Journal: Southeastern Theological Review
Volume: STR 13:1 (Spring 2022)
Article: Ethics In Public: Considering Community In Moral Evaluation
Author: David W. Jones

STR 13:1 (Spring 2022) p. 79

Ethics In Public: Considering Community In Moral Evaluation

David W. Jones

Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Wake Forest, NC

Abstract: This article considers the place and importance of community when assessing moral events. Two areas of public ethics are considered here. First, this work evaluates the phenomenon known as “second-order moral accountability,” which is the idea that an individual may be reckoned guilty of the sins of another, or make another guilty of one’s own sins, simply by being present within a given community. Second, this article investigates the exercise of Christian liberty in the public square with a focus on so-called adiaphora ethical issues, which are subjects that are considered to be morally indifferent within a particular context.

Key Words: adiaphora, Christian liberty, community, conscience, public ethics, second-order moral accountability.

Carl F. H. Henry, arguably the father of evangelical ethics, titled his mid-twentieth-century basic ethics volume Christian Personal Ethics.1 Indeed, the title Henry chose is quite appropriate for an introductory ethics text as, biblically speaking, moral reasoning is both Christian and personal—at least within the evangelical tradition. It is interesting to observe that in his book Henry focuses almost entirely upon the moral formation of individuals, scarcely mentioning the context in which his readers would live out their ethics—that is, the community. In all fairness to Henry, seven years after publishing Christian Personal Ethics, he did write a companion volume in which he explored the place of community in moral reasoning.2 However, a perusal of modern-day introductory Christian ethics textbooks reveals that few evangelical ethicists have given much space to the concept of community in moral evaluation.3

STR 13:1 (Spring 2022) p. 80

The purpose of this article is to consider the place and importance of community when assessing moral events. In this study two related aspects of ethics within community will be investigated. First, this work will look at the concept that can best be described with the phrase “second-order moral accountability.” In short, second-order moral accountability is the idea that an individual may be reckoned guilty of the sins of another, or make another guilty of one’s own sins, simply by being present within a particular community. Second, this work will investigate the exercise of Christian liberty in the communal public square, with a focus upon so-called adiap...