Category Archives: Themes

Human rights and wrongs

By Brian Edgar | Published: May 28, 2010

By Brian Edgar

In recent times the concept of human rights has become increasingly important. It is now very common for people to seek to resolve everything from the most serious to the most trivial via human rights. The first ‘dilemma’ is deciding what is meant by ‘human rights’.  Issues include: religious liberty; torture; the use of landmines; the right to self-determination; corporal punishment; dowries; the Northern Territory intervention; gay marriage; vilification laws; single sex private clubs; construction industry unionists; bikie gangs; Read More »

Also posted in Politics and Human Rights | Comments closed

Biotheology: ethics and biotechnology

By Brian Edgar | Published: May 22, 2010

By Brian Edgar

The term ‘bioethics’ is usually construed too narrowly (as bio-medical ethics relating to the person) rather than as a parallel to the wide range of issues covered by biotechnology (including gene manipulation, nanotechnology, biodiversity, ecology, biopharming , reproductive medicine and stem cell research etc), and there is a tendency to overlook the significance of the overall connectedness of human, animal and plant life.

Therefore what is required is a new field of biotheology to go alongside the more traditional sub-disciplines of systematic theology such as theological anthropology (doctrine of humanity), Christology, pneumatology, ecclesiology etc. Read More »

Also posted in Biotheology Theory, Science and Faith Theory | Comments closed

God, persons and bio-machines

By Brian Edgar | Published: May 21, 2010

By Brian Edgar

Humanity has a built in desire to initiate, build and create, and the newer biological sciences revolving around biology, genetics and nanotechnology means that technological tools are emerging which can mean nothing less than the re-creation of the human person. A symbiotic relationship between humanity and machinery already exists and there is now a debate between trans-humanists who are looking towards a shift in human nature, perhaps moving towards a post-human condition and bio-conservatives who see trans-human initiatives as nothing other than de-humanising.  Read More »

Also posted in Biotheology Theory, Genes and the Future | Comments closed

The church’s social responsibility

By Brian Edgar | Published: May 9, 2010

Principles of social responsibility are not based on any form of abstract reasoning, cultural presuppositions or perceptions of need which operate in any way independently of the biblical testimony because the life of the church, including its understanding of social responsibility, is based upon Jesus Christ Read More »

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Faith that works – studies in James

By Brian Edgar | Published: May 6, 2010

By Brian Edgar

Today, with rapid scientific, technological and cultural developments the ethical challenges we face mean we can find ourselves off the known ethical map and facing unknown dangers. And where will we find the right direction? Read More »

Also posted in Everyday Theology, Formation and Discipleship, Public Theology | Comments closed

Torture: From the Gulag Archipelago to Guantanamo Bay

By Brian Edgar | Published: April 30, 2010

By Brian Edgar

Is it ever right to do wrong in the name of the common good? Does the end justify the means? Can it be argued that torture is sometimes a necessary evil which is really morally good? Read More »

Also posted in Peace and War, Politics and Human Rights | Comments closed

Christians and war

By Brian Edgar | Published: April 27, 2010

Every new violent international conflict means a resumption of the long-standing debate between proponents of the two historic Christian approaches to war – Pacifism and Just War theory. But neither can offer more than a provisional and incomplete answer because both deal with circumstances that have already gone seriously wrong. Read More »

Also posted in Peace and War | Comments closed

Pacifism, just war and peacemaking

By Brian Edgar | Published: April 24, 2010

By Brian Edgar

While peace is always the same, war just isn’t what it used to be.

Unfortunately, individuals, coalitions and governments are finding new and diabolically creative ways of causing death, pain and hardship. This article reviews some of the changes that are taking place with regard to war and then makes some comments on three of the most common Christian responses: pacifism, just war theory and peace-making. Read More »

Also posted in Peace and War | Comments closed

Climate Change: problem or opportunity?

By Brian Edgar | Published: April 21, 2010

By Brian Edgar and Mick Pope

Climate change is just one of the many issues which ought to be of interest to Christians. But climate change is also different to most of the others because of the way in which it draws together so many different dimensions of life.

  • This is not merely a scientific issue, it is also a social one.
  • It is not only an ethical issue, but also a deeply theological one.
  • In fact, it is a global, political, ethical, philosophical, theological, social, environmental, spiritual and eschatological issue! Read More »
Also posted in Climate Change, Science and Faith Theory | Comments closed

Climate Change – an inter-faith dialogue

By Brian Edgar | Published: April 18, 2010

Do different religions have any common ground when it comes to climate change? When  the Climate Institute invited Australia’s faiths to join in a discussion about climate change sixteen contributions were received and published under the heading Common Belief: Australia’s Faith Communities on Climate Change. Read More »

Also posted in Climate Change | Comments closed

AEA on climate change

By Brian Edgar | Published: April 15, 2010

The Australian Evangelical Alliance produced a statement on climate change which was published in the Climate Institute’s compendium of Australian religious statements Common Belief: Australia’s Faith Communities on Climate Change. Read More »

Also posted in Climate Change | Comments closed

Five reasons to care about climate change

By Brian Edgar | Published: April 12, 2010

Should evangelicals have anything to say about climate change?  I was asked this by Lausanne World Pulse and so I provided the following five reasons why evangelicals should be involved in what is said and done with regard to climate change. Read More »

Also posted in Climate Change | Comments closed

Seven climate change gaps

By Brian Edgar | Published: April 9, 2010

In 2007 I wrote about 7 climate change gaps that were appearing.

  1. The Emissions Gap
  2. The Effect Gap
  3. The Growth Gap
  4. The Moral Gap
  5. The Policy Gap
  6. The Language Gap
  7. The Opportunity Gap

You be the judge of whether they are still open or whether they are closing! Read More »

Also posted in Climate Change | Comments closed

Calvin and Science

By Brian Edgar | Published: April 6, 2010

By Brian Edgar

The year 1543 was a momentous one. Not only did Nicolaus Copernicus publish De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium (On the Revolutions of Celestial Bodies), his astronomical masterpiece which offered a heliocentric alternative to Ptolemy’s geocentric system but Andreas Vesalius published his equally groundbreaking work in biology – De Humani Corporis Fabrica (On the Structure of the Human Body). And as if that was not enough John Calvin published his own explicit call for an intellectual reformation in theology in his tract The Necessity of Reforming the Church, a tract that would be used for centuries to focus attention on the practical implications of the reformation doctrines of the gospel for the life of the church. Read More »

Also posted in Science and Faith Theory | Comments closed