Christian Ethics, Religious Ethics, and Secular Ethics: A Contemporary Reappraisal. Issue 1 (2nd February 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Clem, Stewart
• Is Part Of: Journal of religious ethics. Volume 51:Issue 1(2023)
• Page Start: 11
• Page End: 31
• Publication Date: 2023-02-02
• Subjects: religious ethics -- secular ethics -- Kant -- natural law -- theories of religion; Ethics -- Periodicals; Religious ethics -- Periodicals; Morale religieuse; Religion; Théologie; 205
• DOI: 10.1111/jore.12422
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0384-9694

Abstract

ABSTRACT: In this essay, I argue that Christian ethicists should not think of themselves as religious ethicists. I defend this claim by arguing that the concept of religious ethics, as it has come to be understood as a discipline that is distinct from secular ethics, is incoherent. In part one, I describe the fraught attempts by theologians in the 20th century to identify the distinctiveness of Christian ethics. In part two, I argue that certain accounts of natural law unwittingly reinforce a problematic conception of secular ethics. Part three examines some trends in religious studies and comparative religious ethics to highlight problematic conceptions of religion. Drawing together these strands of inquiry, I contend that that the secular‐religious dichotomy in contemporary ethics should be rejected, but by the same token, I suggest that comparative ethics remains a worthwhile enterprise.