Christian Ethics

Stanton Center Spring 2025 (five Saturdays, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.)

Instructor: The Rev’d Canon Victor Lee Austin, Ph.D.

Location: St. Matthew’s Cathedral, Stanton Center in Garrett Hall

Jan. 18, Feb. 15, March 15, April 12, and May 17

Texts required (get physical books, not electronic books; bring to class when assigned for discussion)

• Victor Lee Austin, Christian Ethics: A Guide for the Perplexed
• Herbert McCabe, The Good Life: Ethics and the Pursuit of Happiness
• Muriel Spark, The Comforters

Overview

This course covers some basic alternatives in Christian ethics, before turning to an in-depth study of virtue ethics (also called the ethics of human excellence or flourishing). Students must prepare carefully for each class, as class time will be spent mostly on a close review of the assigned texts. Special attention will be given to Christian anthropology, particularly as it stands in contrast to common secular assumptions of freedom, happiness, and the like. The course also is aimed to be helpful pastorally, e.g. by the inclusion of fiction (Spark) and by consideration of the topics of friendship and disability.

Class topics and assignments

January 18: Christian Ethics, Its Reasonableness and Christianness

• Read Austin, ch. 1-2
• Read Stanley Hauerwas, “The Moral Authority of Scripture” (pdf handout)
• Assignment (all assignments are to be completed at least 24 hours before class and sent to the instructor by email; also bring printouts to class)
• outline Austin in some detail (about one page per chapter); make a short, high-level outline of Hauerwas (half page or less)
• write a one-page reflection on each chapter of Austin and on Hauerwas, or a three-page reflection on the readings all together

February 15: Deontological, Utilitarian, and Virtue Ethics

• Read Austin, ch. 3
• Read John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism, ch. 2, found here: https://www.utilitarianism.com/mill2.htm
• Read Immanuel Kant, Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals, ch. 1, found here:

            www.earlymoderntexts.com/assets/pdfs/kant1785.pdf

            (Note: this link gives you the whole book; ch. 1 is roughly pp 5-13.)

• Assignment
• outline Austin in detail (one or two pages); make short, high-level outlines of Mill and Kant (about half a page each)
• write one-page reflections on each, or one three-page reflection on the readings all together

March 15: Human Excellence, Natural and Supernatural

• Read Austin, ch. 4-5
• Read Spark, The Comforters
• Assignment
• outline Austin in detail (about one page per chapter)
• write a two-page reflection on Spark

April 12: How to Be Happy (Aquinas read through Wittgenstein)

• Read McCabe, The Good Life, ch. 1-4
• Assignment: outline each chapter in some detail, about 4-5 pages in total

May 17: Christian Anthropology and Ethics: Friendship, Disability, and God’s Being

• Read Austin, ch. 6-7
• Read handout on theology of friendship
• Assignment
• outline Austin in detail (about one page per chapter)
• write a three-page reflection on today’s readings taken all together

Evaluation will be based on the turned in written material and on class conversations, with particular attention to evidence that the student is working to understand the material and integrate it with his/her overall theological formation.

Auditors will be expected to do the readings with attention, but they will not do the written assignments.

Register here