Spirit Ethics: Scripture and the Moral Life

How can Christians responsibly derive moral guidance from the Bible on pressing issues of personal and social morality today? Jersilds book sets the context for a study of Scripture and the moral life in a postmodern pluralist society with its impact on biblical studies. The ethical contents and authority of Scripture are addressed and a Spirit ethics is proposed as a way of developing a biblically based Christian ethics. Christians cannot simply adopt a once-and-for-all set of rules nor simply cite Bible verses against the latest sins. Absolutely essential says Jersild is the ongoing engagement of the church with the moral environment of society and the issues that this raises for the church. Jersild applies his model fruitfully and persuasively to three pressing and perplexing issues: assisted suicide homosexuality and genetic programs.