Doing Right and Being Good: Catholic and Protestant Readings in Christian Ethics

Continuing the unbroken conversation on ethics that has endured across the Christian generations, David Oki Ahearn and Peter R. Gathje present Doing Right and Being Good. For Ahearn and Gathje, ethics is the critical reflection on morality, focusing on our beliefs, our practices, our held values.

In addition to the book’s wide-reaching selected readings, Ahearn and Gathje offer introductions to each chapter which provide extensive overviews and establish contexts for moral issues over which sincere Christians differ.

The authors examine two broad understandings of ethics: that of doing right (understanding the difference between right and wrong) and being good (specific personal traits). Acknowledging a shared history between Protestant and Roman Catholic traditions, this book takes both historical and ecumenical approaches to ethics.

Engaging, and informational, Doing Right and Being Good aims at providing constructive reflection and dialogue to all readers, regardless of background.

Chapters are: “The Moral Person,” “Sources of Christian Ethics,” “Interpretations of Love and Justice,” “Marriage, Family, and Sexuality,” “Political Life and the Problem of Violence,” “Stewardship: Work, Property, and the Environment,” “Christian Love at the Margins of Life.”

David Oki Ahearn, PhD, an ordained member of the United Methodist Clergy, serves as associate professor of religion and philosophy, as well as chair of the division of humanities and social sciences at LaGrange College in LaGrange, Georgia.

Peter Gathje, PhD, is associate professor of religion at Christian Brothers University, in Memphis. He also serves as chair for the department of religion and philosophy, director of De Lasalle Center for Teaching and Religion, and director of the peace studies program.