The Hastening that Waits: Karl Barth's Ethics (Oxford Studies in Theological Ethics) [Paperback]

Nigel Biggar (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0198263902 | ISBN-13: 978-0198263906 | Publication Date: January 25, 1996

This book offers a fresh and up-to-date account of the ethical thought of Karl Barth, one of the twentieth century's greatest theologians. In it, the author seeks to recover Barth's ethics from some widespread misunderstandings, and also presents a picture of it as a whole. Drawing on recently published sources, Biggar construes the ethics of the Church Dogmatics as it might have been had Barth lived to complete it. However, The Hastening that Waits is more than apology and description. For it recommends to contemporary Christian ethics the theological rigor with which Barth expounds the good life in terms of the living presence of God-in-Christ to his creatures; his conception of right human action as that which is able to hasten in the service of humanity precisely by waiting prayerfully upon God; and his discriminate openness to moral wisdom outside the Christian church. Among particular topics treated are: the concepts of human freedom and of created moral order; moral norms and their relation to individual vocation; the relative ethical roles of the Bible, the Church, philosophy, and empirical science; moral character and its formation; and the problem of war.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Of considerable interest to specialists"--First Things

About the Author

Nigel Biggar is at Oxford.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (January 25, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0198263902
• ISBN-13: 978-0198263906
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,606,178 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Nigel Biggar is Regius Professor of Moral & Pastoral Theology at the University of Oxford, and Director of the McDonald Centre for Theology, Ethics & Public Life. He has degrees from Oxford, Regent College, and the University of Chicago. He studies the contribution of religion to the health of liberal societies; moral questions about killing (especially in relation to suicide, euthanasia, and war); forgiveness after civil conflict; the public responsibility of the media; and the public vocation of universities.