Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
What does Jesus have to do with ethics? There are two brief answers given by believers: "everything" and "not much." While evangelical or fundamentalist Christians would find authoritative guidance in the words and commands of Jesus as recorded in the New Testament, many theologians would say that Jesus is too concrete or narrowly particular to have any direct import for ethics. In this book William Spohn takes a middle way, showing how Jesus becomes the "concrete universal" of Christian ethics. By forming a bridge from contemporary Christians to the words and deeds of Jesus, Jesus' story exemplifies moral perception, motivation, and Christian identity. Spohn shows how the practices of Christian spirituality (specifically prayer, service, and community) train the imagination and reorient emotions to produce a character and way of life consonant with New Testament moral teaching.