1. utilitarianism--the maximization of desires (or the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people); John Stuart Mill

1. the emphasis--pragmatically choosing the best alternative; appeal to public rationality

1. deontological --pure moral motives determine the morality of an action; Immanuel Kant

1. the emphasis--determining one's moral duty in relation to the moral law
2. the test--universalization of choices;
3. duty requires emphasis on rational autonomy

1. virtue based--human excellence through the Golden Means, Aristotle

1. virtue fulfills human nature (Aristotle--social, rational animal)
2. virtue is a characteristic way of being and acting which best represents one's

function and purpose

3. it's the Golden Means between the extreme behavior of excessive and deficient

d. one learns the Means through the example of virtuous people

1. centrality of revelation--because Christian ethics testifies of God, it starts its deliberations here; it's neither supernatural nor natural law; it's the living testimony within the life of a people of the acts and nature of God

2. the biblical tradition--Christian ethics starts with the Bible because it is the record of Christian identity

1. the Canon--the formation of the whole Bible guided by the question of

1. the unity within its great diversity--"Christ is Lord and King of

1. Christian ethics is not heteronomy--the rule by an alien law to human nature;

1. it is not autonomy--the rule of the self ,
2. it is theonomy--the convergence of the divine with the human

4. primary texts--Genesis 1-3: Goodness, Creature, and Fallen;

Genesis 12: Covenant and History;

Exodus 20: Liberation and Responsibility

Amos 8: Piety and Ethics;

Isaiah 11: Hope and the New Order