A new book! "What is a good life? An introduction to Christian Ethics in 21st century Africa"

Update 13 February 2010


If you are a University of South Africa - UNISA student who needs to order this book for Ethics you can order the book from here:

Books 4 Change

Or from here:

AcadSA

Shout if you have any difficulty!

God bless,

Dion

My congratulations to my friends Dr. Wessel Bentley, Dr Andre van Niekerk and Prof Liouse Kretzschmar who have just released their new book "What is a good life? An introduction to Christian Ethics in 21st century Africa".

Here's some information about the book:

What is a good life? is a question asked by many people. Why can?t the pursuit of money, power or status provide us with a good life? Why is it that who we are as persons and how we relate to others and our environment is important? Why are a spiritual life and a close relationship with God essential? Why are the lives of some of those who claim to be Christians immoral and unappealing?
A person of integrity has to learn the difference between good and right conduct on the one hand, and damaging or wrong actions on the other. This book does not provide all the answers, but it introduces various ethical problems and suggests ways to deal with them.

It offers a model of moral decision-making based on various ethical theories. The model is applied to contemporary ethical problems facing the world, particularly Africa. The issues of leadership, land, the marginalisation of women and children, HIV/AIDS, the environment, the economic problem of debt and the ethical role of the Church in Africa today are discussed.

Authors from various backgrounds who investigated current ethical issues suggest a way forward. They describe how one can learn to make thoughtful and practical ethical decisions, and how individuals and communities can be morally formed. They challenge, inspire, motivate and equip the reader to become a moral agent in their own community and help to build a better life for all.

I am pleased to say that I wrote a chapter on Ethics and the Bible in relation to the matter of persons of a same sex orientation (Chapter 5, entitled "Reading the same Bible and arriving at different ethical conclusions: The Bible and Christian ethics"). Among the other authors are:

Neville Richardson
Desiree Snyman
Glenn Stavridis
Sean McGuigan
Moss Ntlha
Nadine Bowers du Toit...

This book has been prescribed for all Theological Ethics students at UNISA.  It is a superb resource that will help you to understand the complexity of ethical decision-making in relation to issues of economics, gender, sexuality, the environment, and a host of other topics concerns!  I would encourage you to consider ordering a copy from here.