Discerning Ethics: Diverse Christian Responses to Divisive Moral Issues, Edited by Hak Joon Lee and Tim Dearborn

Discerning Ethics

Diverse Christian Responses to Divisive Moral Issues

Edited by Hak Joon Lee and Tim Dearborn
Foreword by Mark Labberton

Discerning Ethics
paperback
  • Length: 344 pages
  • Dimensions: 6 × 9 in
  • Published: February 25, 2020
  • Imprint: IVP Academic
  • Item Code: 5272
  • ISBN: 9780830852727

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Racism. Immigration. Gun violence. Sexuality. Health care.

The number of ethical issues that demand a response from Christians today is almost dizzying. How can Christians navigate such matters? What are faithful responses to these questions?

Edited by two theologians with pastoral experience, this volume invites engagement with these issues and more by drawing on real-life experiences and offering a range of responses to some of the most challenging moral questions confronting the church today. With an unflinching yet irenic approach, this resource can help Christians as they seek to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.

"An excellent introduction to the most urgent contemporary ethical issues. Discerning Ethics demonstrates methodological sophistication, honest discussion of divergent views, and a solid biblical commitment. Highly recommended!"

Ronald J. Sider, distinguished professor emeritus of theology, holistic ministry, and public policy, Palmer Seminary at Eastern University

"This volume of essays is exactly what we need in the classroom today, both in seminaries and college theology courses. Leaving practically no social issue uncovered, these diverse authors engage in moral analysis that is theologically rigorous but also genuinely humble. It is this humility that makes these essays especially worthwhile. This book demonstrates that Christians can indeed engage in communal discernment of what God wills for all of creation without falling into the temptations of our present-day, lamentably polarized political discourse. What we have here is a model of theological ethics that all Christians must learn from."

Ki Joo Choi, chair of the Department of Religion and associate professor of theological ethics, Seton Hall University

"Dr. Hak Joon Lee and Dr. Tim Dearborn, both scholars and pastors, have edited this fascinating and demanding volume of essays to enable Christian identity to be better understood and demonstrated in the face of complex ethical questions raised in a radically pluralistic and globalizing world. . . . May these essays cause all their readers, as they have me, to grapple thoughtfully and faithfully, in agreement or disagreement, toward a Christian life of more deeply formed moral thought and action, not as philosophical abstraction but as embodied and humble life that I pray will be a truer reflection of Jesus Christ."

From the foreword by Mark Labberton, president of Fuller Theological Seminary

"If American Protestants have been polarized between progressive-liberals on the 'left' and conservative evangelicals on the 'right,' Lee and Dearborn and their colleagues have broken through this either-or, not merely in pointing out that the middle is a much more expansive spectrum than just another stance, but in showing that both commitments to biblical and theological orthodoxy and attentiveness to the contemporary world and its complex realities require the virtuous practice of spiritual discernment, one that is faithful to the gospel rather than beholden to any ideology or tradition."

Amos Yong, dean of the School of Theology and the School of Intercultural Studies, Fuller Seminary

"As many leave the local church because of the conflation of Christianity with partisan politics, one related danger is the reflexive replacement of their former ethical commitments with secular ideologies of another stripe. Discerning Ethics is a helpful tool for those who are deconstructing their faith and looking for thoughtful theological reflections on key issues such as immigration, mass incarceration, racism, and education."

Robert Chao Romero, associate professor in the departments of Chicana and Chicano Studies and Asian American Studies at the University of California at Los Angeles
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CONTENTS

Foreword by Mark Labberton
Acknowledgments
Introduction (Hak Joon Lee)

Part One: Ethics of the Globe
1. Climate Change (Rebecca Shenton and John Mustol)
2. Poverty and Income Inequality (Seung Woo Lee)
3. Urban Degradation (Jessica Joustra)
4. Immigration (Joshua Beckett)

Part Two: Ethics of the Body
5. Access to Health Care (Brian White)
6. Abortion (Nick Brown)
7. Transgender (Jennifer McKinney)
8. Homosexuality and Sexual Identity (Matthew Jones)

Part Three: Ethics of Violence
9. Violence Against Women (Laura Rector)
10. War, Nonviolence, and Just Peacemaking (Jacob Alan Cook)
11. Gun Violence (Nick Brown)
12. Mass Incarceration (Joshua Beckett)

Part Four: Ethics of Formation
13. Racism (Jeff Liou)
14. Disability (Bethany McKinney Fox)
15. Social and Entertainment Media (Justin Ariel Bailey)
16. Public Education (Ryan Michael Huber)

Afterword (Tim A. Dearborn)
Contributors
Author Index
Subject Index
Scripture Index

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Hak Joon Lee

Hak Joon Lee (PhD, Princeton Theological Seminary) is the Lewis B. Smedes professor of Christian ethics at Fuller Theological Seminary where he teaches in both master and doctoral levels and serves as chair of the department. He is copresident of G2G-KODIA Christian Education Center, a research institute on Asian American Christianity and culture. Through the center, he has published several contextually grounded curricula for Korean North American youth and their parents. He previously taught at New Brunswick Theological Seminary for thirteen years.

Tim Dearborn

Tim Dearborn (PhD, University of Aberdeen) is the former director of the Lloyd John Ogilvie Institute of Preaching at Fuller Theological Seminary. He also served for ten years as director for faith and development at World Vision International. He is the author of several books, including Short-Term Missions Workbook, Business as a Holy Calling?, and Beyond Duty: A Passion for Christ, a Heart for Mission.