Contemporary Issues in Eastern Christian Moral Theology

This course invites students to reflect critically, from within an Eastern Christian frame of reference, on a series of current issues where the encounter of contemporaneity and classical wisdom is not only vital but also potentially very fruitful as regards conceptual yield. The issues include the following: virtual reality and cyberspace; war and peacebuilding; social and economic justice; multiculturalism; gender identity/expression and sexuality; (in)fertility and reproductive technologies; genetic research and genome engineering; palliative care and medical assistance in dying; and stewardship for an integral ecology. Contextual discussion of the foregoing will be embedded in a wider theological consideration of rights and responsibilities, as these have developed in the classic expressions of the Eastern Christian tradition(s). Students will thus become aware of how ethics occurs at the intersection of various fields within theology, as well as at the boundary with disciplines beyond it (e.g., philosophy, psychology and sociology).