Christian moral principles Flashcards
KEY TERM - Theonomous
Theonomous Ethics: God has enforced his commandments directly into scripture; texts have strict meanings
FOR - Theonomous
The Bible is the Divine law and words of God which is superior to our own laws. It is self authenticating and infallible and does not require interpretation
-Meaning in the text is clear as inspired by God
Book of Timothy ‘All scripture is inspired by God’ –
If didn’t strictly follow the Bible would then be negating the word of God
AGAINST - Theonomous
No one can read Bible at face value, ‘if your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away.’
-not literal but a metaphor for changing the way one sees thing, and if taken literally misses the point of the message. – need reason
Literalists only take parts of the Bible literally when it suits them Luke 14 “Those who do not give up everything cannot be my disciples”
-Jesus says to live a life where hold no personal possessions, yet many literalists do not do this
The human language is flawed – how can we ever contain the true meaning of Gods words in a finite language
KEY TERM - Autonomous
would argue that Christian Ethics are do not need the Bible as each person should look to Jesus as a model and reflect his teachings of agape on the Sermon on the Mount.
Fletcher ‘set our principles aside and do the right thing’ – Jesus’ main teaching on Sermon on the Mount was putting agape (love) first) this and Fletcher taught in his 4 working principles was the only way to achieve this was to put the individual first in each situation
FOR - Autonomous
shows that each individual must be pragmatic and using reason and love and act individually within each situation, showing how Christian ethics are not communal.
Mathew ‘love your neighbour as you love yourself’ – love is the only source and is individual for each Christian to use within each personal situation
AGAINST - Autonomous
Barth/ Niebuhr humans “fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) and born into sin. Always tempted to do evil “For I do not know why I do bad when I do good” so won’t be able to discern the good and Gods eternal law
-Need strict adherence to the Bible to make moral decisions and can’t just rely on reason as too flawed to interpret God’s law for ourselves. Not helpful
Geisler: Whilst SE rightly establishes the person over things in moral decisions improperly est. the individual human autonomy ( and his situational decision of love) above the autonomy of God
Doesn’t recognise God’s law is eternally and supremely perfect whilst are decisions are flawed, and whilst may want what’s best. Decision may be flawed
Individual alone cannot be trusted
KEY TERM - Heteronomous protestant
Ultimately Christian ethics place emphasis on the individual and their individual relationships with God as blindly following the Bible could lead to a transgression into sin. Yet flawed nature means that need Bible to help guide m moral decisions using our reason as best as we can to interpret whilst not taking it literally
FOR- Heteronomous protestant
Romans “The law is written on our hearts”
-Suggests God has given us reason to help interpret scripture
Humans have reason and conscience. Justifies evil in the world to some degree as each human needs to experience the evil to also then experience the good (Swinburne)
AGAINST- Heteronomous protestant
Barth: “The finite have no capacity for the infinite”
-Christian ethics are neither personal/ communal it is only through God and revelation through the Bible
KEY TERM - Heteronomous Catholic
The church is before the Bible
FOR - Heteronomous Catholic
The Church does this through the magisterium, a series of meetings of Church leaders where they publish the papal encyclical, which informs a Christian on how to live a moral life- and thus for a Christian to be moral they must follow the Magisterium’s guidance within a community.
Catechism ‘the church…has the solemn command of Jesus through the apostles to spread the scared truth’
Luther had taught it was the duty of a Christian to be obedient to the government, as the government controlled our sinful nature. (Mark 12 “render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s”)
AGAINST - Heteronomous Catholic
Matthew 15:2-3, Jesus directly equates the Pharisees’ traditions with transgressions against God. Lose sight of the will of God
- Underlines the Protestant suspicion of Church authority, which is sometimes in conflict with Biblical teaching as Papal encyclical does not always reflect the words of the Bible
Bonhoeffer warned against ideologies such as Nazism – allows humans and the State to justify principles and practise that subordinate justice and God’s will. Critical of autonomous ethics – reduces God to human principles and makes humans slaves to the
