Situation ethics: origins and the moral teaching of Jesus and Paul

Overview

Climate in which situation ethics appeared, three approaches to moral decision making Fletcher distinguishes and legalism as Fletcher uses the term.

What you need to know

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Questions from this subtopic

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1. 1

   Who wrote Situation Ethics: The New Morality, and when?

   Model answer

   Joseph Fletcher wrote Situation Ethics: The New Morality, published in 1966.

2. 2

   Describe the climate in which situation ethics appeared.

   Model answer

   Situation ethics appeared in the 1960s amid wide questioning of inherited moral rules, and was associated with the radical theology of writers such as John A T Robinson in Honest to God.

3. 3

   Name the three approaches to moral decision making Fletcher distinguishes.

   Model answer

   Fletcher distinguishes legalism, antinomianism and situationism.

4. 4

   Define legalism as Fletcher uses the term.

   Model answer

   Legalism is the approach that enters every situation with a prefabricated system of rules and applies them regardless of what the situation requires.

5. 5

   Why does Fletcher reject legalism?

   Model answer

   Fletcher argues that legalism multiplies rules and exceptions until the letter of the law defeats the love it was meant to serve.

6. 6

   Define antinomianism as Fletcher uses the term.

   Model answer

   Antinomianism is the approach that enters a situation with no principles at all, treating each decision as wholly spontaneous and unguided.

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