Free in Deed provides an imaginative and succinct introduction to Lutheran ethics, which the author contends is, finally, neighbor ethics. The gospel of Jesus Christ sets us free to serve neighbors--including all creation--and their well-being. This Lutheran framework provides a distinctive approach for navigating social issues in tumultuous times.

Here ten Lutheran theologians explore Lutheran emphases, themes, and approaches to offer their account of Christian ethics as a way of life in today's world. Writing in dialogue, they raise foundational concerns of biblical and theological sources and norms, of Christian freedom and responsibility, of call and social witness, of justice and formation in prayer. Then in a lively "Table Talk" the participants discuss and debate the tradition's insights and oversights and show how it might illumine today's burning ethical issues, such as homosexuality.

"This user-friendly, informative historical theology also challenges contemporary Christians at affirm common biblical ground for theological ethics and to facilitate more public social witness."--BOOK JACKET.

This comprehensive, systematic survey of Luther's ethical thought and teaching clearly discusses all the major ethical issues that concerned Luther. Contemporary readers will be especially interested in what the Reformer has to say about the Christian's attitude toward secular society, toward the state, and toward war. The Ethics of Martin Luther offers scholars and nonspecialists alike a much-needed explanation of Luther's ideas. --

Equipped with a rich heritage detailing the content of human character, it would seem that Christianity is ideally positioned to address a culture where morality and personal character are set adrift. Contemporary Lutheranism has struggled with the place of morality and character formation, concerns often seen as at odds with the doctrine of justification. A Case for Character argues that Christian doctrine is altogether capable of encouraging character formation while maintaining a faithful expression of justification by grace alone.

For a time of peril, world-renowned theologian Jürgen Moltmann offers an ethical framework for the future. Moltmann has shown how hope in the future decisively reconfigures the present and shapes our understanding of central Christian convictions, from creation to New Creation.

"Oswald Bayer is a major contemporary Lutheran theologian, most of whose work has appeared in German as collections of essays, but so far few of his writings have been translated into English. This volume represents a translation of the majority of the essays in one of those collections. The selection was made with the intention of indicating something of the depth and range of his thought on issues relating to theological ethics, bearing in mind the accessibility and potential interest of each chapter to the English-speaking reader. At the suggestion of Professor Bayer, a further chapter has been added on how Protestants view marriage and family." "At the heart of the present volume, as the title suggests, is a particularly reasoned exposition of freedom - as it is presented in the Bible and developed by such later theologians as Martin Luther - and how we are to respond. As Bayer says in his Introduction: 'The fundamental premise of these essays on theological ethics is that human freedom is the result of God's promise: "I am your God. And therefore you are my people." A promise of this sort opens to human beings a trustworthy community, where they can be free in the midst of all kinds of threats.'"--BOOK JACKET.