Moral Choices: An Introduction to Ethics
I am teaching a course next month on Christian Ethics at Tyndale University College. The first step in teaching a course on any subject is to choose a textbook. I went with Moral Choices: An Introduction to Ethics by Scott B. Rae.
I discovered this book by asking others who have either taught or studied ethics and Rae’s book received high recommendations. But obviously I needed to read it myself.
I was very much pleased with Moral Choices. Rae starts out by introducing ethics and discussing the various ethical systems that are available. He includes sidebars on the various philosophers and ethicists who have influenced each of these systems.
The largest portion of the book looks at contemporary ethical issues. These include (but are not limited to) abortion, reproductive technology, cloning, euthanasia, capital punishment, sexual ethics, war and economics. I felt that Rae did an excellent job in presenting these issues in a fair and clear manner. Rae does not set straw-man arguments but presents the reasons for certain decisions even if he disagrees with them.
In addition to the information found in each chapter, there are many discussion questions and case studies that make this material easy to teach. If you are a teacher looking for a textbook on Christian ethics, I strongly recommend Scott Rae’s Moral Choices: An Introduction to Ethics. (USA) (Canada)
