Fritz a wonderful lesson – and esp. reading has a flow I found encompassing. If only …….. yes we can…
Weekly lessons in theology and public life • Since 2011
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Lesson 7: What is the Free Market?
(Sandel, Chapter 4)Read MORE: Lesson 7: What is the Free Market?As I read Sandel, I constantly ask myself, “What is the free market?” Almost all his examples and arguments assume it is lurking in the shadowy background to make sure its role is considered. Yet although Sandel continually refers to…
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Lesson 6: The Free Market and Paying for Pregnancy (Sandel, Chapter 4)
Read MORE: Lesson 6: The Free Market and Paying for Pregnancy (Sandel, Chapter 4)Sandel’s second test of the approaches he has examined so far concerns paying someone else to carry your baby. He begins with the Mary Beth Whitehead case in which a couple makes a contract for someone else to bear their…
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Lesson 5: The Free Market and Volunteer Army (Sandel, Chapter 4)
Read MORE: Lesson 5: The Free Market and Volunteer Army (Sandel, Chapter 4)The big question in modern ethics is agreeing on what is just in a pluralistic, often democratic world. How do we determine the right thing to do, if we all do not accept the authority of a king, a god,…
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Lesson 4: Libertarianism
Read MORE: Lesson 4: LibertarianismTraditionally those doing ethics began with principles and then dealt with exceptions. They might declare “no abortion” and then cite exceptions, such as rape, age, and danger to the health of the woman. We have problems today, such as governmental…
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Lesson 3: Utilitarianism
Read MORE: Lesson 3: UtilitarianismSandel first takes a look at utilitarianism, the way our modern society usually does ethics. (See Chapter 2 of his book.) In the past we determined right and wrong by using laws or principles to evaluate an action. You did…
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Lesson 2: What are Ethics?
Read MORE: Lesson 2: What are Ethics?When I began my face-to-face classes by asking how many ethical decisions they had made that day, I received a variety of answers. Some felt these were confined to big questions that demanded carefully considering the proprieties and priorities of…
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Lesson 1: The Moral Crisis
Read MORE: Lesson 1: The Moral CrisisWhy is Michael Sandel’s introduction to ethics the most popular class at Harvard? What led “China Newsweek” to name Sandel the most influential foreign figure of the year 2011? How come my classes report using Sandel’s book has provoked some…
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Lesson 4: Funeral Practices
Read MORE: Lesson 4: Funeral PracticesOne of the wonderful functions the traditional Church plays is to mark life’s passages. In a society in which many people have nobody to share their celebrations and griefs, the Christian community blesses birth with baptism, the transition into adulthood…
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Lesson 3: Resurrection of the Body
Read MORE: Lesson 3: Resurrection of the BodyEach Sunday many of us profess we believe in the resurrection of the body. We assert Jesus was resurrected in body as well as spirit. He ate with his friends, allowed them to touch him, and showed them the marks…
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Lesson 2: Natural Death
Read MORE: Lesson 2: Natural DeathAnother practical concern related to the resurrection of the body is what modern technology has done to our concept of natural death. Most of our customs about the end of life were based on accepting God’s will for our natural…
Recent Comments
So forgiveness pre-requires understanding the mistakes of the past? here hear re this opposing this me-first, America-first, white-first, male-first approach>…
An extremely timely topic. Thanks, Fritz!