Synopses & Reviews
Is morality too difficult for human beings? Kant said that it was, except with God's assistance. Contemporary moral philosophers have usually discussed the question without reference to Christian doctrine, and have either diminished the moral demand, exaggerated human moral capacity, or tried to find a substitute in nature for God's assistance. This book looks at these philosophers--from Kant and Kierkegaard to Swinburne, Russell, and R.M. Hare--and the alternative in Christianity.
Review
"A very careful piece of moral philosophy. [For] anyone interested in the intersection of religion and moral values."-- Journal of Beliefs and Values
"[T]his book can give anyone who works through it a better grasp of what it means to be moral and of how Christianity addresses the gap that even most secular philosophers find to yawn between what we are and what we ought to be."--First Things
Synopsis
Includes bibliographical references (p. [276]-285) and indexes.
Synopsis
This book is about the gap between the moral demand on us and our natural capacities to meet it.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Part I: Kantian Ethics
1. Kant and the Moral Demand
2. God's Supplement
3. Moral Faith
Part II: Human Limits
4. Puffing up the Capacity
5 Centrality.
6. Reducing the Demand
7. Substitutes for God's Assistance
Part III: God's Assistance
8. Repentance
9. Forgiveness
10. God's Assistance
Bibliography
Index of Biblical Passages
General Index