Ethics in Religion Commons^™

Review Of: J. Denny Weaver, God Without Violence: Following A Nonviolent God In A Violent World, Brian Stiltner

Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

In God Without Violence, Mennonite theologian J. Denny Weaver ‘proposes new motifs for Christology and atonement’ and ‘highlights new versions of Christian practice’ based in ‘the nonviolence of God who is revealed in the life and work of Jesus’ (pp. 197–98). Weaver wrote this book to be a popular version of his previous books on atonement theology, accessible to church study groups and college classes.

Weaver, J.D. (2016). God without violence: Following a nonviolent God in a violent world. Eugene, OR: Cascade.

A Taste Of Armageddon: When Warring Is Done By Drones And Robots, Brian Stiltner

Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

Discusses the increasing use of drones and weaponized robots. Argues that the international community must put firm ethical guidelines in place before the technology becomes rampant.

Review Of: Andrew R. Murphy (Ed.), The Blackwell Companion To Religion And Violence, Brian Stiltner

Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

Blackwell Companions, and instalments from similar series, should be initially sized up according to their purpose and audience. Such hefty tomes present themselves first as reference books—as collections of articles by scholarly experts that treat the key methods, topics, historical developments, etc., in the field. Second, each Companion is addressed to students and teachers as a state-of-the-field resource that provides several benefits: a sound picture of the field, assessment of various theories and methods used in the field, a sense of the innovative developments and open questions, and plenty of information to follow up on. Finally, some Companions give primacy …

Review Of: Thompson, J. Milburn, Introducing Catholic Social Thought, Brian Stiltner

Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

This book enters a crowded field. There are many books on Catholic social thought (CST), as suggested by this book’s select bibliography of over 200 items. Most religious studies publishers—especially those of a Catholic orientation—have one or more books on the topic. There are roughly thirty to forty texts in print that a college professor would consider when teaching a course or a module on Catholic social thought. Nonetheless, J. Milburn Thompson’s Introducing Catholic Social Thought is a welcome addition to the field. Thompson has written a clear, informative, and fairly engaging book for college students and others wanting to …

Review Of: T. J. Gorringe. The Common Good And The Global Emergency: God And The Built Environment, Brian Stiltner

Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

Tim Gorringe follows up his positively reviewed 2002 book A Theology of the Built Environment with this offering from the same publisher. The former book was notable as a sustained attempt to think theologically about the ‘built environment’. The built environment is the context that humans construct for themselves through their industry and technology; it comprises all types of physical settlements (cities, suburbs, towns, and villages), roads and transportation systems, parks and outdoor spaces, and buildings of every sort. It matters to humans how we build social spaces, for this influences our individual flourishing and the common good. While any …

Book Review: Daniel M. Bell, Jr., Just War As Christian Discipleship: Recentering The Tradition In The Church Rather Than The State, Brian Stiltner

Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

From his conversations in church settings and classrooms, Daniel M. Bell, Jr. has observed that Christians by and large do not know the church’s just war tradition very well, but that they are receptive to learning about it. Most theologians would likely agree that they know a number of Christians who are hungry to see better thinking and more effective action in response to war in our time. Bell, a Lutheran seminary professor and ordained elder in the United Methodist Church, wrote this book to interpret ‘the just war tradition in terms of concrete practices that might contribute to the …

Britain's Bomb: What's Next? (Book Review), Brian Stiltner

Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

Book review by Brian Stiltner.

Wicker, Brian and Hugh Beach, eds. Britain's Bomb: What Next? London: SCM Press, 2006.

ISBN 9780334040965

By the time this review is published, Tony Blair will no longer be Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He pushed for a decision to be taken by the next general election: he wanted the UK to commit to replacing the current Trident system (a stock of 58 missiles and under 200 warheads, some of these housed on four nuclear submarines) with a new generation of nuclear weapons and submarines. The British Trident submarines are scheduled for retirement between …

Review Of: The Politics Of Human Frailty: A Theological Defence Of Political Liberalism, By Christopher J. Insole, Brian Stiltner

Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

Against the grain of much contemporary Christian theology, Christopher Insole’s The Politics of Human Frailty takes on the challenge of theologically defending political liberalism. Specifically, he defends a strand of political liberalism ‘informed by the theological conviction that the human person is a creature incapable of its own perfection, although nonetheless called to and made for this perfection’ (p. vii). Insole, University Lecturer in Philosophy of Religion at the University of Cambridge, attends to philosophers and theologians primarily in the British tradition, but also on the American side. Insole advances his argument mostly through readings of other authors. Positively, Insole …

Papal Sin: Structures Of Deceit, By Gary Wills, David L. Coppola

Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

Book review by David L. Coppola.

Wills, Garry. Papal Sin: Structures of Deceit. New York: Doubleday, 2000.

Morality, Religion, And Public Bioethics: Shifting The Paradigm For The Public Discussion Of Embryo Research And Human Cloning, Brian Stiltner

Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

Public ethics bodies play a major role in the development of public policies that govern scientific research and health care.' Their tasks include weighing the ethical ramifications of forms of research, educating the public about the research and its likely benefits, and recommending directions for institutional practices and legal policies. Much debate about public ethics bodies has concerned the mode and level of their ethical reasoning. Should public ethics bodies develop substantive moral arguments on issues that are subject to widely divergent moral and religious interpretations, such as the status of the human embryo? To develop such arguments would, of …

Reassessing Religion's Place In A Liberal Democracy, Brian Stiltner

Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

Reviews by Brian Stiltner of five books published between 1996 and 1997 on the topic of religion's role in politics and a liberal democracy.

Originally published: Religious Studies Review 26.4 (October 2000). pp. 310-325.

Fuchs, Joseph, S.J. Moral Demands And Personal Obligations (Book Review), John R. Berkman

Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

Book review by John R. Berman.

Fuchs, Josef. Moral Demands and Personal Obligations. Brian McNeil, tr. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 1993. ISBN 9780878405374; 9780878405435 (pbk.)