
Altruism and Christian Ethics - New Studies in Christian Ethics (Paperback)
Colin Grant (author)
£21.99
Paperback
288 Pages /
Published: 11/01/2009
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Separated from its anchorage in religion, ethics has followed the social sciences in seeing human beings as fundamentally characterised by self-interest, so that altruism is either naively idealistic or arrogantly self-sufficient. Colin Grant contends that, as a modern secular concept, altruism is a parody on the self-giving love of Christianity, so that its dismissal represents a social levelling that loses the depths that theology makes intelligible and religion makes possible. The Christian affirmation is that God is characterised by self-giving love (agape), then expected of Christians. Lacking this theological background, the focus on self-interest in sociobiology and economics, and on human realism in the political focus of John Rawls or the feminist sociability of Carol Gilligan, finds altruism naive or a dangerous distraction from real possibilities of mutual support. This book argues that to dispense with altruism is to dispense with God and with the divine transformation of human possibilities.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521093613
Number of pages: 288
Weight: 370 g
Dimensions: 216 x 140 x 16 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
"...the book is an engaging and valuable addition to the literature on altruism." Journal of Religion
"Grant offers a careful analysis of recent secular literature on altruism...he provides a compelling critique of sociobiology's interpretation of altruism...Grant book is a highly nuanced examination of much of the literature on altruism and agape...It is readable and interesting...most informative" Theology Today
"It provides a useful introduction to features of and debates surrounding altruism and makes clear the role Christian ethics can play in defending and promoting it." Religious Studies Review
"Grant offers a careful analysis of recent secular literature on altruism...he provides a compelling critique of sociobiology's interpretation of altruism...Grant book is a highly nuanced examination of much of the literature on altruism and agape...It is readable and interesting...most informative" Theology Today
"It provides a useful introduction to features of and debates surrounding altruism and makes clear the role Christian ethics can play in defending and promoting it." Religious Studies Review
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