"A Monthly Emagazine, Bridging Baptists Yesterday and Today"

March  2003              Vol. 2  No. 3

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William M. Tillman, Jr., T. B. Maston Professor of Christian Ethics, Logsdon School of Theology, Hardin-Simmons University, Abilene, Texas

            Few Baptists have made the foray into the writing world with regard to Christian Ethics. Stassen, formerly of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and now in the Lewis B. Smedes Chair of Christian Ethics at Fuller Theological Seminary, and Gushee, Graves Professor of Moral Philosophy at Union University in Tennessee, provide a hefty effort to offset that trend.

            The writers presuppose that little has been done in the discipline of Christian ethics with regard to the teachings and practices of Jesus.The student of Christian ethics will find probably only a book or two per generation which addresses Jesus and the moral life. Stassen and Gushee propose that the Sermon on the Mount should be the primary infrastructure for such consideration, especially with regard to setting the agenda for Christian ethics. Thus, they propose a Christocentric hermeneutic.

            The authors present twenty four chapters divided into seven sections. The first, “The Reign of God and Christian Character,” considers the meaning of the Kingdom of God. The second, “The Way of Jesus and Prophetic Authority,” reviews moral authority and moral norms in Christian ethics. The third, “The Gospel of Life,” addresses issues of life and death. The fourth, “Male and Female,” examines issues of sexuality, gender, and marriage. The fifth, “The Central Norms of Christian Ethics,” delineates love and justice. The sixth looks at “Relationships of Justice and Love,” through the lens of truth-telling, race, economics, and creation care. The final section, “A Passion for God’s Reign,” concludes the book with attention to Jesus’ teachings on prayer, politics, and moral practices.

            The writers envision a broad audience. College and seminary students, professional ethicists, and “the thoughtful general reader” (xiv) form the target for Stassen and Gushee.

            Have Stassen and Gushee given us a book that develops the parameters of Christian ethics? Indeed, they do. If the reader is looking for the delineation of the primary theories and issues of life which become the province of Christian ethics, here is a tool.

            Does the book engage the primary spokespersons across the spectrum of Christian theology and ethics? Again, the answer is yes. For those who know Stassen’s interests over the years, they will not be surprised to find some expansive discussion related to Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Moreover, an extensive dialogue is carried on throughout the book with a broad group of Christian ethical thinkers. You will need to decide whether the authors’ omission of historical thinkers such as Augustine, or of historians such as A. J. Cadoux, Ernst Troeltsch, or H. Richard Niebuhr (Christ and Culture) is justified. Moreover, Stassen and Gushee give no attention to twentieth century American ethicists such as Georgia Harkness or George Thomas or European ethicists such as Emil Brunner, R. E. O. White or Oliver O’Donovan.    

            Kingdom Ethics needed editorial help. Such help would have addressed minor breakdowns of organizational clarity and readability. Some sections have pages of text without subheads. This omission runs headlong into the efforts of Stassen and Gushee to provide a listing approach to many facets of their text. The use of sidebar “pullout” quotes and shaded boxes need consistency through the text. Stassen and Gushee attempt to maintain personal and distinct points of writing of some sections. Generally that is effective. Yet some unnecessary redundancy occurs. Obviously, the plus side of two writers, with essentially the same perspectives, provides more energy for a project which increasingly becomes more than one person needs to attempt.

            Passages from the Sermon on the Mount form the opening of each chapter. Better connections between the passages and each chapter’s development could have been made, however. With the exception of the last two chapters, little expositional commentary is given from the passages. Instead, the chapters tend to be developed around a middle axiom approach.

            One would have hoped that two Baptists would have found ways under the issue treatments to speak more boldly regarding separation of church and state. As well, the section related to race deals almost exclusively with African-American developments. The racial mosaic in America now presents Christian ethics with powerful Asian and Hispanic voices.

            In spite of the limitations addressed, this reviewer can still recommend the book. When I teach the course “Jesus and the Moral Life,” this one will be required reading for the students.

Paul Lewis, The Roberts Department of Christianity, Mercer University, Macon, GA

            Observing that although the Christian churches confess Jesus as Messiah, they typically ignore or misinterpret the teachings and practices of Jesus, Stassen and Gushee write in order "to reclaim Jesus Christ for Christian ethics and the moral life of the churches" (xi). Kingdom Ethics thus joins an increasing body of literature that places Jesus at the center of Christian ethics. Stassen and Gushee offer a Baptist voice in a conversation that includes Roman Catholic ethicist William Spohn (Go and Do Likewise), Reformed ethicist Allen Verhey (Remembering Jesus) and Presbyterian theologian Douglas F. Ottati (Jesus Christ and Christian Vision).

            Using that pattern as model for Christian ethical reflection, Stassen and Gushee address a variety of current moral issues (sections 3-6). They examine matters of life and death (war, violence, criminal justice and medicine). They reflect on issues that revolve around gender (marriage and divorce, sexuality and gender roles). They explore what love and justice mean both theoretically and practically as they address the topics of truthtelling, race, economics and the environment. The authors conclude by exhorting Christians to be doers of God's word and suggesting that the passions that enable Christians to do so can nurtured by spending time in prayer and participating in the world of politics (section 7).

            Stassen and Gushee do a masterful job of developing their reading of the Sermon in conversation with biblical scholars and ethicists. However, while they make a compelling case for their reading of the Sermon, they do not follow its pattern consistently. Thus the rubric of vicious cycles and transformative practice sometimes comes off as forced (e.g., with matters of health care) and at times drops out of the discussion (e.g., race). This fact serves as a useful reminder that neither the Sermon, nor the Bible as a whole, addresses many specific issues with which contemporary Christians wrestle.

            Although the methodological discussions will be of interest mostly to graduate students and fellow scholars, Kingdom Ethics deserves to be read by clergy and laity alike and should serve well as a text in undergraduate and graduate classes. While seemingly addressed to a more conservative, evangelical audience, Kingdom Ethics does not fit easily into normal categories. The authors take more liberal stances on some issues (especially matters of social justice) and more conservative stances on others (e.g., abortion). Methodologically, they fit into H. Richard Niebuhr's sectarian type by their emphasis on following the teachings of Jesus and their exhortation for the church to be countercultural. On the other hand, Stassen and Gushee are anything but sectarian in either their activism or their willingness to draw insights and information from a variety of intellectual disciplines. As a book that may stretch a reader's stereotypes, it will likely both frustrate and challenge, and that alone makes it worthwhile.

Foy Valentine, retired Executive Director, The Christian Life Commission, SBC

          Baptist Christian Social Ethicists Glen Stassen and David Gushee have jointly authored a book representing their "conviction that the moral witness of Jesus Christ our Lord has been neglected, misunderstood and even evaded," resulting in "nothing less than the malformation of Christianity." To which I lustily shout, Hear! Hear!

This is a big, good book.

It will be particularly helpful for seminary and college students who will find it devout, thorough, and well-documented as they study Christian social ethics now and as they return to it for years to come. Pastors and Christian laypersons will be significantly helped by the breadth and depth and practicality of this book. As a Christian ethicist who has plowed in this field for more than fifty years, I cannot imagine not going often to this excellent resource for insights, information, practical help, and treatments that are fair and informed regarding the many issues addressed.

The book is rooted firmly in Old Testament theology and in New Testament teachings. The reign of God envisioned particularly by Isaiah and the Sermon on the Mount as preached and taught by Jesus constitute the stackpole for this volume.

It is strengthened by numerous personal references and experiences by the authors. I was prepared to find the joint authorship problematical, even difficult; but that challenge has actually been resolved about as well as it could be, I think. In some respects the book is actually better for the diversity brought to the subject by these two strong Baptist ethicists.

While the authors, both academicians, have allowed certain personal preferences and leanings to be reflected in what they have written, this is not a major problem. They generally lean over a good bit to try to be fair when there are clearly two possible interpretations or approaches as the reader can see clearly in Stassen's chapters related to peace and peacemaking and in Gushee's chapter on abortion.

I find their bias toward the so-called Evangelicals and away from Baptists rather painful; but it is a pain which I often experience and to which I am almost becoming accustomed. Surely Walter Rauschenbusch deserves more than the single reference I found given to him on page 423. I am also grieved that Christian social ethicist T. B. Maston who was far and away the most effective proponent of Christian social ethics in the Baptist world for the last half of the Twentieth Century received shamefully short shrift at the hands of his Baptist brethren. Henlee H. Barnette fares only a very little bit better as does Clarence Jordan, Christian social ethics practitioner par excellence. Seminary and college textbooks that might also have been appropriately referenced are Understanding Christian Ethics: An Interpretive Approach by William M. Tillman, Jr. and Walking in the Way: an Introduction to Christian Ethics by Joe E. Trull. Furthermore, such practicing Christian social ethicists as Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter, Millard and Linda Fuller, Bill Moyers, Brooks Hays, Hugo Black, James Dunn, and Mark Hatfield might well have received respectful attention. The book does have some serious, even glaring, oversights, omissions, and weaknesses.

Still, Kingdom Ethics has some impressive strengths:

1. It is consistently focused on Christian social ethics.

2. It reflects decades of serious, scholarly, and devout study.

3. It shows a thorough knowledge of the subject.

4. It is chock full of helpful references to the works of others.

5. It presents a combination of courage and compassion in good prophetic tradition.

6. It is practical, relevant, and biblical.

7. It is timely but firmly anchored in changeless principles.

Counsel: Spend the $30 and buy this book.

C. Welton Gaddy, President, The Interfaith Alliance Foundation, Washington, DC; Pastor for Preaching and Worship, Northminster Church, Monroe, Louisiana

Much can be learned about their methodology by a brief look at the authors’ treatment of two or three ethical dilemmas that are subjects of hot and often divisive debates in contemporary Christian congregations.

            First, what about war? Given a dichotomy of war (even Just War) and peace, the authors choose the “transforming initiative” of “just peacemaking” as an “obligatory dimension of Christian discipleship” (150). After warning Christians that government should not be allowed to determine Christians’ views on the morality of a war, the authors encourage readers to discuss just war theory, pacifism, and just peacemaking and then, individually, make a personal decision about war (counsel much weaker than the principled arguments that precede it).

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Baptist Firsts: Charles Deweese, Executive Director of the Baptist History and Heritage Society, writes this section of BSB. He identifies some of the “firsts” in Baptist life in America.

The First Baptist College in America

Anti-intellectualism and Baptists go together like apple pie and ice cream, say some. To the contrary, Baptists began to sponsor institutions of higher education in this country almost 240 years ago. Today, Baptists in the United States own and operate dozens of high-quality colleges and universities. But only one existed in 1764: Rhode Island College (now Brown University).

            Baptist compiler/historian Morgan Edwards conceived the idea of forming the college and was its primary founder. The Philadelphia Baptist Association, in which Edwards served as pastor of the First Baptist Church of Philadelphia, urged financial support for the school. The school came into existence to offer general college training and specialized training for ministers.

Edwards, who had been educated at Bristol Baptist College in England in the 1740s, traveled through England, New England, and the Middle Colonies soliciting money and books for the college. He was deeply concerned that Baptists in America have an educated clergy.

James Manning, a Baptist minister, served as the first president of the college, which graduated its first class in 1769. A graduate of the College of New Jersey (B.A., 1762; M.A., 1765), Manning later founded the Warren Baptist Association in 1767 (the first such association in New England), moved the college from Warren to Providence in 1770, and became pastor of the Providence Baptist Church.

Rhode Island College, from its beginning, supported religious liberty. It did not require prospective students or faculty to take or pass religious tests.

The college significantly benefited Baptist progress. It provided trained leaders, many of whom made extraordinary contributions to the Baptist cause. It raised the educational awareness and image of Baptists in America. It created a source of connectionalism among Baptists as they contributed financial resources to this common educational effort.

Although I agree with the main points of Dr. Shurden's article–the need to reclaim the principle of religious freedom for all and the need to more greatly emphasize the role of African Americans in Baptist history–I do not think it is helpful to lump together the three historically black Baptist conventions. The differences between them are significant. It is comparable to "lumping together" Southern Baptists, American Baptists, Conservative Baptists, GARBs, and various "independent" Baptist groups. Yes, most of these are predominantly Anglo, but they don't mix well.

It would be helpful to see some statistics about how many Baptist churches are dually aligned and what those dual alignments look like. For instance, many PNBC churches are dually aligned w/American Baptist. How many predominantly black Southern Baptist churches also are affiliated with one of the three black Baptist groups?

Thanks for your excellent and thought-provoking articles!