Religion and Ethics
Theme 1: Ethical Thought
A. Divine Command Theory:
Introduction;
Ethics analyses how moral values direct a person's action and identifies the obligations behind the
purpose of doing right or wrong.
Morality of an action depends on whether it accords with the will of God.
Plato (agrees with DCT): "What is pleasing to the Gods is holy, and what is not pleasing to them is
unholy" .
Religious background:
o OT and Qur'an full of teachings of God asserting his moral law.
Emil Brunner (1947), “The Good consists in always doing what God wills at any particular moment."
Relationship between religion and morality: (Tillich's three forms of ethics)
o Autonomous ethics: morality is decided by the individual moral agent.
o Heteronomous ethics: opposite of autonomy (outside force dictates how moral agent should
conduct themselves).
o Theonomous ethics: deriving specifically from God (believer uses scripture to arrive at moral
decisions). Tillich: how you should lead life.
Tillich rejected full DCT.
Objective: e.g. 'You shall no murder (exodus 20)' is a true proposition because God commanded it.
o Morality is dependent on God.
Absolutist: an ethical system that believes there is a standard of right and wrong that is fully binding
on humans.
Relativist: no absolute right and wrong.
Subjective: dependent on personal view.
Consequentialism: based on considering consequences.
Deontological: explores obligation and duty.
Teleological: concerned with end purpose/goal of an action.
Meta-ethics: study of the nature of ethical thinking (why we act as we do).
Normative ethics: study of content of a specific ethical theory.
Applied ethics: debates that arise when normative ethical theories are applied.
Meta-ethical theory - God as the origin and regulator of morality; right or wrong as objective truths
based on God's will/command;
What is right is what is commanded by God.
Something is considered good because God wills it (or God commands us to do it)
The more knowledge we have of how God wants us to live (or the closer we get to God), the better our
lives will be.
"A personal deity who in each case makes a set of moral demands on its worshippers" [AC Grayling].
'God-given' moral truth is said to originate with God.
God's commands must be treated as the ultimate source of authority for what is considered as 'right'.
Even if we don't understand or agree.
God as the origin and regulator of humanity:
DCT: theological voluntarism, proposes that God has established eternal, objective principles of
morality.
Frankena: 'the standard of right and wrong it the will or law of God.'
JAT Robinson (Honest to God): 'they are the commandments which God gives, the laws he lays down.'
Moral goodness is achieved by complying with divine command;
One must COMMIT to the idea that whatever God commands is OBJECTIVELY CORRECT.
Divine command theorists clarify the goodness of such actions with the following points:
a. God is all powerful so he can make anything he does count as 'good'.
b. God's nature transcends human understanding; so we may not understand why/how it is good.
Theme 1: Ethical Thought
A. Divine Command Theory:
Introduction;
Ethics analyses how moral values direct a person's action and identifies the obligations behind the
purpose of doing right or wrong.
Morality of an action depends on whether it accords with the will of God.
Plato (agrees with DCT): "What is pleasing to the Gods is holy, and what is not pleasing to them is
unholy" .
Religious background:
o OT and Qur'an full of teachings of God asserting his moral law.
Emil Brunner (1947), “The Good consists in always doing what God wills at any particular moment."
Relationship between religion and morality: (Tillich's three forms of ethics)
o Autonomous ethics: morality is decided by the individual moral agent.
o Heteronomous ethics: opposite of autonomy (outside force dictates how moral agent should
conduct themselves).
o Theonomous ethics: deriving specifically from God (believer uses scripture to arrive at moral
decisions). Tillich: how you should lead life.
Tillich rejected full DCT.
Objective: e.g. 'You shall no murder (exodus 20)' is a true proposition because God commanded it.
o Morality is dependent on God.
Absolutist: an ethical system that believes there is a standard of right and wrong that is fully binding
on humans.
Relativist: no absolute right and wrong.
Subjective: dependent on personal view.
Consequentialism: based on considering consequences.
Deontological: explores obligation and duty.
Teleological: concerned with end purpose/goal of an action.
Meta-ethics: study of the nature of ethical thinking (why we act as we do).
Normative ethics: study of content of a specific ethical theory.
Applied ethics: debates that arise when normative ethical theories are applied.
Meta-ethical theory - God as the origin and regulator of morality; right or wrong as objective truths
based on God's will/command;
What is right is what is commanded by God.
Something is considered good because God wills it (or God commands us to do it)
The more knowledge we have of how God wants us to live (or the closer we get to God), the better our
lives will be.
"A personal deity who in each case makes a set of moral demands on its worshippers" [AC Grayling].
'God-given' moral truth is said to originate with God.
God's commands must be treated as the ultimate source of authority for what is considered as 'right'.
Even if we don't understand or agree.
God as the origin and regulator of humanity:
DCT: theological voluntarism, proposes that God has established eternal, objective principles of
morality.
Frankena: 'the standard of right and wrong it the will or law of God.'
JAT Robinson (Honest to God): 'they are the commandments which God gives, the laws he lays down.'
Moral goodness is achieved by complying with divine command;
One must COMMIT to the idea that whatever God commands is OBJECTIVELY CORRECT.
Divine command theorists clarify the goodness of such actions with the following points:
a. God is all powerful so he can make anything he does count as 'good'.
b. God's nature transcends human understanding; so we may not understand why/how it is good.
