Books in the Oxford Studies in Theological Ethics series

Many declare the debate about abortion to be hopelessly polarised, between conservatives and liberals, between forces religious and secular. In this book Mumford upends this received wisdom and challenges consensus, arguing that many dominant attitudes and argument fail to take into account the particular way human beings 'emerge' in the world.

This books explains the just war approach to the use of force from a largely Christian-theological perspective. It engages contemporary approaches by offering a coherent conception of the just war ethic.

This work is an exploration of divine command theory, which is the theory that what makes something morally obligatory is that God commands it.

How do Christian ethics begin? This study explores the grammar of the Christian life as it is embodied in worship as the formative experience of Christian communities. In an analysis of biblical and traditional conceptions of worship, it demonstrates how worship challenges the deepest antagonisms in political thought and social practice.

What should you do when you cannot achieve a good without also causing a foreseen, but not intended, evil (such as killing non-combatants when bombing a military target)? This book articulates, and defends, an ancient approach to this common problem, double-effect reasoning.

A study of the ethical thought of one of the 20th century's prominent theologians, covering a range of current issues in Christian ethics: the relative roles of the Bible, the church and philosophy, the formation of moral character and the connection between religious faith and moral virtue.

Is morality too hard for human beings? Kant said it was, except with God's assistance. This book looks at the philosophers - from Kierkegaard to Swinburne and the author's father, R M Hare - and the alternative in Christianity.

An examination and defence of the concept of personality, long central to Western moral culture but now increasingly under attack. Robert Spaemann tackles urgent practical questions, such as our treatment of the severely disabled human and the moral status of intelligent non-human animals.

Liberalism forms the dominant political ideology of the modern world. Despite its pervasive influence, this is the first book-length treatment of liberal political thought from a Christian theological perspective. Song discusses the different approaches to the subject of three twentieth-century theologians and draws out the implications for current political thought.

David Albert Jones focuses upon the writings on death of four outstanding Christian thinkers, Ambrose of Milan, St Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, and Karl Rahner. His study is relevant to the current euthanasia debate, but also considers broader issues, such as how we should act in the face of death's approach.

Oswald Bayer is a major contemporary Lutheran theologian, but so far little of his work has been translated from German into English. This selection of essays, which focuses on the nature of freedom, indicates the depth and range of his thought on issues relating to theological ethics.

An alternative voice in the culture wars over 'family values'. Brent Waters proposes a normative account of the family's role in social and political ordering that draws upon a spectrum of theological and philosophical resources. He contends that when families are properly ordered they are oriented toward broader spheres of human association.

A theological treatment of the role of affections such as joy, compassion, and shame in contemporary politics. Hordern discusses what affections are and how they play a role in parts of political life such as representation and law. He shows that affections have an intelligent role to play in fostering loyalty, trust and public moral reasoning.

This work investigates worship and formation in view of Christian anthropology, particularly union with Christ.