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he who made a distinction between good and truth. For him the highest good is highest
happiness which is final and self-sufficient. We can see the same stream of thought in Hindu
scriptures. Somen Das points out to the shifts from deontological- teleological thinking.
Many Hindu philosophers wrote about a utopian society in the future and our focus on it will
direct and guide our present.
Even in Judeo-Christian faith, we see this mode dominates the interpretation of the
scriptures and its present implications. The concept of the “day of the Lord” envisioned in the
future was voiced by the prophets and sages of the OT to direct the people of Israel to the
“new Jerusalem.” This is an eschatological view of the future. It is in this eschatological
teaching the church has developed.
In summary, Somen Das bring to our attention regarding the possibilities and
limitations of these three modes when analysed and applied in isolation from each other. Das
has suggested an integration of these three to achieve a certain measure of balance and
integration of these three modes to help us to achieve discernment and judgment.

Mabry, Hunter P., ed. Christian Ethics- An Introductory Reader . Kottayam: Indian
Theological Seminary, 1987. Pp. 1-45
The study of Christian ethics is just not an academic exercise but it has to speak into
the very reality of the situation. Mabry in his book, “Christian ethics” while writing
introduction, portrays a real situation which he faced that cornered him to a moral dilemma.
According to him we have to move beyond the prescriptive solutions and “struggle with a
wide range of interrelated concerns.” 1
Definition of “ethics” and the difference between ethics and morals:
Etymology of the word “ethics”:
The word “ethics” comes from a Greek word “ethos” which means “the customs and
the character which distinguishes a particular people.” 2 The words “ethics” and “morals” are
interchangeably used traditionally. Both basically carry connotations of duties and
responsibility a person has in a group of which he/she is a member and /or to some
transcendent being with reference to right or wrong conduct or ultimate purpose. 3 The word
moral is now being used in a restrictive sense as an adjective. Morals are descriptive and
ethics is all about serious reflections.

1
Hunter P. Mabry, ed., Christan Ehics- An Inroducory Reader (Koayam: Indian Theological Seminary, 1987),
3.
2
Ibid., 3
3
Ibid.

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Moral judgment:
According to Mabry Moral judgments presuppose certain claims upon the actions which are
ought to meet certain social goals. The task of ethics is to critically examine these claims and
their intentions in setting such social goals. At times moral problems arise in a context where
there are contradictions of the norms of two different institutions at the same time- religious
and secular norms may sometimes come into serious contradictions. The task of ethics is to
sort out such contradictions and the make a possible way to reconcile these two.

Factual information:
Moral problem arises in the context of lack of factual information. The relevant information
in relation to the problem will illuminate the nature of the problem and thereby it becomes
easy to address the problem with great clarity.
Task of Christian ethics:
The task of Christian ethics is then to critically examine the moral life of the Christian
community and later turn to the scripture which prescribe a frame-work for us to address
moral problems. This process not only involves in describing the moral problem but also
inquiring into the assumptions made, goals sought, and decision-making process which later
was translated into concrete actions. These concrete actions later on needed to be examined
whether they are compatible with the Christian faith or not. The fundamental assumption of
any school of ethics is freedom and the responsibility of a person.
Modes of ethical discourse: Methodology of doing ethics
1. Deontological ethics:
According to Mabry, ethics which are obligatory and required to do as a duty are called
technically “deontological ethics.” For example the religious laws and the state laws which
largely deals with the question of “obeying the law” are ought to be followed to be
conformed to the community.
2. Teleological ethics:
This approach deals with the highest good or the end. Here the aspired good in the future will
dictate our present actions towards that reward. For example the concept of kingdom of God.
3. Responsibility-relationality ethics:
“This approach is concerned primarily not with what law is to be obeyed or what end of life
is to be pursued, but with what action is more fitting.” 4 According to my understanding this
speaks more of a “contextual ethics.” These ethics deal more on the basis of current
4
Ibid., 7.

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happenings. It is in a particular situation one has to seek a fitting response in order to have an
enriched humanity.
Variants of the modes:
The legalism and absolutism distorts the nature and meaning of faith in God to mere
observance of the codes. A legalistic approach is an isolated way of doing ethics irrespective
of the human circumstance. The moral and ethical codes are to be interpreted according to the
time and the context of human circumstance. This is the problem with the obligatory
approach.
The duty approach is the natural law model. According to this approach, there is an
fundamental assumption that there are certain universal and eternal principles which can be
discerned by all by reasoning. By our human reasoning not all can do good and therefore
there is a need for “divine law” to order our inclinations. This model has traditionally
dominated Roman Catholics and Anglicans. However there has been a decline in this model
due to the complexity of moral and ethical outlooks of different societies. The reasons are the
discovery of diverse moral principles among the various societies, discovery of the natural
laws are not absolute but relativistic, need for the view of concrete directives, social and
scientific developments, hunger for some fixed imperatives and so on. This has become a
struggle for the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches to rethink and rearticulate their
natural law.
Another variant is ‘duty’ approach which has been a principle model in the protestant model.
However there is some inconsistency in the social action of Christianity because there is a
gap between the principles and values and their purpose to serve. To fill this gap John Bennet
proposed “middle axioms” which would serve as a bridge between the principles and the
actions.
Paul Ramsey proposed another stand for this principle approach. He calls this stand as “faith
effective through in principled love.” 5 This is obedient-love.
Walter G. Muelder’s work leads us to third principle. There is set of moral laws at the heart
6
of all existence which “comprise the rational normative structure of all truly ethical choice.”
According to him one has to anticipate probable consequences before jumping into action.
This process helps in the decision-making process.
Eschatological ethics:

5
Ibid., 14.
6
Ibid., 15.

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This approach largely depends on the effects caused due to the embracing of the idea
of other wordly- a life after death ideology. This is more or less similar to legalistic approach
but it tends to cultivate some spiritual aspirations.
Kingdom of God ethics:
The proponent of this model is Walter Rauschenbusch. According to him the
understanding of the idea of Kingdom of God leads us to have a vision and mission within
our present context to work for the attainment of a just society which is according the will of
God. This model takes seriously into account the social responsibility. Its aim is to
“Christianize the social structures.” This model sees sin not from an individual perspective
but from a corporate level where they opine that sin has embedded into the very institutions
of the society.
Moral ethos and moral identity:
According to Mabry the definition of ethos is “the network of values and assumptions
which characterize the spirit of a culture and which informs the beliefs, customs, structures,
and practices of a society.” 7
Identity as defined by Mabry is a self-perception or self-understanding of a person who
he/she is. There is a subjective and objective dimension to it. This perception of one’s own
identity is largely dependent on the ethos in which a person lives. In that sense identity is a
socially acquired. Therefore it involves a process of social interaction. This is called
socialization or acculturation. Just like a person perceives who he is from his social ethos so
also he can have a possibility of change through his interaction with the society. This is what
Mabry calls as social transformed as identity.

Chandran, Russel. Christian Ethics. New Delhi: ISPCK, 2008. Pp. 1-10

Russel Chandran starts his book by bringing our attention the age old question that
our humanity has been facing- “what is right and what is wrong?” It is imperative for us to
thing and reflects on the question “who and what decide what is wrong and what is right.” He
points out to the ethical codes that each culture prescribes. As Christians we look back to the
scriptures and the ethical teachings of Jesus and the church. According to Chandran ethical
choices and judgments are often not simple. He validates this point by directing our attention
to two different real-time incidents- one is Rahab’s lie in the book of Joshua and the other is a
missionaries attempt to save some poor people in India during World war by buying food in
7
Ibid., 28.

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