Christian Ethics

On this page I share some of the papers I have written as a Christian ethicist who is nurtured in the Mennonite tradition, struggling with questions of social justice and peacemaking, engaged within the long-standing conversation that is Christian orthodoxy, and searching for a new catholicity. I also recommend additional links to resources on these questions.

• Papers or their abstracts
  • “Clarity, Obfuscation and What Mennonites Should Learn from Weigel Anyway.” Mennonite Life, 58:2 (June 2003).
  • "Just Policing: How War Could Cease to be a Church-Dividing Issue." Mennonite-Catholic Theological Colloquium, 2002.
  • "The Christian Witness in the Earthly City: John H. Yoder as Augustinian Interlocutor." Conference on "Assessing the Theological Legacy of John Howard Yoder," 7-9 March 2002, University of Notre Dame.
  • "Continence, Consumption and Other Abuses: Or Why an Augustinian Ethic is Worth the Bother." Annual meeting of the Society of Christian Ethics, 8 January 2000.
  • In the Belly of a Paradox: Reflections on the Dubious Service of Reflecting on Service." The Journal of Peace and Justice Studies. 10:2 (2000) 65-78. (Article links discipleship and sacraments)
  • "The Vow of Stability: A Premodern Way through a Hypermodern World." Conference on "Anabaptists and Postmodernity," 6-8 August 1998, Bluffton College.
  • "Faithfulness, Temptation and the Deuteronomic Juncture: Is Constantinianism the Most Basic Problem for Christian Social Ethics?" Marpeck Lecture, Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, 5 March 1998.
  • "An Abrahamic Community of Respect," meditation at Bluffton College Faculty/Staff Retreat, 28 August 1997.
  • "Augustine's Hermeneutic of Humility: An Alternative to Moral Imperialism and Moral Relativism." Journal of Religious Ethics 22:2 (Fall 1994): 299-330.
  • "Beyond Two- versus One-Kingdom Theology: Abrahamic Community as a Mennonite Paradigm for Christian Engagement in Society." Conrad Grebel Review 11 (Fall 1993): 187-210.
  • "Law, Gospel, and the Irony of Martin Luther" (an unpublished essay)
  • "The Blessing of Abraham's Children: A Theology of Service." Mission Focus 19:4 (December 1991): 52-55.
  • "Identification with the People in a Revolutionary Situation." With two responses from Central America. MCC Occasional Paper, No. 2, May 1988.
• Confessions of faith
• Mennonite Confession of Faith
• A Personal Statement
• Other resources and links
• "We are Un-American: We are Catholics" by Dorothy Day, 1948
• Writings on Christian Nonresistance and Pacifism from Anabaptist-Mennonite Sources
• Website for course on Christian Values in Global Community
• The Nonviolence Web
• The Simple Living Network
• Civic Practices Network
• The Communitarian Network
• EthicsWeb on-line bookstore
• Waging Peace Website and its profiles of Peace Heroes
• John Howard Yoder home page
• Writings of Dorothy Day, Benedictine oblate and founder of Catholic Worker movement
• Economic Justice for All (excerpts), 1987 pastoral letter by National Conference of Catholic Bishops (USA)
• MennoLink Mennonite Information Center
• Still more internet resources on theology, ethics, history, etc.