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Critical Issues in Christian Ethics
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Critical Issues in Christian Ethics

A special issue of Religions (ISSN 2077-1444).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 23 March 2026 | Viewed by 3884

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Kenneth L. Waters

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Biblical and Religious Studies, Azusa Pacific University, Azusa, CA 91702, USA
Interests: new testament; gospel studies; Pauline studies; biblical and Christian ethics; homiletics; African American religious thought and history
Prof. Dr. Richard Rose

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Arts and Sciences, University of La Verne, La Verne, CA 91750, USA
Interests: interfaith dialogue; religion and science dialogue; liberation theology; peace studies and ecological justice
Prof. Dr. Sandra Morgan

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Global Center for Women and Justice, Vanguard University, Costa Mesa, CA 92626, USA
Interests: the intersection of culture and human trafficking; integrating survivor lived experience and professional best practice approaches; human trafficking fundraising ethics; ethical dilemmas in rescue practices in human trafficking

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Christian ethics first acknowledges its grounding in the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, with particular attention to the implications of this content for moral decisions and conduct. However, there is further acknowledgement that the unique revelation of God in Jesus Christ brings a certain preeminence to the role of Jesus among other moral examples.  When the discussion is broadened to include religious ethics, we must also ask about the relationship between Christian and religious ethics, and whether that relationship involves convergence or divergence between essential principles. There are also questions about methodology in the wider field of Christian and religious ethics. What approaches to ethical decision are compatible and incompatible from a specifically Christian perspective? What approaches to ethical decisions are compatible and incompatible from a generally religious perspective?  What are the dilemmas, conundrums, challenges, conflicts, tensions, and contradictions that persist in the work of ethicists, especially those who labor within Christian and religious circles? What biblical, historical, theological, and philosophical themes come into play?  What are the previously unseen problems that should no longer be ignored?  Our aim in this volume is to highlight critical ethical issues in a Christian and religious context that summon attention in this era of ideological clashes, the rejection of authority, and cultural change. At the same time, we seek a path forward on perennial questions. What are the challenges for a specifically Christian ethical perspective in a post-Christendom era? Whether we speak in a specifically Christian or generally religious context, what are the warrants for ethical decisions? What grounds of authority are there for ethical guidance? What are the justifications for ethical education? What is at stake in this whole discussion? We invite contributions from scholars with insights to offer at various degrees of specificity and various levels of focus upon these and related issues.

Prof. Dr. Kenneth L. Waters
Prof. Dr. Richard Rose
Prof. Dr. Sandra Morgan
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Christian
  • conversion
  • discipleship
  • ethics
  • evil
  • faith
  • forgiveness
  • fruit of the spirit
  • God
  • gospel
  • good and bad
  • Heaven
  • Hell
  • holiness
  • justification
  • Jesus
  • judgment
  • justice
  • law
  • light
  • love
  • Paul
  • rebirth
  • religion
  • salvation
  • repentance
  • righteousness
  • right and wrong
  • Romans 12
  • sanctification
  • sin
  • the Ten Commandments
  • truth and lie
  • the Sermon on the Mount
  • works of the flesh

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

11 pages, 230 KiB  
Article
Should the State Still Protect Religion qua Religion? John Finnis Between Brian Leiter and the “Second Wave” in Law and Religion
by Edward A. David
Religions 2025, 16(7), 841; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16070841 - 25 Jun 2025
Viewed by 262
Abstract
This article offers a Thomist response to Brian Leiter’s Why Tolerate Religion?, challenging his claim that religion does not merit distinct legal protection. While Leiter assumes religion to be epistemically irrational—defined by existential consolation, categorical demands, and insulation from evidence—this article draws [...] Read more.
This article offers a Thomist response to Brian Leiter’s Why Tolerate Religion?, challenging his claim that religion does not merit distinct legal protection. While Leiter assumes religion to be epistemically irrational—defined by existential consolation, categorical demands, and insulation from evidence—this article draws on John Finnis’s interpretation of Saint Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274) to reconstruct religion as a basic good of practical reason. It proposes a three-tiered model of religion—as human quest, natural religion, and revealed religion—which clarifies religion’s internal structure and civic relevance. Developing this model against Leiter’s critique, this article shows that religion, so understood, can be legally protected even on Leiter’s liberal terms, through both Rawlsian and Millian frameworks. The article also extends its argument to “second-wave” law-and-religion controversies, illustrating how a Thomist framework illuminates debates about ideological establishments, identity politics, and public reason. Through original syntheses and rigorous normative analysis, this article advances a conceptually fresh and publicly accessible model of religion for law and public policy. It also speaks to pressing constitutional debates in the U.S. and Europe, thus contributing to transatlantic jurisprudence on religious freedom and the moral purposes of law. Religion still matters—and must be understood—not as conscience, but qua religion. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Critical Issues in Christian Ethics)
20 pages, 279 KiB  
Article
A Preservationist Christian Sexual Ethic: Verifying and Vindicating a Contested Perspective
by Kenneth L. Waters, Sr.
Religions 2025, 16(7), 814; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16070814 - 22 Jun 2025
Viewed by 490
Abstract
A preservationist Christian sexual ethic affirms heterosexuality as the only normal and natural expression of wholeness in human intimacy, relationships, and lifestyle. However, revisionist critics would maintain that the central problem of the preservationist perspective is the perceived lack of a compelling [...] Read more.
A preservationist Christian sexual ethic affirms heterosexuality as the only normal and natural expression of wholeness in human intimacy, relationships, and lifestyle. However, revisionist critics would maintain that the central problem of the preservationist perspective is the perceived lack of a compelling verifier. A revisionist Christian ethic embraces homosexuality as an alternative form of wholeness in human relationships and lifestyle. Preservationist critics would maintain that the central problem of the revisionist perspective is the perceived lack of a compelling verifier. They would also identify an additional problem for the revisionist position, namely, the perceived problem of self-contradiction. It may seem to some that problems alleged for a particular side cannot be leveraged to the advantage of the opposing side in this debate. Moreover, even the external judgment that a problem exists for a perspective is disputed within that perspective. This may seem to lead to stalemate between the opposing perspectives. However, it may be that a verifier or vindicator exists for one of these perspectives that would commend that perspective as more acceptable than the other. A vindicator for a perspective need only to reinforce that perspective, while a verifier must be an empirically attested ground for the perspective. In this article, I will compare verifiers and vindicators on each side of the debate and inquire whether there is an ace to be found in any of these arenas. I find that a preservationist Christian sexual ethic speaks for itself when its vehicles of verification and vindication are addressed in dialogue with a revisionist perspective. My aim is to increase the possibility of moving the discussion forward in the debate over normative human sexuality. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Critical Issues in Christian Ethics)
12 pages, 176 KiB  
Article
Some Reflections on the Moral Reality of Social Power
by Charles S. Brown
Religions 2025, 16(5), 569; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16050569 - 29 Apr 2025
Viewed by 341
Abstract
Power is often understood as the sheer use of force in social relations. While power is frequently expressed and experienced in these terms, it is also necessary for the generation, sustenance, and enhancement of life in all its forms. This means that, in [...] Read more.
Power is often understood as the sheer use of force in social relations. While power is frequently expressed and experienced in these terms, it is also necessary for the generation, sustenance, and enhancement of life in all its forms. This means that, in a very basic way, power is constitutive of personhood and society. Understood and exercised in this way, power affirms the dignity of individual persons and promotes bonding between and among persons. Therefore, ethically, social power must be viewed as essentially relational and intended to be reciprocal, community building, and accountable. Contrarily understood and exercised, power gives rise to bondage through denial of the responsibility in its constitutive and relational character. Here, the emphasis on domination and power becomes alienating and irresponsible. The purpose of this article as a whole is to undertake an ethical analysis of social power that furthers exploration of the principles and implications of nonviolent strategies for the exercise of social power. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Critical Issues in Christian Ethics)
15 pages, 257 KiB  
Article
Barth’s “Alternative” Follower: Stanley Hauerwas and the Traditions of 20th-Century North American Theology and Ethics
by Renzhong Cui and Siyi Han
Religions 2024, 15(6), 731; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15060731 - 14 Jun 2024
Viewed by 1704
Abstract
This paper explores Stanley Hauerwas’s unique perspective on the traditions of 20th-century North American theology and ethics, particularly his similarity to Karl Barth in viewing theology and ethics as inseparable. Although deeply influenced by Barth, Hauerwas defends this view in the American context [...] Read more.
This paper explores Stanley Hauerwas’s unique perspective on the traditions of 20th-century North American theology and ethics, particularly his similarity to Karl Barth in viewing theology and ethics as inseparable. Although deeply influenced by Barth, Hauerwas defends this view in the American context in a manner distinct from Barth‘s theological approach. Additionally, Hauerwas critiques Barth’s ecclesiology, which leads him to attempt to transcend some limitations of Barthian theology by developing a theological ethics “system” that emphasizes the practicality of the church. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Critical Issues in Christian Ethics)
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