Is christian ethics of no use when addressing a modern moral dilemma?
First, it is quite difficult to find “a modern moral dilemma” which wasn’t also a moral dilemma in the early days of Christianity. The differences tend to be of degree rather than of kind. The greatest moral dilemma a modern person may face is whether or not to push the red buttons which would initiate a large scale strategic nuclear attack upon the enemy. Is this really different in kind than the moral dilemma Jesus had to face when many of his followers urge him to behave as many zealots before him had done and to attack the Romans violently and to attempt to expel them by force from the Jewish homeland? If Christian ethics are applied, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” or “forgive others seventy times seven times,” “love thy neighbor as thyself,” and the radical, “love thy enemy,” then the person would certainly not push the button. The problem with Christian ethics is not that they cannot be applied to modern moral dilemmas, but that the foundations of belief on
You will need to define and list Christian ethics, with supporting text, before working out whether they can be applied to modern moral dilemmas. You will also need to identify a few modern moral dilemmas to apply them too, with a mix of open ended dilemmas and those already solved. I would do a lot of reading – included backing up texts about Christian ethics with reading relevant parts of the bible. Look at sites like http://www.religion-online.org/showbook.asp?title=802 http://www.christianethicstoday.com/Issue/032/The%20Consistent%20Ethic%20of%20Life%20By%20David%20Gushee_032_3_.htm for some general background reading – but I would look for relevant works in your school library, including journal articles. Enter the keywords ‘christian ethics’ in the catalogue, and go from there. Look for articles where you can combine the search terms ‘christian ethics’ with ‘modern’ or ‘contemporary’ or ‘current’ and ‘dilemma’ or ‘problems’. Use the index and contents page to locate relevant mate
