The Goodness of God

The Goodness of God
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The Goodness of God: Theology, Church, and the Social Order

Description of The Goodness of God:

Stephen Long opens his erudite discussion of theology and ethics, The Goodness of God, with the insistence that moral critique must emerge from a particular location, rather than from the fluid values of any "neutral" observer. Long sets out to put theology and ethics-as well as the church-in proper relation to one another. Ethics must be based in theology, not the other way around. Our "finite participation in the infinite make possible participation in a goodness beyond us." That goodness comes to us in the flesh of Jesus Christ, and the church is indispensable in drawing all people toward God's goodness. The church, a social ethic in itself, gives purpose and order to other social institutions, including family, government, and the market. The Goodness of God, intriguing and scholarly, will appeal to theologians, philosophers, economists, ethicists, and those in the social sciences. Philosophically sophisticated and thorough, it could be adopted as a text for seminary, graduate, and upper-level undergraduate theology courses.

Information on The Goodness of God from the publisher:

Stephen Long opens his erudite discussion of theology and ethics with the insistence that moral critique must emerge from a particular location, rather than from the fluid values of any "neutral" observer.Long sets out to put theology and ethics -- as well as the church -- in proper relation to one another. Ethics must be based in theology, not the other way around. Our "finite participation in the infinite makes possible participation in a goodness beyond us." That goodness comes to us in the flesh of Jesus Christ, and the church is indispensable in drawing all people toward God's goodness. The church, a social ethic in itself, gives purpose and order to other social institutions, including family, government, and the market.

About D. Stephen Long:

D. Stephen Long is assistant professor of theology at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary and codirector of the Center for Ethics and Values. He is the author of Divine Economy, a volume in Routledge's Radical Orthodoxy series.

Description of D. Stephen Long, author of The Goodness of God:

Immanuel Kant argued that good is independent from God, and from our knowledge of God. Friedrich Nietzsche argued that God is dead, and that good and evil do not actually exist. Iris Murdoch argued that good is sovereign, and transcends social contructions, but still remains independent of theological claims. In response to all these ideas about ethics, D. Stephen Long argues that "the only feasible basis for truly human [good] existence must be grounded in God who is good." For too long, he argues, ethics has been the basis of theology, instead of theology being the basis of ethics. He wrote The Goodness of God: Theology, the Church and Social Order as an attempt to restore theology as the foundation of all moral and ethical thinking.According to Long, the subordination of theology to ethics began with Immanuel Kant, and his belief that God can only be thought through freedom. This belief set in motion an ethical revolution against religion and its supposed constraints and lack of freedom. This revolution has been carried on by moralists and ethicists since Kant's time. To recover the theological foundation of ethics, Long argues that one must therefore go back before Kant, and even before the Enlightenment, to thinkers like Thomas Aquinas. Once the subordination of theology to ethics is established Long begins his argument for "a Christian approach to ethics that is grounded in the God who is good and socially located in a particular institution, the church." He explains why the church is the only social construct capable of offering a true and viable human ethic and morality. He also argues that "the church (and synagogue) is given a primary place in a virtuous economy" because it "makes possible the right ordering of desires that are also produced by such social formations as the family, the market, and the state." Long offers separate chapters on the church, the family, the market, and the state, arguing that "the church bears the divine law. Only it can direct our desires and everyday activities to their proper end, which is God...If the church is not the church, the state, the family, and the market will not know their true nature. Only when the church is the church can these and other social institutions know their proper place. The church is, rather than has, a social ethic."