Journal: Southeastern Theological Review
Volume: STR 07:1 (Summer 2016)
Article: Rescuing Rahab: The Evangelical Discussion On Conflicting Moral Absolutes
Author: David W. Jones

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Rescuing Rahab: The Evangelical Discussion On Conflicting Moral Absolutes

David W. Jones

Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

Evangelical ethicists have perennially debated the topic of conflicting moral absolutes. Understandably, this is an important discussion, for the prospect of internal conflict within an ethical system could result in either an incoherent system or, even worse, moral paralysis. This article gives an overview of the current evangelical discussion over such moral dilemmas by looking at the three most common perspectives on conflicting moral absolutes that have arisen within evangelicalism. By way of illustration and demonstration of praxis this article makes application of each view to the Rahab narrative of Josh 2:1–24. Although the author’s own view becomes clear, the goal of this article is not to try and “win” this ongoing debate, but rather to help readers with as-yet unformed moral systems arrive at a viable perspective and to facilitate dialog among those with divergent viewpoints.

The prospect of conflicting moral absolutes is a significant issue within the field of Christian ethics.1 If moral norms can conflict with one another, resulting in what are sometimes called ethical dilemmas, one must have a means for resolving such conflict, for the alternative is an incoherent ethical system or even moral paralysis.2 As evangelical ethicists have considered this

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subject over time, a number of possible options have emerged,3 the three most common of which in the field literature are (1) conflicting absolutism, (2) graded absolutism, and (3) non-conflicting absolutism.4 This article will present and analyze these three main evangelical perspectives on conflicting moral absolutes and show how each viewpoint, in its own proponents’ estimation, deals with a classic biblical example of moral conflict: the Rahab narrative of Josh 2:1–24.

For each perspective presented within this article the specific view will be explained, proponents and their nuanced arguments will be analyzed, and counter-arguments will be explored. By synthesizing, evaluating, and critiquing the major evangelical positions on conflicting moral absolutes, and by making application to the Rahab narrative, this article aims to accomplish two goals. First, for readers who have not yet adopted a particular approach to handling ethical dilemm...