Critique of Wyndy Corbin-Reuschling's Reviving Evangelical Ethics

Introduction

Author's goal of writing the book

Reuschling had very broad view about the Evangelical ethics. His goal is to address the issues which are falling in the domain of ethics. The most common ethical issues are the man's position on ethical issues in the context of Evangelical context. The author had given the answer of this question in very logical way. According to him, the ethics help in the decision making process and also the view of different issues in the right direction. In addition, the author is trying to remove the misconceptions of people about the ethics particularly the Christians ethics. Furthermore, the author has put a light on the moral understandings in the context of evangelical ethics.

To support his views, Reuschling has taken help from various philosophical, historical and social theories. The three classic theories are revolving throughout the book are the Deontology, Teleology and the virtue ethics. The deontology had presented by the Immanuel Kant. He was the pioneers who first of all rejected the concept of Christian church. They gave the priority to the humanism. This theory mainly focuses on the obligations and responsibilities of man. The teleology was the classical work of John Stuart mill. He said, there is moral burden on the results of decisions. He decided everything on the basis of morals. The third classical theory of ethics had given the Aristotle. The ethics in the individual can be seen in his behavior, habits and overall personality.

Discussion

Content, weakness and strength of each chapter

Chapter 1: Classic model of Morality

In the first chapter, Reuschling is introducing three models of ethics in detail. Besides duty actions, the Kant is emphasizing on the will of actions or good will. It is the good will which brings happiness in the life of an individual. The author has also discussed about the Utilitarianism in the context of Johan Stuart Mill. Mill says Utilitarianism is the providing pleasure and happiness to the highest number of people. In this world, everyone wants comfort and avoid pains. This is not impossible without the justice in real sense. The Mill says, the justice is only for the protection of human society. The third view in this chapter is of the Aristotle. He says, the heart of human being is the centre for success and happiness. In the society, the virtues become the part of personality in three different ways; friendship, choice and habits. He further says, the virtues are the part of life and they help the man to lead a balance life. There are two kinds of virtue; the moral and intellectual. The intellectual virtues guide man to decide the things in the right direction. On the other hand, the moral virtues are helping to be near the God.

The major weakness in this chapter is the view of Geisler. There is no any comparative analysis of the views. There is hardly view of Geisler about the Aristotle and his theory about the virtue ...