Moral Actions Flashcards
Utopia
An ideal state where everything is perfect; often used to describe unrealistic views of the world
Secular pacifism
A false non-religious belief that society can achieve a state of non-violence
Tyrannicide
The diliberate killing of a tyrant for the common good
Consequential ethics
Any form of ethical system which judges whether an action is right or worng by its outcomes - ends justofy the means
Liberal societies
Societies which develop laws based on the principle that humans flourish when given maximum freedoms and minimum control by government
The western void
The state of western secular society with christinaity, filled with all kinds of dangerous ideas and beliefs
Costly grace
This cost God the life of his son, Jesus and is the cost for the true christina as it may cost his life
Discipleship
To be a follower of Jesus, learning to live like Jesus and to put his teaching into practice
Civil disobedience
A refusal to obey certain laws/ rules of the government
Barmen Declaration
Set out the basic beliefs of the confessing church in opposition of the Nazi influenced german christian movement (Karl Barth)
Religionless christianity
Christinaity without the baggage of the past and the contamination of ideological belifes of the present
Theology of crisis
The crisis of huamns sinfulness can only be overcome by God’s judgement and faith in his redemption through Jesus Christ
Post Christian society
A society which uses chirstian moral values as part of its culture but does not practice or believe in Christinity as a belief system
Moral relativism
The belief that there are no moral absolutes; moral values are relative to general human values such as love or happiness
World come of age
Western culture has grown up and embraced a rational view of the world, discarding teh superstitious views of religion
Bonhoeffer background
- lived in Nazi Germany when many groups where being oppressed
- German christians adopted national socialist ideology (was rejected by Bonhoeffer)
- Bonhoeffer became part of the confessing church, where they rejected Nazi teachings
- he trained pastors in an illegal seminary in Finkenwalde
- he believed that due to society stepping away from christianity left a western void
- humanity needed a religionless christianity that followed the example of Jesus by stepping away from the constraints and outdated doctrine of the church
Bonhoeffer’s view on obedience
- being a christian was responding to the call of Jesus
- you need to submit yourself to Jesus way and therefore to Jesus leadership
- religion is not a list of things you have to believe but is something that needs to be done
Bonhoeffer’s view on civil disobedience
- following Jesus leads to the view that duty to God is going to be more important than duty to the state (this is what being a disciple is)
- Bonhoeffer was disobedient to to the nazis as he said that not doing anything is as bad as doing the wrong thing (you are guilty by not doing good)
- he realised that all humans are fallen and so there is never any guarantee that something is absolutely right or wrong
The church as community and spiritual discipline
- Bonhoeffer saw the church as the salt and light of the community and as spiritual nourishment
- had a particular view of what the church should be like due to the disillusion with the lack of action against hitler
view of what the church in the community is for those outside of the church
- the church should exist for others just as Jesus was a ‘man for others’
- the church should be outward looking
view of what the church in the community is for christians
- the church should be supportive and challenging the community
- Finkenwalds encouraged members to live a disciplined physical and spiritual life
- the community of believers were accountable to each other, this works with the will of God
The cost of discipleship
- the true cost is rejecting the cheap grace
- you must accept the living redemption message, requiring obedience to God
- costly grace means giving up other comforts and obeying God’s call with actions
- Bonhoeffer saw that suffering, sacrifice and the cost as inevitable
- being a disciple meant bearing the cross with Jesus
- it is not about being religious but being for others
Strengths of bonhoeffer
- Aquinas would have agreed that we must focus out prayer and christian focus on the will of God in order to understand his duty for us
- calling christians to seek costly grace could benefit society and ensure that christians are working towards a better world for all people
- focuses on the community and church role which is beneficial for society
- ensures the rights and protection of minority groups
- Bonhoeffer understands that all humans are equally made in God’s image and deserve the same treatment
Weaknesses of bonhoeffer
- civil disobedience is not effective at changing the ruling authorities
- he failed to get either the state or church to change their views
- it is impossible to know and understand Gods will
- we live in a more secular and multi faith society and focusing in role of church and state could be seen as outdated
- unrealistic expectations of suffering as he ignores Jesus’ sacrifice
Bonhoeffer on Gods will
- it is only clear in the moment of action what God’s will is
- through living a christian life you are able to align your will with God’s by putting aside you human priorities
- a good life is one with the by and the example of Jesus being centralised
Bonhoeffer’s view on leadership
- call to follow the leadership of Jesus through action first and foremost
- a true christian leader remembers that they are first and foremost a fellow follower of Jesus who keeps the bible at the heart of what they do
- they should live close to their people
- authority ultimately comes from God and they are accountable to God for their actions
Centrality of Jesus
- the ultimate leader is shown in Jesus
- Jesus is the sole mediator in the world
- if we want to achieve anything this needs to be done through prayer to God through Jesus
- the Barmen Declaration states that Jesus is the way to God and any other leader you follow is a thief
The confessing church
- was from a group of pastor who disagreed with the Nazi’s want for all church leaders to be of aryan descent
- the deceleration maintained Jesus as the main focus of the church and as their sole leader,not state
Bonhoeffer’s view on the confessing church
- he didn’t fully agree with their narrow view
- he didn’t think that they had done enough to overcome hitler
- his thinking came from his view of religionless christianity
- christianity would only function properly is it moved away from the trappings of the past
- christianity needs to leave the trappings of the past
- the confessing church hasn’t gone far enough to rid itself of the rusty sword
Bonhoeffer on costly grace
- grace was given freely to all by God, but the meaning of this was lost
- Bonhoeffer condemned christians who undervalued grace and called this as cheap grace
- costly grace is understanding that grace cost Jesus life and secondly it needs to cost a person whatever it takes
- christians need to be prepared to give up their lives and accept the consequences of receiving God’s grace
Bonhoeffer on sacrifice and suffering
- christians must sacrifice their own desire for material things through discipline and being prepared to suffer
- it is about putting aside the demands of the world and living a life with a noticeable difference to non-christians
Bonhoeffer on solidarity
- the church being full of rusty swords was that it was not giving priority to those in need and it was not living alongside them
- a true understanding of solidarity is not just about empathy but walking alongside them
- the church needed to stand up against the injustices
Bonhoeffer is relevant today
- christians undergo persecution so will need help and can use bonhoeffer’s teaching to help
- as society gets more materialistic his teaching on religionless Christianity and costly grace is more relevant
- spiritual discipline is timeless and important today
- the church needs to have a role in challenging politicians
- Jesus should be the central starting point for all expressions of christianity
- the church is challenged regularly to be modernised and fit in today, Bonhoeffer counters this
Bonhoeffer is not relevant
- emphasis on the bible is not as relevant, the bible is not as authoritative today
- his circumstances were more extreme then than they are today
- globalisation means that the world is different so borderless Christianity is less relevant
- his ideas acting in the moment cannot help in a world that is losing its ethical value
- there are too many pressures on modern people and os they cannot engage in the level of spiritual discipline the Bonhoeffer requires
- following God’s will is important but not possible without the church
Bonhoeffer puts too much emphasis on suffering
- he lived in a unique time which is not relevant to christianity today
- Jesus’ own suffering was said to be once and for all so why do we have to emphasis extra suffering
- emphasis on suffering ignores that Jesus rose from the dead
- Bonhoeffer did not actively seek suffering and so we should not read to much into his emphasis
Bonhoeffer does not put too much emphasis on suffering
- he theology emerged from his understanding of the oppressed in society
- different people are oppressed in society today so there is still relevance
- suffering comes out of solidarity which is Jesus approach
- costly grace could be said that his emphasis on suffering is a correct understanding of the true cost of discipleship
- Jesus called all people to follow after him and his suffering
Bonhoeffer presents a realistic view of chirstianity
- it makes sense to suggest that christian life should be centred on the leadership of God
- bible provides a realistic focus for this view as revelation from God
- it makes sense that a well formed conscience through prayer and study will allow christians to act appropriately
Bonhoeffer did not present a realistic view of Christians life
- finkenwalde might be said to have been ideal for those training for ministry but not for others
- different christians express their faith in different ways, one is not superior to the other
- christianity is a personal commitment not a community commitment
- not realistic that most christians should understand the bible to the extent of theologians
Christians can know God’s wil
- the moment of action is where is is possible to know God’s will
- through following our conscience you can make the right decisions (this is God given)
- if christians approach life as a community then ethics becomes a communal action meaning you can know God’s will more accurately
- we can know God’s will through our sense of reason
Christians cannot know the will of God
- humanity has fallen short so we cannot fully understand God or his will because of the broken relationship between heaven and earth
- God has given us free will and so we need to use this to resolve situations ourselves
- it is not necessary to know God’s will for an individual situation
- Bonhoeffer’s view came from his interpretation of the bible but others might have different interpretations
Duty to God is more important
- doing nothing to combat injustices is just as bad as doing evil
- the ‘bottom up’ approach should always put God’s protection of the oppressed above the state
- where fundamental christian principles are challenged the duty to God is more important
Duty to the state is more important
- in the Gospels Jesus does not encourage disobedience
- the bible teaches that leadership on earth comes from God
- if humans are fallen then human authorities could be a way in which good order is placed on disordered people
- even if a christian disagrees with something in society christians should be above any disobedience and should take the higher ground
- his extreme circumstances make it hard to know if duty to the state is more important