Christian moral action Flashcards
Luther
secular rulers alone should control worldly affairs and that secular authority should be followed, he acknowledge a limit to that authority. Luther stated, ‘Command me what lie within the limits of your authority, and I will obey. But if you command me to believe, or to surrender my books, I will not obey. For then you [will have] become a tyrant and overreach[ed] yourself, commanding where you have neither right or power.’
-spiritual kingdom of god separate to political kingdom of the state
Augustine
Believed obedience to the authority of state is observed because it is based on divine sanctions and contributed to the remedy of sins of the people.
- Thus, he subordinated the state to the higher authority of the God and obedience to the laws and authority of state is justified
-as long as it did not conflict with the duty towards God’s will. Therefore humans should obey the civil laws because they are sanctioned by God. He believed that government and the law exist as a punishment for and to help correct sin.
St Paul
Wrote, “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is not authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God.” (Romans 13:1)
Convincing
-Jesus ; ‘if anyone slaps o the right cheeck turn the other cheeck also
Wrong to abandon pacifist understanding
bonhoffer - duty to god
-must be ‘responsible persons’ who act to bring change
-must follow ‘call to action’, Christians do not choose sides, duty to god alone
‘silence in the face of evil is evil in itself’
Keikergaard
Must take the ‘leap of faith’
-gods will clear in the moment of action
-in some situations, can only act in despair choosing faith and hope
-’civil to discipleship’ requires a single minded obedience
Must ‘deny yourself take up the cross and follow me’
Leadership
Leadership
Look to leadership (community) over leaders (dictators)
-leadership focuses beyond the leader to god
-leaders look to oneself, alienated from community
Civil disobedience
to act out of selflessness and obedience to god disobedience to state is necessary
-must act in face of despair, choosing faith and hoping, even if we becomes a sinner in the process must trust god will forgive
Convincing as –human law is fallible, governments becomes corrupted, eg) nazi Germany
-need intervention eg)plot to kill Hitler
Barth
Neo orthodox view of the bile
-bible not absolute but witness to gods word
-if bible was absolute more people would be guided rightly
However it is the words effect upon us.
Eg) faith not an ancient set of rules but a living community
Convincing – purpose of the bible is to follow god
‘Will of god not a system of rule but different in each situation
-fundamentalist/absolute understanding is a rusty sword
-bible has universal eternal and ethical truths, but through it we can know gods will by meditations
Cone
Presents similar ideas to the theology of Bonhoeffer in the modern world (in response to racism in Trump’s America). He arguably lived out ‘costly discipleship’, facing hatred and death threats until the end of his days
- ‘the human must rebel against all the principalities and powers which make human existence subhuman’.
king Jr
-See how non cooperation with evil is a moral obligation
-civil disobedience not lawlessness but a higher form of lawfulness
Stephen Nichols
Praises Bonhoeffer for living his life ‘in Christ, in community and in love’. He highlights how central love is to the work and practice of Bonhoeffer. It guided him through the ways he cared for the Confessing Church, the seminarians he trained at Finkenwalde, Jews facing persecution, and, while in prison, still attempted to care for his own family.
Thorau
Wrote in 1849 about the idea of civil disobedience. He argued that individuals should not permit governments to overrule their consciences, and that they have a duty to avoid enabling the government to make them the agents of injustice.
Fletcher
Bonhoffer’s theory as a ‘radical version of the situational method’.
-supports Bonhoffer that response depends on the situation eg)need to kill Hitler relative to nazi Germany. Eval – misunderstands, Bonhoffer not a relativist, but logical how we apply gods absolute law/will to unique situations
Cathecism - disobedience
The Catechism states ‘the citizen is obliged in conscience not to follow the directing evil authorities when they are contrary to the demands of moral order’.
Salt and light
Salt – ‘you are the salt of the earth ‘enhances flavor, followers of christ enhance the world
Light –’you are the light of the world’ presence of christ acts as light in the darkness
Nietchze
Nietzsche famously said that “God is dead”, by which he meant to show us that God had once been ‘alive’ in our culture in the sense of being the source of our purpose and guidance.
Christianity as damaging - its influence was to infect us with the idea of ‘sin’ and ‘otherworldliness’; that we could only have purpose through something supernatural which we could never live up to,
-thereby undermining our confidence in asserting our own purpose.
The nihilistic void will linger until we became fully free of Christianity’s influence
Religious less Christianity
Bonhoffer – people act from complacency
Need to get rid of old ideas and separate them from present ideologies
-towards rationalism and away from superstition
-react to situational needs, acting selflessly and suffering
- getting rid of ‘rusty swords’ of outdated ideas
Hauwerus
-western democracies only practice tolerance of religion for pragmatic reasons without any concern for the truth of religion. Pragmatism without truth leads to indifference which leads to cynicism. Liberal secular western societies have undermined theological and religious truth which creates a western void vulnerable to being filled by totalitarian powers.
-opposes how people follow accepts practices but simultaneously commit horrors
Costly Grace
Need to act from costly grace
Abandon cheap grace of merely following legalistic approach
Allows us to live by religiousness Christianity
Look to 1)prayer 2)righteous action
-this requires a selfless suffering for gods will
Geoffrey B. Kelly Argued that Bonhoeffer gave a convincing explanation of the reason for suffering. He believed God makes a bond of suffering with humanity.
