The subject of moral theology or theological ethics have seen some excellent books published in recent years. The likes of Bonhoeffer, Yoder, Hauerwas and O'Donovan have provided with excellent examples of how Christian ethics should be done. New voices like Colwell, Wells and Wannenwetsch are continuing that tradition. Personally I find it the most exciting area of theology.
1. Ethics by Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Fortress, 2005 edition)
2. The Politics of Jesus by John Howard Yoder (Eerdmans, 1972, 1994 [2nd ed.])
3. The Peaceable Kingdom by Stanley Hauerwas (SCM, 1983, 2003 [2nd ed.])
4. Living the Christian Story: The Distinctiveness of Christian Ethics by John Colwell (T & T Clark, 2001)
5. Christian Ethics and Contemporary Moral Problems by Michael Banner (Cambridge University Press, 1999)
6. Improvisation: The Drama of Christian Ethics by Samuel Wells (SPCK, 2004)
7. The Desire of the Nations: Resdiscovering the Roots of Political Theology by Oliver O'Donovan (CUP, 1996, [PB] 1999)
8. Systematic Theology: Ethics Vol 1 by James McClendon (Abingdon, 1986, 2002 [2nd rev ed.])
9. Barth's Moral Theology: Human Action in Barth's Thought by John Webster (T & T Clark, 1998)
10. Political Worship: Ethics for Christian Citizens by Bernd Wannenwetsch (OUP, 2004)
Good to see that both my supervisors have rated on this list!
Posted by: michael jensen | August 10, 2007 at 06:55 AM
A good list, but is it too chronologically imbalanced?
Posted by: graham | August 10, 2007 at 10:42 AM
I just recently stubled onto your blog. Thanks for the recommendations. I was wondering where yout thought Richard Hays Moral Vision of the New Testament ranked among books on ethics?
Posted by: Dino | August 16, 2007 at 06:53 AM
the list of course is deficient and generally reflects only the last the 20 years.
Hays' moral vision is good. it certainly covers a lot of ground. i think he gets into problems with the focal images (see brian brock's comments in singing the ethos of God)
Posted by: andy goodliff | August 17, 2007 at 10:23 PM
This is a very good list. I would add "The Doctrine of God and Theological Ethics" edited by A. Torrance and M. Banner although I would say that it lacks a unified push (not a failing being as it's a collection of essays) and one can find the same push, against the estrangement of Christian Ethics and Scripture in a shortened but concise form in the introduction of Singing the Ethos which you mentioned already.
Posted by: Johnny A. Ramirez | August 07, 2008 at 12:55 PM