[1] As a Christian and as a Moral Theologian, I have been appalled by the Theresa Schiavo case for a number of reasons. There is no doubt that many people used this case as an opportunity to promote a particular point of view or agenda. To these ends they twisted the legal, medical, political, moral, […]
[1] The long tragic case of Terri Shiavo recently produced an outpouring of response throughout the United States. Her death was reported on April 1, 2005, nearly two weeks after life support was removed in accord with a court order. Terri Shiavo suffered severe brain damage in 1990 when she collapsed at home after suffering […]
In relation to responsibility [1] Accountability is grounded in the relationality of communion and empowered by the mutuality of responsibility. Accountability complements or flows from responsibility, by moving from the explicitly Christian grounding and non-coerced nature of responsibility to a more public, enforceable accountability. Theologically, accountability is necessary because of the all-pervasive presence of sin, […]
[1] When invited to speak at a recent gathering of Lutheran ethicists I was asked to address the question “What are the distinctive contributions of a Lutheran bioethic?”1 Thus, my charge seemed to make two assumptions: the first, that there is a Lutheran bioethic and second, that its contributions to plenary debate are distinctive. Both […]
[1] It is perhaps surprising that given the wide ethnic and religious pluralism that have long been characteristic of the United States, that there have not been more incidents of tension and conflict between different groups of Americans. Certainly there have been such incidents, often in times of war or national upheaval, and some of […]
[1] I am delighted and honored to respond to these four reviews of my Paradoxical Vision. Beyond that I am grateful to the four authors-Perry, Kruse, Kennedy, and Lagerquist-for their willingness to write reviews of a book that is ten years old. I am particularly grateful to Michael Shahan, the book review editor of the […]
[1] There is no more timely book than The Paradoxical Vision. Given issues like war, peace, sexuality, and how the “public” voice of the Christian community ought to be expressed, this book provides a theological and ethical framework that is vital. Its vitality lies in a clear articulation of Lutheran “public theology” or “social ethics.” […]
[1] “When [the American Churches] are less able and willing to form their members spiritually or morally, [they] put heavier emphasis on their role as public actors.” (p.189) Anyone who has come to think that his\her denomination is just publishing too many “social statements” and is doing a bit too much lobbying, might jump for […]
[1] Robert Benne’s The Paradoxical Vision: A Public Theology for the Twenty-first Century first appeared five years in advance of that century. A decade later there is plenty of the century left and the need for religious traditions to be constructively engaged with their “public environment-the economic, political, and cultural spheres of our common life” […]
[1] On Sunday, January 20, 2005, three days after the “Report and Recommendations” of the task force for the ELCA Studies on Sexuality was released, there was no mention of the report, no notice in our bulletin, at my local church. In this respect, our response to this report was no different from our response […]
