Some Recommended Introductions to Christian Ethics

Sometimes the variety and range of options of books makes it difficult to know where to begin in the study of any given topic. Whereas a few years ago we would have had to rely on the personal recommendations of a friend or acquaintance, and what was available in our local library or bookstore, now the entire catalog of human knowledge is, seemingly, open to us at all points. This is really great, if you have a starting place in mind or an existing framework from which to begin. For those simply trying to get a toehold in a new topic, the options can be paralyzing.

This post was written because I have had several people ask me what books I would recommend to begin the study of Christian ethics. The list is based on my own preferences and those that I would recommend to people who are reasonably well-read and who share at least some of my presuppositions about the nature of Scripture and the truthfulness of orthodox Christianity. In other words, I am going to make recommendations that are consistent with an orthodox, evangelical Christianity. There may be significant books on philosophical ethics, Roman Catholic ethics, or some sort of modernistic Christianity that others might see as invaluable. However, my point is to lead people deeper into the mystery of faith in Christ Jesus, not toward the apparent brilliance of writers in another faith. There are many books about particular topics within ethics that are useful, too. I have selected these as introductions, not endpoints.

Mere Christianity, by C. S. Lewis

This in not a textbook on Christian Ethics, per se. However, in his defense of a basic, orthodox Christianity, Lewis writes about ninety pages of his apologetic work—about a quarter of it—on what amounts to Christian Ethics. This is helpful, because it demonstrates the integration of Christian Ethics into the broader theological ideas of Christianity. The way we live is an apologetic and it is a demonstration of what we truly believe. For those new in the faith, Mere Christianity is an excellent place to start when trying to figure out how to live morally.

An Introduction to Biblical Ethics, by David W. Jones

Biblical Ethics is a subset of Christian Ethics, but this is the place that many evangelical Christians would do well to begin. Absent from the book are discussions of the categories of philosophical ethics, because the assumption behind this volume is that the reader believes Scripture to be trustworthy as a source of moral authority. This is a volume that teaches readers to reason well from Scripture to moral application. Jones writes with clarity and grace, with a fine balance between demonstrated research and transparency to make this useful for beginners who are primarily interested in how to read Scripture better. This is lean on particular application to current events, but long on methodology.

Invitation to Christian Ethics, by Ken Magnuson

This 2020 volume is a good, current survey of the field of Christian Ethics from an evangelical perspective. Magnuson introduces various philosophical and theological frameworks for moral reasoning, but the focus is on reasoning well from Scripture. This is a book that is helpful if a reader is trying to figure out why different systems of moral reasoning end up with different ideas. After laying out his basic framework, Magnuson then moves on to discuss various contemporary ethical issues, working through them from a scriptural foundation.

The Doctrine of the Christian Life, by John Frame

Frame’s book is a hefty volume, but it is a solid way to begin an ethical journey. I love John Frame’s approach and have been deeply influenced by it. However, his triperspectivalism is distinct from many other approaches and likely to be less common in future years. I have a deep attachment to DCL and all of Frame’s work, but his approach will retain popularity primarily among conservative Presbyterians in the years to come. At the same time, if a reader is looking for a different approach to complement their understanding of Christian Ethics, Frame provides a deeply theological, Scripture-saturated book written from a Reformed perspective.

Ethics as Worship, by Mark Liederbach and Evan Lenow

This book is a 2021 volume that combines some features that I really like. It is a full introduction to Christian Ethics textbook, with a survey of various philosophical approaches. It is primarily driven by Scripture as the source of morally authoritative guidance for our age. Ethics as Worship includes application to many of the major, contemporary moral issues. All of this puts it in the solidly introductory camp and makes it quite useful. In addition, Liederbach and Lenow also have an explicit focus of living the moral life as an act of worship. This is a subtext in most evangelical ethics texts, but this book makes it overt. I’ve read it once and enjoyed it. I need to read it and use it more to fully evaluate it, but it is a good, useful book that I commend for its faithfulness, readability, and doxological emphasis.

Reformed Ethics, by Herman Bavinck

Volume 2 just released a few months ago. I haven’t finished it. However, volume 1 is clearly a treasure and I anticipate that the final two volume will continue the legacy. Bavinck is one of my favorite theologians. He does ethics from a theological framework in the Reformed tradition. His approach will connect well to Jones, Frame, and, to a reasonable degree, with Liederbach and Lenow. Bavinck is not going to cover contemporary issues, since he wrote a century ago. However, what you see is non-performative reasoning from someone who was grappling with modernity, outside our specific culture, and dealing with the same source text—Scripture—that we are using. His application requires a little translation, but this is helpful. Bavinck’s Reformed Ethics are a good historical approach that can be used to encourage thoughtful application of orthodox theology and scriptural reasoning in our day.

Resurrection and Moral Order: An Outline for Evangelical Ethics, by Oliver O’Donovan

This is the last book on this list for a reason. It is a very difficult book to read, but it is also very important. O’Donovan’s work is essential for a full understanding of what it means to think morally as a gospel-focused, theologically orthodox believer. This is a book that demands slow reading and often repeated reading. It was not until the third time through the book that it made sense to me, but once it ‘clicked’ everything fell into place and it helped unlock a more complete process of moral reasoning through Scripture. This is the Brothers Karamazov of Christian ethics; it is very hard work, but it is very much worth the effort.

This is not an evaluation of all the ethics books on the market. There are certainly others that are good and helpful. This is where I think someone should start as they seek to understand Christian ethics better.

Ethics as Worship - A Review

The very first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism asks, “What is the chief end of man?”

The simple, but profound answer is, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.”

In other words, the chief end of humankind is to worship God and delight in his goodness. But “to glorify God” or to worship means more than singing songs at the appointed time each week or having a daily quiet time. Rather, as Scripture makes clear, “Whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Col 3:17)

The sum of the life of the Christian should be to give God glory by living rightly unto him. This brings us to the place of ethics in the Christian life. Ethics is about worship—it’s about living rightly on earth according to God’s design and pointing others to his truth in righteousness.

Mark Liederbach and Evan Lenow bring the concept of worship through moral living to the forefront in their recent book, Ethics as Worship: The Pursuit of Moral Discipleship. The volume, which is a hefty tome of about 750 pages, presents the authors’ particular focus on the nature of ethics as well as providing much of the standard fare for an introductory ethics text.

This volume has some similarities to other ethics texts in that is explores particular ethical questions (especially those that are cultural pinch points) after surveying alternative approaches to ethics. This is a book that reflects significant research, taking into account the major voices in ethics in the past few decades, along with relevant technical data on questions like reproductive ethics. The arguments within the book are well-thought out, as they have been honed over combined decades of teaching by both authors.

The premise of ethics as worship is so basic that it seems obvious when it is introduced. As the authors explain, “Ethics is about God. It is about maximally adoring him and rendering to him all that he is due from all that he has made. And it is about our doing so both individually and corporately.” (xxi)

While this approach to ethics seems like it would go without saying, it is less often said in ethics texts (even those by orthodox, Christian authors) than is warranted. And, even among those purporting to do Christian ethics, there is often a failure to make God’s character and value the summum bonum.

Ethics as worship means that the Christian worldview is the beginning of the moral quest. The foundation of the Christian worldview is properly Scripture, which anchors the method and content in the reveal Word of God. But a purely “scriptural” ethic can lead to casuistry. After all, Scripture does not say that we cannot use cocaine or tell us precisely what to do about global warming. An alternative, which includes various forms of philosophical ethics attempts to get at truth apart from Scripture and then looks for passages that can illustrate. Still other forms of so-called Christian ethics are more like weather gauges that check the cultural climate and decide write and wrong to try to maintain respectability. Viewing ethics as worship puts God at the center, with Scripture as the foundation, and delight in God and holiness as primary signs of success.

Ethics as Worship is a thoroughly theological volume with a reformed outlook. Liederbach and Lenow see the call to worship beginning in the garden of Eden. Building on the somewhat esoteric work of John Sailhamer, they call for a retranslation of Genesis 2:15 as a call for humanity to “worship God and obey his commands” in paradise before the fall. This is a debatable claim, which has little support in common translations, but whether or not their translation option is correct, there is no question that obedience and worship were central to human purpose before sin came into the world. One need not to agree with this emphasis to see the value in the approach Lenow and Liederbach follow. After the fall, the priority of worship and obedience remained, but it was frustrated by the effects of sin. The authors continue to explore how worship is essential through the remaining phases of the universe: fall, redemption, and restoration.

This is a volume that adds to the field of ethics, especially among evangelicals, by effectively summarizing much of the literature of the field and offering a new emphasis for the moral task. It is not wholly foreign, but the emphasis being on worship rather than righteousness—the process of decision rather than the personal outcome—is refreshing and helpful in many ways.

Ethics as Worship could be used at the college or seminary level. It would be a useful pastoral reference, with up-to-date data on very important cultural debates. Thankfully, the authors tend to focus less on edge cases and so-called dilemmas than providing sound principles that can guide faithful moral decisions. There are several good ethics texts on the market, but this is another worthy one that deserves attention, adoption, and utilization.

Ethics as Worship: The Pursuit of Moral Discipleship

By Mark Daniel Liederbach, Evan Lenow

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NOTE: I was provided a gratis copy of this volume from the publisher with no expectation of a positive review.