

we forget ‘values’

“The intellect is very rarely deceived in general [but] is illusory when it goes farther, that is, applies the principle to particular cases.



“In reply to the general question, every man will affirm that murder is evil. But he who is plotting the death of an enemy contemplates murder as something good. The adulterer will condemn adultery in general, but will privately flatter himself in his own particular adultery.



“Here is man's ignorance: when he comes to a particular case, he forgets the general principle that he has just laid down.”

disordered desires

Unawareness: ‘flesh’

disordered desires

false belonging


‘Flesh’:disordered

desiresfalse belonging


Rights

Rules

Results(‘Consequentialism’) ?

Christians and others:where we overlap

Values

RightsCreation

Rules

Results(‘Consequentialism’)

Values

?


RightsCreation

Rules


Values

?

Characterof God


RightsCreation

Rules


Values

? New future(‘eschatology’)

Characterof God


Rights

Rules


Values

?


Creation

Characterof God

New future(‘eschatology’)

God’s commands

Rights

Rules


Values

?


JesusChrist

Creation

Characterof God

New future(‘eschatology’)

God’s commands

JesusChrist

How Jesus makes a difference

JesusChrist

Restores created order

Reveals God’scharacter


JesusChrist

Restores created order

Receives God’spromises


Reframes God’scommands


JesusChristReconciles

relationshipsRestores

created order Receives God’s

promises


Reframes God’scommands


Fall / ‘Flesh’ :disordered

desires false belonging

‘Saved’‘in Christ’




‘Saved’‘in Christ’ Christ’s Spirit:

reordered desires true inclusion

(‘love’)


The ‘pilot project’ for true human society that teaches us (e.g.):

Mercy and forgiveness (from Christ, then to each other)

Community‘in Christ’



New, true inclusion (from other social influences)

Reordered desire (for the ‘enjoyment of God and of each other in God’)






Celebration of the powers of others (gifts, submission)






Celebration of the powers of others (gifts, submission)

The needs and limits of bodies (care)

How one body affects another (e.g. in speech, sexuality, exclusion)




Christ’s Spirit:reordered desires,

true inclusion (‘love’)

New future


God’sCharacter

Creation

Commands

The shape of Christian ethics

The ways of Christian

ethicsCreation Community

‘in Christ’New

future

God’sCharacter

Commands

An ‘order’: to accept, enjoy and protect

[e.g. 1 Tim 4:1-5]



‘in Christ’New

future

God’sCharacter

Commands

A goal: humanity’s communal

purpose [e.g. 2 Pet. 3:3-14]


[e.g. 1 Tim 4:1-5]



‘in Christ’New

future

God’sCharacter

Commands

A method: the way of cross & resurrection

[e.g. Phil. 2, Col. 3, Eph. 4]




[e.g. 1 Tim 4:1-5]



‘in Christ’New

future

God’sCharacter

Commands

A ‘character’: holy

[e.g. ‘partakers of divine nature’, 2

Peter 1:1-11]






[e.g. 1 Tim 4:1-5]



‘in Christ’New

future

God’sCharacter

Commands



Peter 1:1-11]






[e.g. 1 Tim 4:1-5]



‘in Christ’New

future

God’sCharacter

Commands



Peter 1:1-11]






[e.g. 1 Tim 4:1-5]



‘in Christ’New

future

God’sCharacter

Commands… a ‘quick-start’ , for anyone whose desires are still being reordered

Philemon v8

... M. Hill, ‘mutual love relationships’ in The How and Why of Love (Matthias Media, 2002)

... the shape of relationships, as enacted by community in Christ.

God’sCharacter



Community‘in Christ’ New future

Fall / ‘Flesh’ :

disordered desires

false belonging

Creation

Commands

God’sCharacter





disordered desires

false belonging

Creation

Commands

God’sCharacter





disordered desires

false belonging

Creation

Commands

God’sCharacter





disordered desires

false belonging

Creation

Commands

God’sCharacter





disordered desires

false belonging

Creation

Commands

God’sCharacter





disordered desires

false belonging

Creation

Commands

God’sCharacter





disordered desires

false belonging

Creation

Commands





New future


God’sCharacter

Creation

Commands

Cameo: how money works



Luke 12 … v13: the brother v15: the greed v18: the fool v30: the norm v34: the heart

God’sCharacter

v24: the ravens … ‘how much

more’ v27: the lilies … ‘how much

more’ v32: the Kingdom

God’sCharacter

Creation

v16: the crop v24: the ravens v27: the lilies v30: our needs

New future

God’sCharacter

Creation v23: built for more v25: can’t change it v31: extras on the way v33b: scarcity is not the

problem

New future


God’sCharacter

Creation

v33a: freed to care

New future


God’sCharacter

v22: don’t worry (&29)

v31: seek (& 33b)

v32: don’t fear v33: sell and give



Creation

Commands





New future


God’sCharacter

Creation

Commands

v34: the heart!





New future


God’sCharacter

Creation

Commands





New future


God’sCharacter

Creation

Commands

Seven areas of economic life …

Thanks for joining us at the first CCL Open Night

www.ccl.moore.edu.auwww.moore.edu.auwww.sie.org.au

Education

CCL Open Night 1 - An Overview of Christian Ethics