Description
Book SynopsisRichard B. Miller aims to stimulate religious ethics through discussions of ethnography, ethnocentrism, relativism, and moral criticism; the ethics of empathy; moral responsibility in relation to children and friends; civic virtue, loyalty, war, and alterity; the normative and psychological dimensions of memory; and religion and democratic life.
Trade ReviewThe work of one of the leading religious ethicists of his generation,
Friends and Other Strangers could revolutionize the field of religious ethics. Richard B. Miller calls for a revitalized field of inquiry that will adopt new methodological strategies while masterfully crossing disciplinary boundaries and demonstrating what first-rate work in ethics should look like. -- Paul Lauritzen, author of
The Ethics of Interrogation: Professional Responsibility in an Age of TerrorFriends and Other Strangers is a beautifully written and important book by a prominent scholar in the field of religious ethics. There is little existing work that does this sort of careful theoretical and acutely interdisciplinary thinking in a way that is both illuminating to specialists and accessible to undergraduates. -- Elizabeth Bucar, author of
Creative Conformity: The Feminist Politics of U.S. Catholic and Iranian Shi'i WomenFriends and Other Strangers makes a powerful and important case for a turn to culture and ordinary life in religious ethics. Exploring the implications of this turn, Richard B. Miller demonstrates that sophisticated grappling with concrete issues such as the treatment of children, friendship, the politics of memory, or just war cannot do without engaging underlying issues in moral anthropology. Based on impressively wide reading in ethnography, philosophy, and religious ethics, Miller's new book provides a timely and accessible contribution to a vibrant field. -- Thomas A. Lewis, author of
Why Philosophy Matters for the Study of Religion—and Vice VersaRecommended. * CHOICE *
An important book for theological ethics and public theology as well as religious ethics. * Theological Studies *
Deserves a wide reading within the discipline it lovingly seeks to reshape. * Reading Religion *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Introduction: Friends and Other Strangers
Part I: Religion, Ethics, and the Human Sciences1. What Is Religious Ethics?
2. On Making a Cultural Turn in Religious Ethics
3. Moral Authority and Moral Criticism in an Age of Ethnocentric Anxiety
Part II: Selves and Others4. The Ethics of Empathy
5. Indignation, Empathy, and Solidarity
6. On Duties and Debts to Children
7. Evil, Friendship, and Iconic Realism in Augustine's
ConfessionsPart III: Communities and Institutions8. Just War, Civic Virtue, and Democratic Social Criticism: Augustinian Reflections
9. The Moral and Political Burdens of Memory
10. Religion, Public Reason, and the Morality of Democratic Authority
Epilogue: Signposts of the Past and for the Future
Notes
Index
