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Christian Ethics - Andrew DeCort (PhD) | Hintset — Transcript

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0:03I think ethics is the study of good and
0:16evil and the sit interrogate s'what we
0:18should love and what we should resist as
0:20moral creatures ethics is that
0:22discipline that talks about what we
0:25should truly love value and seek in life
0:27and so ethics reveals what we think it
0:31means to be truly human and the meaning
0:33of life and this also means that ethics
0:36focuses on the darker drives that
0:38destroy human life like lust for power
0:40money sex Fame cruelty and violence
0:46Christian ethics interprets good and
0:48evil love and resistance primarily
0:50through the life and teaching of Jesus
0:52Christ other ethical theories often
0:55focus on cultural values abstract
0:57principles moral virtues or calculations
1:01of utility but Christian ethics thinks
1:03that the most important key to the good
1:06life and what it means to be truly human
1:08is found in Jesus the life worth living
1:12the life worth loving
1:13is the life that looks like Jesus so who
1:17was Jesus and what was the ethical
1:19vision he gave us in Matthew 23 Jesus
1:22says that the most important matters of
1:24the law are justice mercy and
1:26faithfulness we read the Gospels and we
1:29see that Jesus practiced this through
1:31radical inclusivity and a passionate
1:33focus on children women the poor the
1:36sick and those who were seen as sinners
1:38and Outsiders like Samaritans and
1:41foreigners Jesus fiercely critiqued
1:44religious hypocrisy and the use of
1:47oppressive power for personal gain so in
1:51sum Jesus said that the good life is
1:53summed up in loving God and loving our
1:55neighbors as ourselves the life worth
1:58living is summed up in a self
1:59transcendent commitment and service to
2:02God in the neighbor that's what's worth
2:04loving and what destroys the worship of
2:08God and the life of humanity is what is
2:11worth resisting so that's especially
2:12things like corrupt
2:14injustice in other entak saan the value
2:18of life so I'm filming a 12 hour video
2:25course on this question right now and
2:27it'll be available soon but in short I
2:30think that Jesus gave a very
2:31countercultural and even revolutionary
2:34answer to this question that should
2:36divine define Christian ethics in the
2:38life of the church let me go step by
2:40step first love is a self giving
2:43commitment to the well-being of others
2:45it's not just nice feelings or poetic
2:47words it's a practical way of life that
2:50prioritizes others in their flourishing
2:52so think of John 3:16 for God so loved
2:55the world that He gave His only Son that
2:58whoever believes in Him would have life
3:00and not die or think of Ephesians
3:02chapter 5 verse 1 where Paul says be
3:05imitators of God and walk in the ways of
3:08love just as Christ loved us and gave
3:10himself for us so in the Bible true love
3:13is always self giving for others and
3:16their flourishing the Christian answer
3:19about the neighbour is that the
3:20neighbour is everyone and this was a
3:23revolutionary breakthrough that changed
3:25ethics forever Jesus said three words
3:28that had never been spoken before love
3:31your enemy so for Jesus the scope of
3:35love is not just friends and family it's
3:37not just people from the same ethnicity
3:39or the same religion the neighbour has
3:42become everyone in the teaching of Jesus
3:44and as yourself
3:46this means that Christian ethics cancels
3:49self privilege and I think that this is
3:52extremely profound the last thing many
3:54of us want to see is others as our
3:57equals as equally important as ourselves
4:01but this is what neighbor love requires
4:03see others as equally important as
4:06yourself
4:07so neighbor love means to live with a
4:10self giving commitment to others
4:11flourishing that sees them as equally
4:14valuable as ourselves and Jesus summed
4:17this up in his radical parable of the
4:20Good Samaritan the Samaritan was hated
4:23for religious political and ethnic
4:24reasons but
4:25Samaritan loved across all boundaries
4:28and helped a dying man on the side of
4:29the road and Jesus says he was the true
4:32neighbor who acted on behalf of the
4:35suffering and he's the one who inherits
4:37eternal life and so the love of neighbor
4:41and Christian theology and Christian
4:43ethics is a fierce attack on
4:45ethnocentrism racism oppression
4:49indifference and other ways of life that
4:51devalue others and Christ said that the
4:55love of neighbor is the greatest
4:57commandment that sums up the heart at
4:58the heart of the law so I think we need
5:01to recover the love of neighbor as the
5:04pillar and passion of our churches today
5:11so I see the common good as a two-part
5:14idea first all people were created by
5:18God to flourish and come fully alive not
5:22just some or not just a few and second
5:25our most important work is work that
5:28serves others and not just ourselves or
5:31our group so the common good is a
5:33commitment to shared prosperity and
5:35shared responsibility I'm richer when
5:38you're richer I'm stronger when you're
5:40smarter when you're stronger I'm smarter
5:42when you're smarter rather than
5:44competing and trying to beat one another
5:47the common good calls us to cooperate
5:49and succeed together the prophetic
5:52Christian leader Oscar Romero called the
5:55common good the beautiful structure that
5:57we can build together through kindness
5:59and a commitment to justice and I think
6:02we should care about the common good for
6:04two reasons first life is beautiful when
6:07others flourish there's such a great joy
6:10in seeing the people around us come
6:13alive in fact I found in my own life
6:15that there's no greater joy than seeing
6:17others flourish and come truly alive and
6:20this is our responsibility in duty as
6:22Christians but second there's also a
6:25selfish reason to care about the common
6:27good when you're better I'm better when
6:31you're richer and better resourced
6:33I'm also richer and better resourced
6:35sustained
6:36prosperity and a good life requires
6:39strong institutions and strong
6:41institutions are only possible within
6:44this mindset of the common good each
6:46does their part for the well-being of
6:48all so look at the rivers our rivers are
6:52often full of garbage and look at the
6:54air our air is often full of pollution
6:57it's easy for us to act like other
6:59people don't exist and that their
7:02well-being doesn't affect ours but when
7:04we do this we're actually poisoning
7:06ourselves and impoverishing ourselves so
7:09the common good is a shift away from
7:12indifference towards others or a
7:14zero-sum competitive mentality and it's
7:18a worldview that affirms God's will for
7:20all people to flourish and our calling
7:22to serve that shared flourishing with
7:24our life and passion
7:30so a few months ago I wrote a series of
7:32articles entitled was Jesus political
7:34and when we look at the four Gospels we
7:37discover so many moments and aspects of
7:40Jesus life that were deeply political on
7:42for example we find this in Luke 1 with
7:45Mary's song before Jesus is even born
7:47Mary prophesized that Jesus would throw
7:50down rulers from their Thrones but lift
7:52up the humble that he would send the
7:54rich away empty but that he would fill
7:56the hungry with good things this was a
7:59deeply political vision we see a
8:01political element and the disobedience
8:03of the wise men to pilots order sorry to
8:07Herod's order to reveal the location of
8:09Jesus this is very interesting
8:11Christianity begins with an act of
8:13political disobedience where the wise
8:16men refuse to reveal Jesus location to a
8:19murderous ruler well we see a political
8:22element in Jesus message echoing John
8:25the Baptist message repent for the
8:27kingdom of heaven is near that was John
8:29the Baptist message and it's interesting
8:31that the Gospel of Matthew tells us the
8:34Jeep that John had just been arrested
8:36before Jesus starts proclaiming this
8:39message so imagine if some high-profile
8:42political prisoner had a message he's
8:46just been arrested and you start your
8:48ministry by using that exact same
8:51wording to start your ministry it was an
8:55explosive and challenging way to assert
8:57John's ministry and God's will for the
9:00kingdom of God we see a profound
9:03political element in Jesus statement
9:05give to Caesar what is Caesar's and give
9:08to God what is God's
9:10Jesus says that money is made in the
9:13image of Caesar so that's fine you can
9:16pay taxes give that to Caesar but humans
9:19are made in the image of God
9:21so if Caesar asks for an alert and an
9:24allegiance or a loyalty that destroys
9:27human life we should reject that because
9:31Caesar has overstepped his legitimate
9:33authority he should be disobeyed
9:36one Caesar asked us to touch people he's
9:38asking us to touch God and that doesn't
9:40belong to Caesar we see a profound
9:43political element in Jesus disruption in
9:45the temple of course the temple was
9:47funded by Herod the Great so imagine
9:50going into a government-funded temple
9:53turning over the tables and shutting
9:55down the business in the name of God
9:57this was a profound statement of protest
10:00against corrupt religion and political
10:02power and for all of this we should not
10:05be surprised that Jesus was executed by
10:07the state Christian's often forget this
10:10that Jesus was actually murdered by the
10:14state and this was because he was seen
10:16as dangerous and someone who needed to
10:18be shut down his values of justice
10:21and service were undercutting the
10:24violent power-hungry regime so Peter
10:28said that we should imitate Jesus and
10:30walk in his steps and I think Christians
10:32should also be political we should care
10:34about the oppressed
10:35we should a critique oppression and we
10:39should support limited government just
10:41like Jesus did and when things become
10:43extremely unjust we should be willing to
10:45sacrifice ourselves and turn over the
10:47tables of that injustice
10:53so I'd like to start by saying that this
10:56is not a theoretical question Ethiopia
10:59has been in political crisis for several
11:02years and we now know a little bit more
11:04about how severe the corruption and
11:06brutality have been countless people
11:09have been murdered and countless
11:11resources have been wasted so the
11:13meaning of Christian citizenship is
11:15practical and urgent overall Christians
11:19must be the voice of the voiceless in
11:21society we should be the voice of
11:24justice for the press the oppressed the
11:26voice of reconciliation for the divided
11:28and the voice of moral reform for a new
11:32future and I think this interview has
11:34already touched on the key elements of
11:36Christian citizenship ethics loving our
11:38neighbors embracing the common good
11:40having a political imagination shaped by
11:43Christ but let me mention a few more
11:46elements of Christian citizen
11:47citizenship first is law Christian
11:51should be the strongest advocates of the
11:53rule of law the Bible did something so
11:55powerful in in ancient culture it gave
11:58one law for kings and servants rich and
12:01poor citizens and Outsiders and it did
12:04this because there's one God who makes
12:06us equal under God's law so the Bible
12:09enshrined human equality under the law
12:12and this is the reason why the prophet
12:14Nathan could confront King David for
12:18abusing a woman and killing a foreigner
12:21responsible Christian citizens need to
12:23know the law respect the law critique
12:26the law when it is problematic and
12:28advocate for the law when it's not
12:30implemented we need Nathan's today who
12:33are willing to confront power with law
12:36second we need respect for all people
12:39the New Testament did the most
12:41revolutionary thing
12:42it stopped viewing people as Jews and
12:45Gentiles and it introduced a unified
12:49vision of humanity Ephesians 2 says that
12:52Christ's purpose was to create one new
12:55humanity so Christian citizens should be
12:58passionate advocates of our shared
13:00humanity we cannot build a flourishing
13:02Society with ethnocentrism net
13:05Chisholm and violence and sadly we see
13:07that Christians are often complicit in
13:09these sins just like everyone else so we
13:12need to recover this vision of a shared
13:14humanity which should be celebrated and
13:17respected because it reflects God's
13:19image Christians need to embody the
13:23shared humanity beyond ethnic or
13:25economic or political divisions third
13:28Christians need to embrace integrity
13:31Christians need to be people who tell
13:33the truth who do the right thing and who
13:36care about others we've seen that
13:39Ethiopia is facing a crisis of suspicion
13:41and conflict because so many of us are
13:43telling lies to one another and we're
13:45competing rather than cooperating and
13:47sadly it seems like there's just as many
13:50challenges with lying and cheating in it
13:52in attacking in the church as outside
13:54the church so in a recent interview
13:56Burhan who Negus said that Ethiopians
13:59are losing the ability to tell right
14:00from wrong I think Christians need to be
14:03people of radical integrity we need to
14:06do just business and create good jobs
14:08and see that this is more important than
14:10going to church or singing or praying
14:12the profits are clear
14:14God wants justice mercy and faithfulness
14:17more than anything else the fourth
14:21pillar of Christian citizenship is his
14:23service Christian citizens need to model
14:26the compassionate culture of service
14:28we're surrounded by urgent needs in our
14:30community I'm a few months ago I was in
14:32front of one of the largest churches in
14:34Addis Ababa and there were crowds of
14:36people coming in and out of the church
14:38and there was a little girl weeping and
14:42crying right in front of that church she
14:44had a wound on her head and no one was
14:46stopping no one was helping her they
14:48were just going in and out of the church
14:50and I think that this shows that as
14:53Christian citizens we've become numb to
14:55the sufferings of others even children
14:58we desperately need to develop a culture
15:01of service for street children sex
15:03workers the mentally ill the elderly and
15:06many other vulnerable groups in our
15:08community
15:11we must be champions of a culture of
15:14volunteerism and the last pillar of the
15:17Christian citizenship I'll mention I'll
15:18mention is mentorship in Ethiopia today
15:21there's about 70 million people who are
15:24under the age of 25
15:26so Ethiopia is one of the youngest
15:28countries in the world and many of these
15:30young people are poor unemployed racist
15:35and frustrated with life they don't know
15:38who they are and what they care about
15:39and this is the reality and most of us
15:42know it and society cannot flourish when
15:46this is the case so Christians should be
15:48incubating a culture of mentorship where
15:51young people are listened to where they
15:54can discover their gifts where they can
15:55develop their character and maybe they
15:58can become leaders in the community for
16:01the common good I have a friend named
16:032nd ed Burano who's developing a
16:05training program focused on 12 key life
16:07skills so that young people can know who
16:10they are
16:10develop their gifts and share them with
16:12society I think second that's work and
16:14others work is urgently needed I always
16:17say that Ethiopia is a rich country it's
16:20rich because of its people and their
16:23gifts but if we don't develop a culture
16:25of mentorship will only continue to see
16:28rising criminality conflict and despair
16:31our young people are like crops in the
16:34field and mentorship is like harvesting
16:37so I think that our churches need to
16:39become incubators of mentorship for
16:41people
16:47so the whole Bible commands us to love
16:49God with our whole mind Christianity is
16:53not anti-intellectual if you read the
16:56Gospels Jesus asked over 100 questions
17:00and questions are the fire of the mind
17:02Christians were founders of the first
17:05and best universities around the world
17:07Oxford Paris Harvard so Christians have
17:11historically been passionate advocates
17:13of the life of the mind and Martin
17:16Luther King jr. said that easy answers
17:18and half-baked solutions destroy a
17:21society so if King is right it's
17:24terrifying to think what would happen if
17:27a society is not promoting critical
17:29thinking deep question asking and rich
17:33and complex dialogue and I fear that
17:36that's what we see our religion has
17:39taught us to say ah main not to ask
17:42questions
17:42our religion has taught us to accept
17:44easy answers rather than looking for
17:47robust creative solutions to our
17:49problems and this has produced poverty
17:52conflict and sorrow let me give you one
17:55example I used to be a pastor at a local
17:57church here in Addis and one day the
18:00senior pastor asked me what I thought
18:02about the sermon on Sunday I gave an
18:05honest answer I said that I loved the
18:07passion of the sermon but I didn't feel
18:10like it was faithful to the Bible and
18:12you can guess the result the pastor got
18:14upset at me and questioned my loyalty he
18:18preached critical thinking and the value
18:20of education but he wouldn't actually
18:23let it be practiced so we need to return
18:26to loving God with our minds in our
18:28churches and in society we need to be
18:31producing the best writers the best
18:33lawyers the best journalists the best
18:36historians the best novelists and movie
18:38makers in the land I think that
18:41intellectuals are like the headlights on
18:43cars imagine driving at night in the
18:47dark if we're going to move forward we
18:49need to know where we're going and
18:52there's a saying
18:53those who don't know the past are doomed
18:56to repeat it
18:57so we need intellectuals who have
19:00studied the past and can shed light on
19:02where we're going so we can have a more
19:05constructive life-giving future but I
19:08think it's crucial to realize what being
19:11an intellectual actually is it's not
19:15just having a PhD it's not just reading
19:18and writing books you can do all of that
19:21and still be dominated by prejudice and
19:23ideology an intellectual is someone who
19:26takes the risks of asking real questions
19:29wrestling with all of the evidence
19:31seeing things from others point of view
19:34and being genuinely open to change their
19:37mind now I fear that we don't have
19:39enough of these kinds of intellectuals
19:41today genuine intellectuals treats
19:45certainty and dogma with great humility
19:47and we need that humility today and I
19:51could I would suggest if there's one
19:53issue for Christian and non-christian
19:56intellectuals to work on today in our
19:58society it's the issue of reform too
20:01much of our history and and and society
20:04has been torn between tradition and
20:06revolution so how do we move away from
20:09these two options and embrace a rich
20:12culture reform again I think that this
20:14is a crucial question for Christians and
20:16non Christian intellectuals to be
20:18working on today
20:20[Music]
20:23so I've worked for the last five years
20:26as a professor of Christian ethics and
20:28theology and now I'm working full-time
20:31on the Institute for Christianity and
20:33the common good
20:34I see CG is an incubator of Christian
20:37imagination and human flourishing
20:39together with my colleague dr. tech
20:41Elaine Nega I'm writing books and
20:43developing video courses speaking in
20:46various venues leading youth workshops
20:48and mentoring local leaders going
20:51forward in the future I want to start a
20:53fellowship called the common good for
20:55people who care about leadership and
20:57social service I'd also like to start a
20:59monthly platform called The Good Life or
21:02moral leadership that focuses on focuses
21:04on what does it mean to be courageous
21:06committed leaders who can bring a
21:08society that has the common good that
21:10has neighbor love that has a passionate
21:13commitment to ethics so what I'm trying
21:15to do is is incubate and encourage
21:18Christian imagination and a flourishing
21:20vision of human life for society with
21:22others
21:23[Music]

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