120 - Social Ethics: An Examination of American Moral Traditions

Social Ethics: An Examination of American Moral Traditions

By Roger G. Betsworth

Louisville, Westminster/John Knox, 213 Pp. $10.95.

How can a TV generation be aided to think about Christian ethics? Social Ethics is a good introduction to the subject, particularly for Americans.

Roger Betsworth, professor of religion at Simpson College, Indiana and former pastor, helps us think about

122 - Social Ethics: An Examination of American Moral Traditions

morality by looking at the central values embedded in important stories and narratives in United States history. Writing for a non-professional, introductory college or church readership, Betsworth summarizes such stories as those of Benjamin Franklin, Andrew Carnegie and the 'Gospel of Wealth', and several twentieth-century narratives that promise personal well-being.

Betsworth's writing is lucid, so one is quickly brought to see how controversial values pervade our culture. Over against these, Betsworth rehearses biblical stories such as Deuternomic covenant, Lukan covenant, promise, and Paul's language of the Cross.

All this in less than 200 pages is a fast-moving introduction. The collecting and juxtaposing of the various narratives is creative. Betsworth shows us some possible directions for narrative/story approaches in ethics that are quite useful.

That Betsworth did not go beyond the introductory level in this volume should not be surprising. Occasionally he acts as explicit and thoughtful critic. But he is not able to deal with pressing underlying methodological issues about the use of narrative in ethics or theology. He is aware of the conflict between stories and the need for criticism. But a too facile siding with faith against reason does not help the advancing ethicist get very far beyond the introductory level.

Frederick O. Bonkovsky, Columbia Seminary, Decatur, Ga.