The Moral Vision of the New Testament

by Hays, Richard

• ISBN13: 9780060637965
• ISBN10: 006063796X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-09-30
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publications

Summary

A leading expert in New Testament ethics discovers in the biblical witness a unified ethical vision -- centered in the themes of community, cross and new creation -- that has profound relevance in today's world. Richard Hays shows how the New Testament provides moral guidance on the most troubling ethical issues of our time, including violence, divorce, homosexuality and abortion. "Hays' passionately written book, with its bold agenda, has neither peer nor rival." --Leander E. Keck, Winkley Professor of Biblical Theology, Yale Divinity School "There are few people I would rather read for the actual exposition of the New Testament than Richard Hays. This book is filled with wonderful readings that not only inform us about how to think better about the so-called 'problem of the relation between the New Testament and ethics' but, even more, speak of how our lives should be lived in the light of Christ's cross. -Stanley Hauerwas, Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological Studies, Duke University Divinity School "Richard Hays has succeeded brilliantly in bringing New Testament studies, contemporary theology, and ethics into a deeply reflective conversation... Hays' point is that the New Testament norms the Christian life, and, with the help of imagination and metaphor, can address the moral conflicts of our time." --Ellen T. Charry, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University "This book isn't just a breath of fresh air. It's a hurricane, blowing away the fog of half-understood pseudo-morality and fashionable compromise, and revealing instead the early Christian vision of true humanness and genuine holiness. If this isn't a book for our time, I don't know what is." --N. T. Wright, author of The New Testament and the People of God

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction: The Task of New Testament Ethics	p. 1
Paul: The Koinonia of His Sufferings	p. 16
Developments of the Pauline Tradition	p. 60
The Gospel of Mark: Taking Up the Cross	p. 73
The Gospel of Matthew: Training for the Kingdom of Heaven	p. 93
Luke-Acts: Liberation through the Power of the Spirit	p. 112
The Gospel and Epistles of John: Loving One Another	p. 138
Excursus: The Role of "the Historical Jesus" in New Testament Ethics	p. 158
Revelation: Resisting the Beast	p. 169
Diverse Voices in the New Testament Canon	p. 187
Three Focal Images: Community, Cross, New Creation	p. 193
How Do Ethicists Use Scripture? Diagnostic Questions	p. 207
Five Representative Hermeneutical Strategies	p. 215
How Shall We Use the Texts? Normative Proposals	p. 291
Violence in Defense of Justice	p. 317
Divorce and Remarriage	p. 347
Homosexuality	p. 379
Anti-Judaism and Ethnic Conflict	p. 407
Abortion	p. 444
Conclusion	p. 462
Works Cited	p. 471
Permissions	p. 485
Index of Scripture and Other Ancient Writings	p. 486
Author Index	p. 497
Topic Index	p. 502
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