Christian Ethics in Secular Cultures

"A central question in Christian ethics is the relationship between the moral prin- ciples we should follow within the Christian community and the ethics followed in the secular societies in which we live. Our dilemma is that we have received a revelation of God’s moral will in the Bible and in creation which must shape the identity of believers over against unbelieving cultures, while our neighbors follow the ethics of other worldviews which concern us deeply. Remember the Holocaust, where the ethics of a secular ideology wreaked destruction in an entire society. How should we, as Christians whom God has called to a distinct identity, participate in the moral considerations that will shape our cultures and communicate some of our convictions in a way that brings moral light into our worlds? Johnson offers the insight gained by 20 years of teaching ethics in secular universities in Europe and North America. First he addresses questions of sex, marriage, and family; then questions of work and economics; and finally theological and philosophical foundations. Thomas K. Johnson received his Ph.D. in ethics from the University of Iowa (1987) after a research fellowship at Eberhard-Karls Universität (Tübingen). He received a Master of Divinity (Magna Cum Laude) from Covenant Theological Seminary (St. Louis, 1981) and a BA from Hope College (Michigan, 1977). After serving as a church planter in the Presbyterian Church in America he became a visiting professor of philosophy at the European Humanities University in Minsk, Belarus, 1994–1996. (EHU is a dissident, anti-Communist university, forced into exile by the Belarusian dictator in 2004.) Since 1996 he and his wife have lived in Prague, where he taught philosophy at Anglo-American University (4 years) and at Charles University (8 years). He is now Vice President for Research, Martin Bucer European School of Theology and Research Institutes; Academic Council, International Institute for Religious Freedom (WEA); Professor of Philosophy, Global Scholars, and Senior Advisor to the Theological Commission of the World Evangelical Alliance. His wife, Leslie P. Johnson, is director of the Christian International School of Prague."