Ethics

“Epictetus’ smoky chamber: a study on rational suicide as a moral choice”

by Evangelos Protopapadakis

“Epictetus’ smoky chamber: a study on rational suicide as a moral choice”

by Evangelos Protopapadakis

Animals, Predators, the Right to Life, and the Duty to Save Lives

by Aaron Simmons

Published in Ethics and the Environment, Spring 2009

One challenge to the idea that animals have a moral right to life claims that any such right would require us to... more One challenge to the idea that animals have a moral right to life claims that any such right would require us to intervene in the wild to prevent animals from being killed by predators. I argue that belief in an animal right to life does not commit us to supporting a program of predator-prey intervention. One common retort to the predator challenge contends that we are not required to save animals from predators because predators are not moral agents. This retort fails to overcome the predator challenge. I aim to articulate a more satisfactory argument explaining why we are not required to save wild prey from predators even if animals have a basic right to life.

My Feminist Perspective of Authority – Part 1 by Elise M. Edwards

by Feminism and Religion

Originally posted on the Feminism and Religion project

I make a distinction between power and authority.  Authority is a personal characteristic based on a relationship... more I make a distinction between power and authority.  Authority is a personal characteristic based on a relationship of trust between me and a text, a person, or their work.  Power, on the other hand, is operative with or without trust.

This past weekend, I had the honor of participating in a workshop on Living Texts: Celebrating Feminist Perspective and Theo/alogy, Authority, and the Sacred in the Academy.  The workshop was organized for the Women’s Caucus of WECSOR, a regional association of national organizations who study religion.  I was delighted to connect with new friends, mentors and sisters interested in feminism and religion,

On Being in the Moment By Ivy Helman

by Feminism and Religion

Originally published on the Feminism and Religion project

Time.  We mark years, months, days, hours, minutes and seconds. We mark seasons.  We mark life events. ... more Time.  We mark years, months, days, hours, minutes and seconds. We mark seasons.  We mark life events.  We live our lives in time: both circular and linear.  Time began before we did and time will continue after we cannot experience it any further.  Some say we repeat time with rebirth.  Others suggest that we only have one lifetime of which we should make the most.  Still others suggest there is existence outside of time with concepts like infinity and eternal life. 

Is Baptism a Male Birthing Ritual? By Michele Stopera Freyhauf

by Feminism and Religion

Originally published on the Feminism and Religion project

Quite a number of years ago I had a conversation with one of my professors, a feminist theologian, who posed the... more Quite a number of years ago I had a conversation with one of my professors, a feminist theologian, who posed the question “Why do I need a man to purify my baby with the waters of baptism?  Is there something wrong or impure about the blood and water from a mother’s womb – my womb?”  Before you jump and shout the words Sacrament or removal of original sin, this question bears merit in exploring, especially in today’s world where women are taking a serious beating religiously, politically, and socially.  In today’s world, violations and rants are causing women to stand up and say STOP!  This is MY Body.  This outcry was provoked by chants of ethical slurs against women– Slut! Prostitute! Whore!  The cry got even louder when the issue of religion and government was raised in the fight of healthcare coverage of contraception. The cry got even louder with the enactment of the laws in Virginia and Texas (and many other states to follow suit) that forces women to undergo transvaginal ultrasounds in early stage abortions.  The mandatory insertion of a wand into a woman’s vagina (mandated by the government, mind you), is a violation and has women crying RAPE!

Beyond “Liberal” Female Piety or “Women Read the Qur’an Too” by Amy Levin

by Feminism and Religion

Originally published on the Feminism and Religion project

I’m a teacher’s assistant for an undergraduate course at New York University called, “What is Islam?” The other day in... more I’m a teacher’s assistant for an undergraduate course at New York University called, “What is Islam?” The other day in class, my professor asked the students whether or not the Qur’an is considered a “book”. Fraught with anxiety over inheriting such a problematic scholarly tradition of defining and delineating what “religion” is, I kept quiet. While my professor was aiming more for something sounding like, “a book is read, while the Qur’an is recited,” I kept thinking about the physicality and sacrality of the Qur’an (among other authoritative religious texts) and the way it is handled, revered, preserved, loved, an constantly under interpretation. It was about a week later when news broke out that U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan were guilty of burning several copies of the Qur’an on their military base, followed by an unfortunate slew of casualties including at least 30 Afghan deaths and five US soldiers.

Deliberation and Global Civil Society: Agency Arena Affect

by james brassett

The article provides a critical analysis of the role and function of global civil society within deliberative... more The article provides a critical analysis of the role and function of global civil society within deliberative approaches to global governance. It critiques a common view that global civil society can/should act as an agent for democratising global governance and seeks to explore the importance of global civil society as an arena of deliberation. This more reconstructive aim is supplemented by an empirically focused discussion of the affective dimensions of global civil society, in general, and the increasingly important use of film, in particular. Ultimately, this then yields an image of the deliberative politics of global civil
society that is more reflective of the differences, ambiguities and contests that pervade its discourses about global governance. This is presented as a quality that debates about deliberative global governance might learn from as well as speak to.

Brief summary of the doctoral dissertation — Ethics and value-reality. Aurel Kolnai's legacy: an analytic ethic based on the phenomenology of value-consciousness and moral awareness.

by Chris Bessemans

Tempered Internalism and the Participatory Stance

by Kate Manne

I Fought the Law & the Law One: Transgression, the Act, & Narratives of Aphanisis in Claude Chabrol's Story of Women

by Christine Evans

Medea's Family Reunion: The Lacanian Act & Aphanisis as a Challenge to Liberal Humanism

by Christine Evans

Preying on Victims: Radical Christianity and Exploitation of Tragedy in the Name of God By Michele Stopera Freyhauf

by Feminism and Religion

Originally published on the Feminism and Religion project

It is our moral responsibility, whether we identify as Christians or not, to pray for not prey on the victims of... more It is our moral responsibility, whether we identify as Christians or not, to pray for not prey on the victims of tragedies.

Over the last month, dare I say years, society has witnessed or been subjected to an all out war from radical Christians across America deploying the wrath of God and reveling in the tragedy of others to perpetuate their apocalyptic message of rhetoric and terror.  As I hear the news over the last few months, an old Billy Joel song starts to play in my head “We didn’t start the fire.”  Whether we started the fire or not, we should not feed the flames of hatred but figure out a way to extinguish it.

Here is a brief synopsis of current events that reflect this hatred and radicalism perpetuated in the name of God – examples of Christianity terrorizing or preying on victims through their actions.

The Westboro Southern Baptist Church: Preying on Victims at Funerals and Thanking God for their Tragic Deaths

Towards an anthropology of disciplinarity

by Rena Lederman

Ethics without IRBs (with Lise Dobrin)

by Rena Lederman

“Lifelines: Perspectives on Paul and the Law,” Anvil 16.2 (1999): 125-30

by Bruce Longenecker

The traditional perspective on Paul and the Law emphasizes human inability and legalism, while the new perspective... more The traditional perspective on Paul and the Law emphasizes human inability and legalism, while the new perspective stresses Jewish covenantalism and separatism. Pauline scholarship seems to be entering a period in which the 'either-or' terms of the recent debate may give way to an approach that embraces the legitimate contributions of both perspectives.--D.J.H. Abstract Number: NTA44-2000-1-326

“Until Christ is formed in you: Suprahuman Forces and Moral Character in Galatians,” Catholic Biblical Quarterly 61 (1999): 92-108

by Bruce Longenecker

As Paul envisaged the situation in Galatia, he perceived suprahuman forces at work that were fostering forms of moral... more As Paul envisaged the situation in Galatia, he perceived suprahuman forces at work that were fostering forms of moral character contrary to that of Christ and his people. The article first examines Paul's depiction of the Galatian agitators as wielders of the evil eye (see 3:1) and as sorcerers of enmity (4:16-17), both in relation to Paul's catalogue of vices (5:19-21). Then it considers Paul's analysis of the Galatians' moral character in 4:12-20 and offers suggestions about the theological coherence of this passage and its place within Paul's overall argument. The common thread in all this is the association of certain spiritual forces with certain forms of character. In this light the agitators are depicted negatively and Paul positively, while the Galatians are shown to be in danger of shifting from one context to another.--D.J.H. Abstract Number: NTA44-2000-1-363

“Moral Character and Divine Generosity: Acts 13.13-52 and the Narrative Dynamics of Luke-Acts,” in A.M. Donaldson & T.B. Sailors (eds), New Testament Greek and Exegesis: A Festschrift for Gerald F. Hawthorne (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003), 141-64

by Bruce Longenecker

“Good News to the Poor: Jesus, Paul and Jerusalem,” in Todd Still (ed.), Jesus and Paul Reconnected: Fresh Pathways to an Old Debate (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007), 37-65

by Bruce Longenecker

“Exposing the Economic Middle: A Revised Economy Scale for the Study of Early Urban Christianity,” Journal for the Study of the New Testament 31 (2009): 243-78

by Bruce Longenecker

In 2004 Steve Friesen proposed a `poverty scale' for Graeco-Roman urbanism as a backdrop against which to assess... more In 2004 Steve Friesen proposed a `poverty scale' for Graeco-Roman urbanism as a backdrop against which to assess features of the earliest urban Christian communities. This article offers an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of Friesen's scale, not least in relation to binary taxonomies of Graeco-Roman economic stratification, rhetorical conventions of the ancient world, and the `middling groups' of Graeco-Roman urbanism. It proposes adjustments to the scale (renamed as the `economic scale') and gives consideration to the significance of those adjustments for the reconstruction of early Christianity relative to ancient poverty.