Christian personal ethics / by Carl F. H. Henry.

Includes bibliographical references.

Introduction: The loss of human worth in modern life and the hope of its recovery in the zone of Christian redemption -- Section I: Speculative philosophy and the moral quest -- Naturalistic ethics and the animalization of the moral life -- I. Elemental naturalism -- A. Ancient: Sophism -- B. Ancient: Cyrenaicism -- C. Ancient: Cynicism -- D. Modern Reflections -- II. Systematic naturalism -- A. Hedonistic naturalism -- I. Ancient: epicureanism -- 2. Modern: utilitarianism -- 3. Modern: evolutionary ethics -- B. Political naturalism -- I. Ancient: Thrasymachus -- 2. Modern: Machiavelli -- 3. Modern: Hobbes -- 4. Modern: Nietzsche -- 5. Modern: Marx -- C. Religious naturalism -- 1. Ancient: stoicism -- 2. Modern: Spinozism -- 3. Modern: humanism -- III. Relativistic naturalism -- A. Pragmatism -- B. Logical positivism -- IV. Irrational naturalism -- A. Idealistic ethics and the deification of the moral life -- 1. Elemental idealism -- A. Ancient: Polemarchus -- B. Ancient: Glaucon -- C. Modern reflections -- II. Systematic idealism -- A. Rational idealism: Plato, Aristotle, Hegel -- B. Postulational idealism: Kant. personalism -- C. Irrational reaction --

3. Existential ethics and the intensification of the moral life -- I. Elemental existentialism -- II. Philosophical existentialism -- A. Atheistic: Sartre, Heidegger -- B. Theistic: Jaspers -- III. Revelational existentialism: Kierkegaard, Barth, Brunner -- Section II: Christianity and the moral revelation: The redemption of the moral life -- 4. The image of God created and sullied -- Relation of speculative ethics and revealed ethics -- Hebrew-Christian ethics asserts a unique basis -- No fixed contact between secular and Christian systems -- Yet Imago Dei supplies a point of connection between persons -- The form and content of the Imago by creation and in sin -- 5. Christian ethics and the anitheses of speculative morality -- Love of God and man superior to mysticism or humanism -- Bondage to Christ superior to autonomy or necessity -- Revelational ethics superior to its speculative form and content -- Love for neighbor as for self superior to egoism or altruism -- Obedience to God superior to happiness or duty as motives --

6. The world of fallen morality -- Progression of the rule and reign of God defeat of Satan and the demonic powers -- Christian triumph over death -- Abolition of the Law -- Rescue of man from the enslavement of sin -- Conquests of the Holy Spirit in human life -- 7. Transcendent revelation as the source of Christian ethics -- Christian ethics based on more than metaphysical speculation -- Christian ethics not anchored merely in religious supernaturalism -- Christian ethics as the morality of revealed religion -- Christian ethics as the morality of the Divine covenant -- Christian ethics as the morality of the believing Church -- 8. The good as the will of God as Lord -- The Hebrew-Christian identification of the good with God's will -- The modern dissatisfactions with duty and happiness as motives -- The will of God no mere philosophic postulation -- The glory of the Hebrews their knowledge of the will of God --

9. Love, the divine imperative in personal relations -- The uniqueness of the Christian ethic of love -- The example of unrequited love in the life of Jesus -- The implications of the ethic of love for daily life -- 10. The determination of the content of the moral life -- The loss of biblical authority leads to nebulous views of the Divine will -- The appeal to love alone an inadequate guide -- The serviceability of the linago before the fall -- The serviceability of the imago after the fall -- The significance of special revelation in defining the content morality -- Love and commandments not antithetical -- 11. The Biblical particularization of the moral life: The Old Testament -- The content of morality defined by Scriptural revelation -- The Genesis narrative includes the essential ethical elements -- Distinction between perpetual and temporary obligations -- The Mosaic law reinforces the creation ordinances -- The prophets as forthtellers and foretellers --

12. The Biblical particularization of the will. The sermon on the mount -- The humanistic evolutionary interpretation -- The liberal social-gospel interpretation -- The dispensational futuristic interpretation -- The "interim ethic" interpretation -- The existential interpretation -- The Sermon an exposition of the deeper implications of the moral Jaw -- Personal and official relations -- 13. The Biblical particularization of the will of God: The larger New Testament -- The reinforcement of the ethics of creation, of Sinai and of the Sermon -- New Testament obedience includes more than the commandments -- The acceptance of Christ and the following of His teaching and example -- The teaching of the Apostles -- The New Testament applies and illustrates the revealed ethic --

14. The law and the gospel -- Older controversies over the relevance of the Law -- Recent controversies over the relevance of the Law -- The Law as a scripturally fixed nile of life -- The political purpose of the Law -- The pedagogic purpose of the Law -- The didactic purpose of the Law -- 15. Christian ethics as predicated on the atonement -- The atonement as the presupposition of Christian morality -- Rejection of atonement as a baleful influence misguided -- Concealment of atonement as an attack on objective morality -- 16. Christian ethics as the morality of the regenerate man -- The Christian life a newly-given existence in Christ -- The crucifixion, not the improvement, of the old nature -- Human character as determinative of conduct -- 17. Jesus as the ideal of Christian ethics -- The propriety of Jesus as an example incarnation of obedience -- The incarnation of absolute perfection -- The incarnation of holy love --

18. New Testament principles of conduct -- The believer's life one of Christian liberty in grace -- Liberty is to glorify God, not to pursue sin -- The defilement of conscience -- The stumbling-block in the path of weaker believers -- The reproach of unbelievers -- The avoidance of common cause with unbelievers -- Answerability to a temporary or local code -- 19. The Holy Spirit, the Christian ethical dynamic -- The Spirit as promoting a new tide of ethical vitality -- The Spirit as sustaining higher levels of morality -- The Spirit as enlisting the masses in moral earnestness -- The rule of the Spirit the decisive criterion of Christian living -- The Christian life as Christ-centered and Spirit-empowered -- The believer stands, in the Spirit, in an end-time relation to Christ -- The Spirit baptizes believers into one body -- The Spirit seals the believer -- The Spirit fills the believer -- The New Testament relating of the Spirit to moral power --

20. The Christian life as a possession -- Modern assaults on the perseverance of the saints -- The Christian life abides in Christ -- A life not of perfection, but of growth in purity -- 21. The distinctive New Testament virtues -- Philosophical and theological virtues contrasted -- The virtues Jesus approbated -- The Pauline virtues -- 22. Conscience as a Christian -- Conscience in its biblical sense -- Conscience in relation to Christ -- The good and the bad conscience -- The education of conscience -- Freedom of conscience -- 23. Motives and sanctions of the good life -- The motives of Christian behavior -- The primacy of gratitude -- The necessity of responsive love -- The legitimacy of desire for reward -- The sanctions of Christian behavior --

24. Eschatological sanction for ethics -- The detachment of the ethical from the eschatological -- The reassertion of a formal eschatological sanction -- The compromise of an essential eschatological sanction futile -- 25. Christian morality and the life of prayer -- The prayerless life not the good life -- The life of prayer no compensation for ethical living -- The indispensability of prayer for Christian life -- Bibliography -- Index of persons -- Index of subjects -- Index of scripture.

Study which takes seriously both the moral revelation of Christianity and the ethical alternatives of speculative philosophy.

Also issued online.