Comparative religious ethics : a narrative approach

"Comparative Religious Ethics" breaks with the assumption that there is a uniquely 'Christian' or 'Buddhist' solution to an ethical issue, and reflects instead the way in which ancient stories from diverse religions have influenced contemporary ethical issues. This approach to religious ethics is designed to appeal to students, and the text is accompanied by a teacher's manual which shows how to use this book in conjunction with contemporary films such as "The Long Walk Home", "Casualties of War", "Crimes and Misdemeanours", and "Wall Street". The authors illustrate how ancient stories have been appropriated to provide ethical orientation in the modern world.They show how contemporary ethical activists such as Gandhi and the spiritual 'children of Gandhi' from diverse religious traditions - Martin Luther King Jr, Abraham Joshua Heschel and Thich Nhat Hanh - drew upon ancient stories such as the Bhagavad Gita, the life of Jesus, the story of Abraham and the life of Buddha, and on traditional spiritual practices such as fasting, prayer and meditation, to forge a new inter-religious ethic of non-violence.This ethic responds to the prejudice, hatred and violence of the twentieth century as symbolized by Auschwitz and Hiroshima.The text places special emphasis on the ethical co-operation that emerged between religious traditions during the civil right-Vietnam war era. The challenge of Malcolm X to the non-violence advocated by these 'children of Gandhi' is discussed and emphasis is given to the feminist critique of religious ethics as providing a bridge between Eastern and Western religious ethics. The normative religious ethic that emerges is shown to be one in accord with the UN Declaration on Human Rights - an ethic of human dignity and human liberation.