Engaging Ethically in a Strange New World

Christians in Australia are facing serious ethical issues. Contentious topics, such as same-sex marriage, the assisted-dying bill, gender fluidity, and attempts to censor Jesus-talk in the schoolyard, present serious challenges and require us to think more deeply about how we are to live in a strange new world. This volume presents papers from the 2018 Paradosis Conference at Melbourne School of Theology and brings together a number of voices to explore doctrinal foundations and their practical outworkings in the fields of biblical studies, systematic and practical theology, Islamic studies, and medical ethics. Contributors examine questions of contemporary interest as they pertain to both the Christian community itself and to Christian engagement with wider society. Part 1 comprises papers examining ethics in the Old Testament wisdom books, decision-making according to an early church model, the theological history of ethics, and the pastoral implications of Jonathan Edwards's reflections on beauty. Part 2 investigates the ramifications for Christian social ethics of the paradox of Jesus's stringent moral commands and his inclusive lifestyle, Islam's approach to homosexuality, virtue ethics as an alternative narrative within the ""assisted-dying"" debate, and the role of docility as a virtue in teaching, pastoral theology, and mission.


""Brautigam and Asquith have put together an insightful and informative set of perspectives on how we might live well in the strange and shifting moral landscape of the late modern world. It is a wide-ranging, even disparate collection, which moves from the light OT wisdom can shed on the terrain, through to how a willingness to listen and learn may foster more fruitful conversations. This is a volume well worth listening to and learning from.""
--Andrew Sloane, Morling College

""Brautigam and Asquith's edited book speaks thoughtfully through a range of Australian multicultural accents across a vast landscape of issues: from beauty in Edwards, homosexuality in Islam, to assisted dying legislation in Victoria for starters. It unpacks biblical resources from wisdom to Jesus, to a more virtue-based approach. Such rich resources are applied in creative ways, of interest not only for Australians, but for a secular pluralist world.""
--Gordon Preece, University of Divinity



Michael Brautigam studied psychology in Germany (University of Trier) and theology in Scotland (University of Edinburgh). He teaches in both disciplines at Melbourne School of Theology. His doctoral dissertation focuses on the Christology of Swiss theologian Adolf Schlatter (1852-1938), published as Union with Christ: Adolf Schlatter's Relational Christology (Pickwick, 2015). His current research focuses on the integration of theology and psychology with a particular emphasis on Christian identity.

Gillian Asquith studied Oriental Studies (Chinese) at the University of Oxford. After gaining a Postgraduate Certificate in Education from the University of Bristol, Gillian worked in government and private schools in England and Australia. Gillian undertook her theological education at Melbourne School of Theology and is now on faculty there, teaching Koine Greek and New Testament. She is also engaged in doctoral research in the field of biblical lexicography at the Australian Catholic University.