What Would Jesus Really Do?: The Power & Limits of Jesus' Moral Teachings

213 Pages·2007·1.59 MB·English

by  Andrew Fiala

WHAT WOULD
JESUS REALLY DO?
The Power and Limits of
Jesus' Moral Teachings
ANDREW FIALA
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.
lAnham· Baulder •NewYork·Toronto· Plymouth, UK
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS,INC.
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Copyright© 2007 byAndrew Fiala
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Fiala,Andrew G. (Andrew Gordon), 1966-
What wouldJesus really do? :the powerand limits ofJesus'moral teachings I
Andrew Fiala.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN~13:978~O-7425-5260-9 (hardback:alk.paper)
ISBN-l0:0-7425-5260-8 (hardback:alk.paper)
I.Jesus Christ-Teachings 2.Jesus Chtist-Example. 3.Christian ethi<:s. 1.
Title.
BS2415.F452007
241--dc22 2006036667
Printed in the United States ofAmerica
@lTMThe paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
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For my Sunday school teachers

CONTENTS
Preface
Acknowledgments XVB
1 Jesus and Ethics 1
2 Humanism and Christian Faith 13
3 Jesus' Golden Rule:Altruism and Universality 27
4 Jesus versusJoshua: ChristianVirtues in Context 39
5 Jesus' Virtues: Peace and Love 51
6 Jesus and the Sanctity ofLife:Abortion 65
7 Jesus and Care:Euthanasia 77
8 Forgiveness and Mercy:The Death Penalty 89
9 Sexuality and the Family 99
10 Slavery and SocialWelfare 113
11 The Problem ofPalitics 125
12 Jesus and the Enlightenment 137
13 Sin, Grace, and Humanism after the Enlightenment 151
14 Anti-Christian Ethics 163
15 Ethics beyondJesus 175
Index 187
Scripture Index 193
vii

PREFACE
You will know the truth,and the truth willmake you free.
-John 8:32
Thisbookis aboutwhatJesus does anddoes notteach usaboutethics.
Jesus is the paradigm for morality in the ChristianWest. His idea
that we should love our neighbors is the very heart of ethics, and his
life oflove and self-sacrifice provides a model to which we all should
aspire. But the Golden Rule andJesus' model do not provide sufficient
guidance for answering the tough questions about morality in the con
temporary world.The complex ethical issues ofour time require further
guidance thanJesus can provide.The purpose ofthis book is to discuss
Jesus as a moral teacher,while also showing why we need to go beyond
Jesus in thinking about morality.
Religion and ethics have always been intimately connected.Ameri
cans have been reminded ofthis recently: religious and ethical contro
versies have been front-page news. Conservative American Christians
have made a sustained effort to bring Christian ethics into the public
sphere.PresidentGeorgeW.Bush once claimedthat hisfavorite philoso
pher wasJesus. Bush hasjustified a"war on terrorism"by claiming that
God wants democracy to spread throughout the nations.And his veto
oflegislation that would have provided federal support for embryonic
stem cell research is seen as an example--for betterorworse-ofBush's
religiousconvictions.There have been recentlegalbattles aboutwhether
theTen Commandments could be displayed in public places and about
whether the United States really is "one nation under God." Politicians
routinely reach out to religious believers by making arguments about
ethical issues that are grounded in religious belief.Such arguments were
x Mat MIOuldJesus Really Do?
heard, for example, in the case ofTerri Schiavo, a young woman diag
nosed as being in a persistent vegetative state. Christian opponents of
euthanasia appealed to scripture to argue that her feeding tube should
not be removed. Christian arguments, grounded in scripture, continue
to be heard in discussions ofabortion,same-sex marriage,and the death
penalty. One has only to skim the letters to the editor ofthe local paper
in order to see that ethical discourse is thoroughly infused with reli
gious language and that the Christian scriptures are seen by many as the
source-for many, the only source-ofethical wisdom.
Christians are not united in their thinking about ethics.The late
PopeJohn Paul II advocated what he called "the gospel oflife," which
was opposed to abortion and euthanasia.Butunlike some religious con
servatives, the pope was also opposed to the death penalty and to war,
includingPresident Bush's expansive war on terrorism.Evangelical Prot
estants have become better organized In recent years, and their voices
are heard more clearly in our culture as they argue vociferously against
homosexuality, abortion, and euthanasia. But other Christians---such as
former President Jimmy Carter--otfer a more progressive agenda for
Christian ethics that includes openness to individual choice on these
issues and a firm commitment to the separation of church and state.
American Christian voices range across the political spectrum. It is im
portant to remember that the big tent ofChristianity includes African
American civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther KingJr. andJesse
Jackson. It also includes progressives such asJimWallis and Episcopalian
BishopJohn Shelby Spong.And it includes conservatives such asJames
Dobson and Pat Robertson,as well as those politicians---such as George
W. Bush and former Senator Bill Frist-who align themselves with this
brand ofconservative Christianity.The diversity we find within Chris
tianity results from the vagueness ofJesus' ethical teaching: it is possible
to interpret the ethics ofJesus in a variety ofways.
One difficulty oflookingtoJesus for answersaboutthe questions of
ethics is that our sources ofinformation aboutJesus are limited. More
over, the texts and traditions that tell us aboutJesus were created in a
world that was quite different from our own. Our ideas about society
and politics have progressed substantially since biblical times. Slavery has
been abolished.Women have been liberated. Literacy has spread.We no
longer have kings.And we no longer believe in social hierarchies based
on family or caste.The world ofJesus was patriarchal, hierarchical, and
undemocratic. One wonders whether Jesus can provide us with guid
ance for the quite different social world in which we live.
Preface Xl
Moreover, scientists are making great strides in exploring the ge
netic bases oflife on earth and in understanding the complexity ofthe
universe. The rapid development of science has created complicated
ethical issues. Stem cell research, genetic engineering, and cloning cre
ate ethical problems that didn't exist inJesus' time.Just asJesus did not
know about the dinosaurs or the age ofour planet or the structure of
the solar system,Jesus could not have anticipated the ethical issues that
arise from prenatal testing or from our ability to sustain dying bodies
with life-support technology.Again, one wonders how Jesus can help
us to think about topics that would not even have been imagined in
his time.
This is not to say that Jesus is wrong or that we should ignore
Christian sources in thinking about ethics.Rather,my thesis is thatthere
are limits to whatJesus can teach us about contemporary issues.Jesus'
idea oflovingyour neighbor is a great moral principle.But to apply this
idea to complex issues ofcontemporary concern, we need knowledge,
imagination,and reason.The philosophical tradition ofWestern human
ism helps us develop these capacities ofcritical thought.
THE AUTHOR'S CONFESSION
I teach ethics for a living.This book is written for my students and for
people like them.Two different sorts ofstudents frequendy show up in
my classes: Christians and relativists. I hope In this book to address both
ofthese sorts ofpeople.
On the one hand, my Christian students usually have the idea that
all ofthe answers to life's questions can be found in the Bible. I admire
these students'piety,and Iappreciate their commitment to the idea that
there must be an absolute foundation for ethics.But these students often
refuse to go beyondJesus, and they also tend to credulously submit to
religious authority.This book is intended to help Christians think more
clearly about the limits ofthe Christian approach to ethics. I do not
mean to imply that Christian ethics is wrongheaded. But I do want to
argue that Christians need to look beyondJesus for ethical insight.This
idea ofgoing beyondJesus is, by the way, an important part ofthe sort
ofChristian ethics that follows in the natural law tradition ofChristian
philosophers such asThomas Aquinas. Christians long ago realized that
the ethical model ofJesus needed to be supplemented by the use ofrea
son. One ofmy goals here is to remind Christians ofthis fact.