Ethics in Paul and Paul in Ethics

Abstract:This address begins with a discussion of ethical reasoning in Paul's letters. The unsystematic character of his ethical discourse and its variety are emphasized. The second part is a comparison of Paul's ethical discourse with two recent approaches, the ecclesial ethics of Stanley Hauerwas and the discourse ethics of Jürgen Habermas. The third part is a consideration of feminist and womanist ethics as approaches that fundamentally challenge Paul's ethical reasoning in terms of its authority and usefulness for white women and black women. The conclusion includes the observation that discourse ethics, feminist ethics, and womanist ethics are promising approaches for appropriating Paul's ethics today because they all take up an important theme in Paul's letters: the importance of dealing with conflict while maintaining difference.