Christian Ethics as Witness

An analysis uniting social theory with Barth's moral theology, emphasising how Christian moral thought is primarily a matter of witness to God's grace.

Christian ethics is less a system of principles, rules, or even virtues, and more of a free and open-ended responsible witness to God's gracious action to be with and for others and the world. Postmodernity has left us with the risky uncertainty of knowing and doing the good. It also leaves us with the global risks of political violence and terrorism, economic globalization and financial crisis, and environmental destruction and global climate change. How should Christians respond to these problems? This book creatively explores how Christian ethics is best understood as a witness to God's action, thereby providing the ethical framework for addressing the various problematic social issues that put our world at risk. Haddorff develops the notion of witness through a detailed study of Karl Barth's theological ethics. Barth, he argues, provides a language enabling us to know what a Christian ethics of witness actually looks like in both theory and in practice. In correspondence to God's gracious action, Christians remain free to think and act in faith, hope, and love in respondence to their unique circumstances, even in a world at risk. In their witness, Christians remain confident that God has not abandoned the world but loves and cares for its future.

Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Introduction

Part One. Ethics and Barth's Witness: Theology and Practice
1. Theological Ethics in Transition
2. Barth's Early Ethics and the Trinitarian Other
3. Barth's Social Ethics: Witness in Tumultuous Times

Part Two. Postmodernity and a World at Risk
4. Social Theory and Postmodernity
5. From Modern to Postmodern Ethics

Part Three. Witness and Barth's Ethics: Toward Contemporary Understanding
6. Witness and the Word of God
7. Witness and Christian Moral Judgment
8. Witness and the Powers
9. Witness and Public Ethics: Options in Christian Ethics

Part Four. Christian Ethics as Witness: Political, Economic, and Environmental
10. Witness and Christian Responsibility
11. Political Witness: For Faith and Peace
12. Economic Witness: For Love and Justice
13. Environmental Witness: For Hope and Freedom

Bibliography
Index