What does your church provide in the way of education in Christian ethics? From my own experience in ministry and Christian education, my sense is that most churches lack any kind of formal introduction to Christian ethical thought, dealing instead with specific moral issues as they arise. While this is important and helpful, Christians desperately need—in this confusing time—a solid, systematic introduction to why Christians are called to behave in certain ways, and how to evaluate ethical choices in keeping with Scripture, the Christian tradition, and reason.
In 2019, Keith taught a class for the youth group at his congregation that provided this introduction. During and following this class, he began work on a book that would go a bit deeper, yet still be accessible to non-specialists. The faculty of Austin Grad had a weekly colloquy at the time, with each one of us bringing in something we were working on for reading and critique. Keith would regularly bring in chapters for us to read through together, and I remember thinking, at the time, how important and helpful the book would be for churches. And this was just before Covid, during and after which many ethical questions would be raised that many of us had never thought to address.
In 2021, Zondervan Academic published Keith’s book Ethics Beyond Rules: How Christ's Call to Love Informs Our Moral Choices. The book is an excellent, well-reasoned, and accessible introduction to Christian ethics, built around the question, "What does love require?" Read more about, and purchase the book here. It's also available via audiobook (which is how I "read" it after it was published) and Kindle.
I am extremely pleased to announce the release of a new video course built around the book. The course is an excellent introduction to Christian ethics and would be appropriate for teens and adult classes alike. You can see samples of the course on our YouTube page.
The class is available through our video course subscription, along with all of our other courses. A subscription gets your entire congregation access to the complete video collection for one year, and is still available, for a limited time, at 25% off the normal price, with the use of the code VIDEOS25 at checkout.
What are our churches, small groups, and families, doing to deepen our understanding of what it is that Christians profess? How are we equipping our communities to remain faithful in difficult, faithless times? Consider the offerings available from the Center for Christian Studies and how we might be able to assist you in these important tasks.
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