Dirty Hands: Christian Ethics in a Morally Ambiguous World

by Garth Kasimu Baker-Fletcher

How can one make the ethical and "right" decision in a deeply ambiguous moral world? Baker-Fletcher's basic introduction to Christian Ethicswith attitudeexamines the fundamental ethical problems of moral decision-making, in which knowledge will always be unsure, time short, decisions ambiguous, and consequences multiple and unforseeable. Baker-Fletcher treats ethics as engagement, getting one's hand's "dirty with life." He employs a journey motif in order to aid readers in plotting their own "moralscape" (the fundamental commitments that affect their own decisions).

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Garth Kasimu Baker-Fletcher is Associate Professor of Religion at Texas College, in Tyler Texas.

Reviews

[John Lussier]

An excellent introduction to Christian Ethics and to the Garth Baker-Fletcher's "Journey Moralscape" model. The author does an incredible good job of succinctly describing the current state and context of ethical studies, and then to lay out his own model. Taking from Bonhoeffer's idea of radical grace Baker-Fletcher puts forward that we are always implicated by ethical decisions, the important thing is to get our hands dirty and start working towards more liberative concepts and practices. In doing so we shouldn't be afraid to take tools and input from various traditions and resources. The ethical journey is never done in isolation, but must always expand.