Moral Choices: An Introduction to Ethics, 3rd ed.

by Scott B. Rae

Publisher:

Zondervan

, 2009

Overview

With its unique union of theory and application and its well-organized, easy-to-use design, Moral Choices has earned its place as the standard text for college ethics courses. This third edition offers extensive updates, revisions, and brand new material, all designed to help students develop a sound and current basis for making ethical decisions in today's complex postmodern culture.

Moral Choices outlines the distinctive elements of Christian ethics while avoiding undue dogmatism. The book also introduces other ethical systems and their key historical proponents, including Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, and Immanuel Kant.

Key Features

• Addresses some of today’s most pressing social issues
• Guides students in thinking critically and biblically
• Introduces ethical systems and key historical proponents

Contents

Top Highlights

“Most people use the terms morality and ethics interchangeably. Technically, morality refers to the actual content of right and wrong, and ethics refers to the process of determining right and wrong. In other words, morality deals with moral knowledge and ethics with moral reasoning. Thus, ethics is both an art and a science. It does involve some precision like the sciences, but like art, it is an inexact and sometimes intuitive discipline. Morality is the end result of ethical deliberation, the substance of right and wrong.” (Page 15)

“Ethics are crucial because moral questions are at the heart of life’s vital issues. Morality is primarily concerned with questions of right and wrong, the ability to distinguish between the two, and the justification of the distinction.” (Page 12)

“Blending divine command, natural law, and virtue, the biblical emphasis seems to be a combination of virtue theory and deontological ethics with periodic appeal to egoism and utilitarianism.” (Page 97)

“Third, metaethics is an area of ethics that investigates the meaning of moral language, or the epistemology of ethics, and also considers the justification of ethical theories and judgments. For example, it focuses on the meaning of the major terms used in ethics, such as right, good, and just. The primary focus of technical philosophers, metaethics has been receiving more attention from a popular audience today since more people are insisting that the language of right and wrong is nothing more than an expression of personal preferences.” (Page 16)

“Nowhere in Scripture does a cultural norm take priority over a clear mandate from God’s character or biblical principles. Culture is certainly taken into account when it comes to applying the virtues and principles, but that is a far different matter than culture determining what the moral norms ought to be.” (Page 28)

Endorsements

I have profitably used Moral Choices as a central textbook in my Christian Ethics courses since it first came out in 1995. This new edition builds on the strengths of the previous editions by deepening the analysis, bringing the discussions up to date, and adding a needful new chapter on ethics and economics. The book remains clear, readable, well-informed, biblical, and pertinent for the moral questions and challenges facing Christians today.

—Doug Groothuis, professor philosophy, Denver Seminary

Moral Choices is characterized by particular strength in its discussion of ethical methodology, its approach to bioethical and business ethics issues, its accessibility and readability, its use of cases and discussion questions, and its engagement with a wide range of both secular and Christian thinkers through the ages. It is conservative and evangelical while remaining irenic and dialogical.

—David P. Gushee, distinguished university professor of Christian ethics, Mercer University

Product Details

• Title: Moral Choices: An Introduction To Ethics
• Author: Scott B. Rae
• Edition: Third Edition
• Publisher: Zondervan
• Print Publication Date: 2009
• Logos Release Date: 2013
• Pages: 384
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subjects: Ethics; Christian ethics
• ISBNs: 9780310514725, 031051472X
• Resource ID: LLS:MORALCHCSRAE3ED
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T01:35:44Z

About Scott B. Rae

Scott Rae's primary interests are medical ethics and business ethics, dealing with the application of Christian ethics to medicine and the marketplace. He has authored 10 books in ethics including The Ethics of Commercial Surrogate Motherhood; Moral Choices: An Introduction to Ethics; Brave New Families: Biblical Ethics and Reproductive Technologies; Beyond Integrity: A Judeo-Christian Approach to Business Ethics; and Body and Soul: Human Nature and the Crisis in Ethics. His work has appeared in The Linacre Quarterly, Religion and Liberty, Journal of Markets and Morality, Southern California Journal of Law and Women's Studies, National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly, and Ethics and Medicine. He is a consultant for ethics for four Southern California hospitals. He is a fellow of the Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity and a fellow of the Wilberforce Forum.