A Handbook of Christian Ethics

This book presents Christian ethics as a disciplined inquiry into the moral life shaped by the Christian ideal. It begins by defining ethics as a normative science concerned with the end, good, and law of human conduct, then explains how Christian ethics approaches this universal moral problem from the religious standpoint of Christianity. The work first examines the supreme ideal of Christian life through love, the realization of God’s will, and the moral teaching revealed in Christ and the New Testament. It then turns inward to the subjective formation of Christian life, discussing human nature, sin, repentance, conversion, atonement, Christian character, virtue, temperance, courage, gentleness, wisdom, faith, and love. The study also considers the objective or social expression of Christian morality in the Church, family, and State, before concluding with the methodology of moral culture, including habit, discipline, training, ascetic practice, moral intelligence, and safeguards against the misuse of ethical exercises. Overall, the book offers a philosophical and theological framework for understanding Christian life as a path of moral formation, social responsibility, and spiritual realization.