Response as Responsibility. The Theocentric Foundations of Ethics in Bloomington, MN

Response as Responsibility is a contribution to the ongoing discussion about a sustainable foundation for contemporary ethical decision making. Whereas the anthropocentric ethical perspectives argue that considerations for morality are to be derived from purely humanpoints of reference, contemporary theocentric ethical perspectives argue that such perspectives are myopic and they try to show their limitations. They plea for a normative criterion that centres not only around the question of what is good for man, but one that includes the question of what is good for whole creation and what is right for man in relation to the ordering of the natural and social worlds. The theological ethics of Richard H. Niebuhr is one of such theocentric ethical perspectives which sought to address these issues. This book examines the concept of God's Sovereignty in Niebuhr's response ethics and the idea of a responsible moral life that derives from such an understanding. It poses the question ofwhether Richard Niebuhr's theocentric ethics can serve as a sufficient basis for contemporary moral decision making and sought to answer it by taking recourse to his available writings.