if<\/em> one used one\u2019s excess wealth for the benefit of the poor. Their statements are very strong. John Chrysostom condemned wealth and luxury and advocated a kind of communism in which property would belong to all people. Erasmus and Luther also advocated, as an ideal, a \u201ccommon purse\u201d not only within the church but in society in general. However, they did not think that was practical. Nevertheless, they condemned hoarding wealth when people were hungry and homeless.<\/p>\nSecond, nearly all the church fathers except Augustine, plus Erasmus and Luther, considered violence evil and urged Christians to avoid it whenever possible. Basil the Great and John Chrysostom banned Christian soldiers from partaking of communion for one year if they killed someone in battle. Luther, of course, notoriously argued that one can kill for a righteous cause in love, but he strongly discouraged Christians from practicing violence in self-defense. It was only justified in defense of another.<\/p>\n
Third, many great Christian thinkers easily made exceptions to revealed rules of conduct\u2014as traditionally interpreted by Christians. This exceptionalism might be called \u201coccasionalism\u201d or \u201ccontextualism\u201d to avoid the stigma of \u201csituation ethics.\u201d<\/p>\n
Luther condoned polygamy (or at least bigamy) in some cases and also said that if a wife discovers her husband is impotent she is justified in having sex with his brother in order to have children. Bonhoeffer justified lying and said that the Christian must only tell the truth when the person deserves the truth. Often, he more than implied, the person being spoken to does not deserve the truth and then it is okay to lie.<\/p>\n
Kierkegaard, of course, spoke about the \u201cteleological suspension of the ethical\u201d and argued that true religion, Christianity, transcends ordinary ethics. The true \u201cknight of faith\u201d must do what God commands even if it violates a known law of God.<\/p>\n
Sidebar: The opinions expressed here are my own (or those of the guest writer); I do not speak for any other person, group or organization; nor do I imply that the opinions expressed here reflect those of any other person, group or organization unless I say so specifically. Before commenting read the entire post and the \u201cNote to commenters\u201d at its end.*<\/em><\/p>\nDoes all this sound somewhat like \u201csituation ethics?\u201d During the 1960s Episcopal theologian Joseph Fletcher published Situation Ethics: The New Morality<\/em> which was thoroughly trashed by conservative Christians. Admittedly there are differences between Fletcher\u2019s situation ethics and the \u201coccasionalism\u201d or \u201ccontextualism\u201d of some of the church fathers and reformers and Kierkegaard and Bonhoeffer. (I could throw in Barth and Brunner, too, but their \u201cexceptions\u201d to the revealed will of God are not as strong or as extreme as some others.)<\/p>\nIt is exceptionally difficult to stick to a strict rule-based ethic, even within Christianity! Kant tried to do it, even arguing that it would be wrong to lie to save the life of a friend. But Kant lived in an ivory tower of pure thought and hardly ever encountered the real world outside his home and university. Luther needed Prince Phillip of Hesse to support his reformation; the prince had two wives. Luther at least condoned it. Melanchthon more than condoned it. It\u2019s possible that he even performed the second marriage while the first wife was still alive. Bonhoeffer lived in a \u201cworld\u201d where innocent people, including children, were being killed for no reason other than insane prejudice and hatred.<\/p>\n
When I was a teenager growing up in a fundamentalist church in the 1960s one of the worst things anyone could be accused of was \u201csituation ethics\u201d and yet I observed many of my denomination\u2019s own leaders doing things that I knew to be unethical. I won\u2019t say how I knew, but I knew beyond any doubt that one denominational executive was forging another one\u2019s signature on documents and checks\u2014perhaps with the other one\u2019s consent but it was still illegal in some cases. Everyone winked at it because it was simply too difficult then to get the right signature on the check or document. I well remember many instances in which pastors, evangelists, denominational leaders, did things that were blatantly unethical in a rule-based ethic but justified them given the circumstances. In all of the cases I remember, nothing like life was at stake; these were minor \u201coffenses\u201d if offenses at all. They were certainly technical offenses, violations of law in some cases. I was being taught one thing and watching my spiritual mentors who taught me ethics doing the opposite.<\/p>\n
When is it ethically okay to violate a rule? Is there a rule for that? Ethics is messy. Virtue ethics sounds nice but is no complete alternative to \u201cquandry ethics\u201d\u2014ethical decision making based on case studies. Augustine\u2019s \u201crule\u201d was \u201cLove and do as you please.\u201d Fletcher said much the same thing in Situation Ethics<\/em>. I was taught that it is never right to break a rule. I grew out of that. Now I have the task of teaching when and why it is okay to break rules. It\u2019s complicated.<\/p>\nThe history of Christian ethics is full of surprises and it\u2019s challenging.<\/p>\n
*Note to commenters:<\/em> This blog is not a discussion board; please respond with a question or comment only to me. If you do not share my evangelical Christian perspective (very broadly defined), feel free to ask a question for clarification, but know that this is not a space for debating incommensurate perspectives\/worldviews. In any case, know that there is no guarantee that your question or comment will be posted by the moderator or answered by the writer. If you hope for your question or comment to appear here and be answered or responded to, make sure it is civil, respectful, and \u201con topic.\u201d Do not comment if you have not read the entire post and do not misrepresent what it says. Keep any comment (including questions) to minimal length; do not post essays, sermons or testimonies here. Do not post links to internet sites here. This is a space for expressions of the blogger\u2019s (or guest writers\u2019) opinions and constructive dialogue among evangelical Christians (very broadly defined).<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Surprises in the History of Christian Ethics Lately I have been reading a great deal of primary and secondary literature about Christian ethics\u2014beginning with the ancient church fathers. (In my opinion, Richard Hayes\u2019s The Moral Vision of the New Testament more than adequately covers New Testament ethics, so my book will begin with the second […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a><\/p>\n