STUDY GUIDE FOR READING ASSIGNMENT 4

J. Clark Murray, Handbook of Christian Ethics, Introduction and Part 1

Review Questions:

INTRODUCTION

1. What kind of science does the author call ethics?

2. The author says, "The systematic form imparted to Christian Ethics is one which had become to a large extent traditional in the ethical schools of _________."

3. Who wrote the first systematic work on Christian Ethics, the De Officiis Ministrorum (A.D. 340-397)?

4. What does the author say about the similarities between the method of Christian Ethics and the method of Moral Philosophy?

5. Does the author agree that Christian Ethics and Moral Philosophy are synonymous?

PART 1

Chapter 1

1. According to the author, the supreme ethical Christian principle has always been recognized as that law and inspiration of life which known most commonly by the name of ______.

2. Does the author think that no man can fail in love to his neighbors without failing thereby in love to himself?

3. How is altruism defined?

4. "The supreme principle of Christian morality is thus to be interpreted as meaning...."

Chapter 2

1. Does the author think that man has fulfilled his ethical obligations if he has not injured others?

2. Does the author say, "Judaism formed the primary soil out of which Christianity grew."?

3. Does the author say that the principle of loving your neighbor as yourself was not present in the Old Testament?

4. Which rabbi held to a strict adherence to the letter of the law?

5. At the time of Christ, were some of the Pharisees friendly and hospitable?

6. According to Josephus, what people formed an hereditary caste which took the place of a nobility in other countries?

7. What Greek school of philosophy was the "first great ethical school that reached humanitarianism in morals as an inference logically necessitated by the principles of a philosophical system"?

8. The author says, "The Greeks, too, like the Hebrews and other races, had invested the obligations of ________ with a sacred character."

9. Aristotle said, "When men are friends, there is no need of ______."

Chapter 3

1. What passage of the gospels is given prominent place to study the ethical teaching of Christ?

2. Jesus insists on the inspiration of _____ as alone adequate to meet the law's demands.

3 The author calls 1 Corinthians 13 a "lyric in prose on the pre-eminent excellence of ______."

4. According to the author, Romans 13:8-10 teaches that "there is indeed one debt of which it is impossible to be quit; and that is the debt of ______."

5. The author writes, "The Apostle John carries us back at once to the eternal foundation of the moral law in the nature of the Creator: ____________. "