Preface
Introduction
Part I. Ethics – The Ethic Behind Just War
Chapter One: Just War as an Ethic
Chapter Two: Non-Violent Resistance as a Use of Force
Chapter Three: The Hybrid Ethic and Its Application
Chapter Four: Using the “Common Agreement” Ethic: A Critical
Evaluation
Part II. Experience – The Ethic beyond Just War
Chapter Five: The Ethics of Physician Assisted Suicide
Chapter Six: The Ethics of Patient Nontreatment
Chapter Seven: The Ethics of Execution and Just Punishment
Chapter Eight: The Ethics of Abortion: The Question of
Innocence
Chapter Nine: The Ethics of War: The Question of Innocence
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Lloyd Steffen is professor of religious studies and university chaplain at Lehigh University, where he also is the director of the Center for Dialogue, Ethics, and Spirituality and director of the Lehigh Prison Project.
Lloyd Steffen's reinterpretation and creative application of the
just war theory is provocative and insightful. Steffen provides a
comprehensive account of the moral ideas behind the just war
tradition, especially the idea that force ordinarily ought to be
avoided. He applies these ideas in surprising ways to a variety of
issues: from nonviolent activism, adultery, and lying to suicide,
the death penalty, and abortion. This book should be read by
everyone who is interested in finding ways to resolve the dilemmas
of applied ethics.
*Andrew Fiala, professor of philosophy, California State
University, Fresno, California State University, Fresno*
This book is a lively attempt to reconcile ethical theory with
longstanding moral practice. With considerable skill, Steffen
extends just war theory and develops a deeper ethic than those that
focus narrowly on duty, virtue or consequences.
*John Lachs, Vanderbilt University*
Lloyd Steffen's book presents a weighty and nuanced re-examination
of persistent moral questions. Theoretical ethical frameworks are
woven into practical considerations of how we experience moral
dilemmas to create an engaging, readable volume. Steffen's book,
like his frequent newspaper columns represent a clarion call to
think through issues with the care required to become bold enough
to act on your conclusions.
*Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for
Separation of Church and State*
Rarely has so much good sense been put between the covers of a book
on how we can love life wisely in a complex world. Lloyd Steffen
sets out to seek a holistic method for doing ethics in any
context.
*Daniel C. Maguire, Marquette University; author of A Moral Creed
for All Christians*
Steffen (Lehigh Univ.) seeks to develop a general moral theory
whose application to particular issues will do full justice to
people's lived moral experience, as he claims utilitarianism,
Kantianism, and virtue theory, each in its own way, do not. Rather
than begin by directly discussing his own "common agreement"
theory, a variant of natural law theory, he has it emerge from one
of its particular applications, just war theory, and then applies
it to other issues....Summing Up: Recommended. Lower- and
upper-level undergraduates.
*CHOICE*
Steffen helpfully explains how ordinary people use the natural law
in their everyday deliberations.
*Public Discourse*
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