Moral Formation as Life in the Trinity
W. Ross Hastings
Pastoral Ethics: Moral Formation as Life in the Trinity
Copyright 2022 W. Ross Hastings
Lexham Academic, an imprint of Lexham Press
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Portions of chapters 1, 2, and 9 previously appeared in Theological Ethics: The Moral Life of the Gospel in Contemporary Context (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Academic, 2021). Used by permission.
Print ISBN 9781683595458
Digital ISBN 9781683595465
Library of Congress Control Number 2021937712
Lexham Editorial: Elliot Ritzema, Claire Brubaker, John Barach, Mandi Newell, Danielle Thevenaz, Abigail Stocker, Abby Salinger
Cover Design: Lydia Dahl, Brittany Schrock
To two true friends and outstanding physicians,
Dr. Lourens Perold and
Dr. G. Ivan Stewart
1 Thinking Theologically about Ethics
2 “Trinitarian” as the Most Fitting Category for Ethics
3 Trinitarian Ethics as Biblical, Evangelical, and Ecclesial
5 Moral Formation in the Covenant Love of God
6 Moral Formation through the Sabbath
7 Authority in Moral Formation and Ethics
12 Ethics and Ordering Desires
One day I was enjoying a cup of afternoon tea while taking a break during sermon preparation at home, and the phone rang. A couple from our church were on the line on their way downtown to a Vancouver medical center that facilitated in vitro fertilization. This couple had journeyed through this process faithfully. True to their own conviction that every fertilized ...
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About Pastoral Ethics: Moral Formation as Life in the TrinityEthics is freedom in Christ to pursue the good, true, and beautiful. Pastors regularly face concrete ethical questions. And they, too, pursue a moral life. In the busyness of ministry, it can be tempting to think pragmatically or derive one’s ethics from the latest cultural concerns. But standard approaches to ethics, whether deontological, utilitarian, or virtue-ethical, all fall short of being distinctly Christian. Ethics ought to be grounded in the gospel and in our triune God. In Pastoral Ethics, W. Ross Hastings provides pastors an evangelical and trinitarian framework for moral formation and ethical discernment. For Hastings, ethics must be reclaimed as theological. Theology without ethics becomes gnosticism. Ethics without theology leads to legalism and death. Christian ethics participates in God’s life and God’s work. This communion with God leads to obedience to his commands as summed up in the Decalogue, and over several chapters Hastings provides a rich exposition for pastoral formation. Pastors find their identity in God, and this inspires right thinking and acting with regard to authority, life and death, sexuality, work and rest, speech, and desires. An approach to ethics that prompts faith, hope, and love, Pastoral Ethics is an essential guide for Christians in all ministry contexts. |
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