Consider intense moments when you have been seized by joy or, in different contexts, by anguish for another person, or a cat or dog, or perhaps even for a squirrel or possum struck as it dashed across the road: whether glorious or haunting, these are among the most profound and meaningful moments in our lives. Agape Ethics focuses our attention on such moments with utter seriousness and argues they reveal a spiritual reality, the reality of agape. Powerful streams of modern Western rationality reject the idea of agape. This has created a crisis of foundations in modern ethics and alienated us from love for all creatures. Working wholly within the bounds of reason, Agape Ethics joins an increasingly vibrant struggle to legitimate the spiritual reality of agape, to awaken people to its power, to clarify its ethical implications, and to validate our spiritual communion with all creatures in all creation. The result is a powerful, inclusive, and wholly reasonable defense of moral realism that should speak to all who are passionate about creating a maximally loving and good world.
Consider intense moments when you have been seized by joy or, in different contexts, by anguish for another person, or a cat or dog, or perhaps even for a squirrel or possum struck as it dashed across the road: whether glorious or haunting, these are among the most profound and meaningful moments in our lives. Agape Ethics focuses our attention on such moments with utter seriousness and argues they reveal a spiritual reality, the reality of agape. Powerful streams of modern Western rationality reject the idea of agape. This has created a crisis of foundations in modern ethics and alienated us from love for all creatures. Working wholly within the bounds of reason, Agape Ethics joins an increasingly vibrant struggle to legitimate the spiritual reality of agape, to awaken people to its power, to clarify its ethical implications, and to validate our spiritual communion with all creatures in all creation. The result is a powerful, inclusive, and wholly reasonable defense of moral realism that should speak to all who are passionate about creating a maximally loving and good world.
William Greenway is Professor of Philosophical Theology at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. He is the author of For the Love of All Creatures: The Story of Grace in Genesis (2015) and A Reasonable Belief: Why God and Faith Make Sense (2015).
"Agape Ethics will be warmly welcomed by theologians, ethicists,
philosophers, and all who have ever longed for a theory of morality
and ethics that would be inclusive of both human and nonhuman life.
Scholars will be pleased with Greenway's endeavor to paint a
compelling portrait of the way modern science, philosophy, and
theology have diminished the moral realm of life by their
complicity with what he calls 'scientism, ' the claim that reality
pertains only to that which science can explain. In short, Agape
Ethics is a creative venture from beginning to end, and the beauty
of its eloquence will sustain the interest of all who are seized by
its inclusive moral appeal."
--Peter J. Paris, Elmer G. Homrighausen Professor Emeritus,
Christian Social Ethics, Princeton Theological Seminary "Inspired
by Emmanuel Levinas's moral philosophy, Greenway presents a
thoughtful and plausible case for a new agape ethics (based in
finding oneself 'seized by the faces of others') as a constructive
alternative to the ethical relativism of postmodernity, the ethical
extremism of religious radicals, and the ethical foundationalism of
modernity. With its richness in spiritual sensibility, public
relevance, and ecological potency, Agape Ethics is an important
achievement for Christian philosophical ethics."
--Hak Joon Lee, Lewis B. Smedes Professor of Christian Ethics,
Fuller Theological Seminary "A tour de force in meta-ethics and
philosophical spirituality. Agape Ethics extends Emmanuel Levinas's
insights on responsibility to the Other to all animals and builds a
compelling case for agape as an irreducible moral-spiritual
reality."
--Janet L. Parker, PhD, Senior Pastor, First Congregational United
Church of Christ, Salem, Oregon "Bill Greenway wants to awaken us
to a primordial love that draws us into relationships of care for
all creatures. Along the way he offers a valuable critique of
modernity's scientism and rationalism that drains the universe of
mystery and ensconces the human as the sole locus of worth among
all things. Arguing for a moral realism grounded in agape, Greenway
offers us a moral vision of the infinite value of every creature
that can, in turn, inform human ethical decision-making and action
at a time when so much life on Earth is endangered."
--Timothy H. Robinson, Lunger Associate Professor of Spiritual
Resources and Disciplines, Brite Divinity School "In Agape Ethics,
Greenway skillfully engages philosophy, theology, ethics, and moral
reasoning in a work that wades into the complex world in which we
find ourselves: evermore aware of the beauty and complexity of the
planet's eco-systems and inhabitants, while also aware of the
difficult ethical challenges facing us as human actions threaten
the planetary community. Williams' enlivening prose invites the
reader in, equipping the reader with the tools to think morally and
act ethically while embracing all creatures with love and
gratitude. It is an important contribution between philosophy and
theology, illuminating how to ethically and spiritually take our
place as fellow creatures on the planet."
--Laurel D. Kearns, co-author of Eco-Spirit: Theologies and
Philosophies for the Earth; Associate Professor, Drew Theological
School
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