The Essentials in Christian Ethics series, edited by C. Ben Mitchell and Jason Thacker, is designed to illuminate the richness and centrality of ethics to all of the Christian life. The series consists of short, introductory volumes written by renowned scholars in the fields of ethics, theology, and philosophy. Each volume explores a crucial element of Christian ethical reflection, approaching the subject from within the broader Protestant moral tradition.

In Bioethics and Medicine: A Short Companion, C. Ben Mitchell challenges the prevailing view of bioethics as solely a matter of expert problem-solving. Instead, he argues that the ethics of medicine is deeply rooted in an ancient profession with a rich moral heritage. This heritage, embodied in the Hippocratic Oath and other foundational texts, guides the practice of medicine and is at risk of being eroded if not actively defended by Christians.Mitchell ex...

The study of ethics is primarily associated with questions of morality: “good” and “bad,” “right” and “wrong.” The field of metaethics asks about what we mean by terms like “good” or “right,” and whether they represent real features of the world.In Metaethics: A Short Companion, David A. Horner and J. P. Moreland provide a primer on how to think about questions surrounding the concept of morality—its nature, status, grounding, underlying presuppositions, and philosophical ...

Scripture presents a unified story of God’s redemptive history and vision for the Christian life. As such, the biblical canon serves as the foundation for Christian ethics. In Biblical Ethics: A Short Companion, Jacob Shatzer offers a primer in biblical ethics that explores principles and interpretative methods for understanding how the Bible speaks with a unified voice and vision for the Christian life.Shatzer begins by defining biblical ethics and examining its nature in...

David VanDrunen’s Natural Law: A Short Companion outlines what Scripture teaches about natural law. Scripture never uses the term “natural law,” but it repeatedly refers to the reality of natural law or assumes its existence. The existence of natural law underlies what Scripture says about God’s own nature, the cosmic order, the image of God, human community, the gospel of Christ, and the final judgment. Moreover, the story of Scripture from the original creation to the new creati...

Jesus’s final command to his disciples at the Last Supper is a calling to an ethic of love. In Christian Ethics: A Short Companion, renowned ethicist Gilbert Meilaender makes the case that all Christian ethics are an outworking of this command to love one another.Meilaender accordingly lays out a vision for the spirit and structure of the Christian life, while drawing directly upon theologians from the early church to the Reformation to today. He begins by examining the co...

Some of humankind's greatest tools have been forged in the research laboratory. Who could argue that medical advances like antibiotics, blood transfusions, and pacemakers have not improved the quality of people's lives? But with each new technological breakthrough there comes an array of consequences, at once predicted and unpredictable, beneficial and hazardous.Outcry over recent developments in the reproductive and genetic sciences has revealed deep fissures in society's percepti...

As artificial intelligence advances, healthcare faces a profound ethical question: Can machines truly care? This book critically examines the rise of AI-driven social robots--"carebots"--in patient care, evaluating their benefits and potential harms through the lens of Christian ethics. While AI may enhance efficiency and offer support in specific healthcare contexts, it also risks dehumanizing care, replacing genuine human presence with technological substitutes. Grounded in a theology of...

Living in an era of highly technical medicine is comforting and sometimes confusing. How should Christians make life and death decisions? How do we move from an ancient text like the Bible to twenty-first-century questions about organ transplantation, stem-cell research, and human cloning? What kind of care do we owe one another at the end of life? Is euthanasia a Christian option?Using a dialogue format, an ethicist and physician talk about how to think about thorny ethical issues...

Gay marriage. Embryonic stem cell research. Abortion. Such generation-defining issues loom large in our society and demand a thoughtful response. Helping Christians to interact with our morally confused world, Ben Mitchell challenges the relativism so rampant in the West today. In addition to examining the history of ethical reflection from Moses to Immanuel Kant, Mitchell also incorporates the voices of current Christian ethicists such as Stanley Hauerwas and N. T. Wright, proposing a hol...

Southern Baptists are the nation's largest protestant denomination, with over 43,000 churches and millions of members. Since its inception, controversy has surrounded the Baptist Faith and Message 2000, Southern Baptists' most recent confession of faith. The present volume consists of essays by Baptist scholars explaining and defending that document. Each of the 18 articles of the BF&M 2000 is addressed, with special attention to the most critical issues and changes from the denomination's...

**A fresh, deeply biblical account of God’s expanding grace and mercy, tracing how the Bible’s narrative points to the full inclusion of LGBTQ people in Christian communities“A radical new vision . . . and [an] argument that God’s plan was always to include more and more people.”—Scott Detrow, All Things Considered, NPR**Discussions of the Bible and human sexuality often focus on a scattered handful of specific passages. But arguments about this same set of verses ...