Moral Theology for Ministry
A Greystone
MAR/MDiv Module
Program: MAR/MDiv
Visiting Students and Auditors Welcome
Students who have already been accepted into a Greystone Program do not need to fill out the application form, but can register for the modules of their choice through their existing Populi account.
This course is designed to provide both a general overview and a focused analysis of theological ethics, especially but not only in relation to pastoral theology. Theological ethics, including casuistic thinking (though casuistry is often treated pejoratively today), is simply the pursuit of lived faithfulness in the complex set of relations one has to God and to all things that are not God, especially other persons. But how does the Bible work ethically? In what way does the nature of Scripture determine the proper moral uses of Scripture? How is the moral application or use of natural law the same or different from the moral application or use of Torah in the narrow and general senses? This course will explore theological ethics as an exegetical, theological, and moral discipline in the Christian and especially the Reformed tradition. Our work will be as much exegetical and dogmatic as it will be historical and practical, and we will take steps to evaluate and not only to describe various approaches to pastoral care. Topics will include the use of Scripture as Torah, the sources of wisdom, virtue theory and ethics, mortality (including marriage, family, childhood, and aging), ecclesiology and moral formation, and related matters.