Use of the Bible in Ethics

Upon successful completion of this unit, it is expected that students will be able to:

Undergraduate

1. Articulate the differences between a range of hermeneutical approaches;
2. Demonstrate an understanding of the diversity of biblical ethics;
3. Reflect critically on the cultural dimensions of hermeneutics;
4. Analyse the key issues at stake in a particular ethical case study;
5. Assess approaches to ethical questions for the local church and other ministry contexts.

Postgraduate

1. Articulate the differences between a range of hermeneutical approaches;
2. Demonstrate an understanding of the diversity of biblical ethics;
3. Reflect critically on the cultural dimensions of hermeneutics;
4. Analyse the key issues at stake in a particular ethical case study;
5. Assess approaches to ethical questions for the local church and other ministry contexts.
6. Reflect theologically on biblical texts and relate biblical studies to other theological disciplines in a research project at a postgraduate standard.

Undergraduate

• Essay (2,000 words) (40%)
• Exegetical essay (2,000 words) (40%)
• Critical reviews (x 5) (1,000 words) (20%)

Postgraduate

• Essay (3,500 words) (50%)
• Exegetical essay (2,500 words) (30%)
• Critical reviews (x 5) (1,500 words) (20%)

Set texts recommended for purchase are highlighted in blue

• Barton, J. Ethics and the Old Testament. London: SCM, 2nd edn 2010.
• Barton, S.C. Life Together: Family, Sexuality and Community in the New Testament and Today. Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 2001.
• Burridge, R. Imitating Jesus: An Inclusive Approach to New Testament Ethics Today Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007.
• Carroll, M.D. and J.E. Lapsley (eds), Character Ethics and the Old Testament. Louisville: WJKP, 2007.
• Coomber, Matthew, Re-Reading the Prophets through Corporate Globalization: A Cultural-Evolutionary Approach to Understanding Economic Injustice in the Hebrew Bible. Biblical Intersections 4: Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2010.
• Cosgrove, C.H. Appealing to Scripture in Moral Debate: Five Hermeneutical Rules. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002.
• Hays, R. The Moral Vision of the New Testament. San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1996.
• Horrell, D. Solidarity and Difference: A Contemporary Reading of Paul’s Ethics. London: T & T Clark, 2005.
• Horrell, D. et al. (eds), Ecological Hermeneutics: Biblical, Historical and Theological Perspectives. London: T & T Clark, 2010.
• Janzen, W. Old Testament Ethics: A Paradigmatic Approach. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1994.
• Wolterstorff, N. Justice: Rights and Wrongs. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008.
• Wright, C.J.H. Old Testament Ethics for the People of God. Leicester: IVP, edn 2013.