Original scientific paper

Revelation and Ethics: Question of Distance

Miroslav M. Kiš ; Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Michigan, USA

Abstract

The main thesis of this essay is that revelation is not irrelevant
nor without authority for the human, sinful condition because of its
supernatural origin. The author first looks at the relationship between
theology and ethics, and the problem of distance. After that
he examines the way that Reinhold Niebuhr and Carl F. H. Henry
have related revelation and Christian ethics. Finally he draws some
conclusions useful for the task of making ethical decisions: Both,
Niebuhr and Henry stress the absolute requirements of moral ideal;
yet both (for different reasons) consider this ideal impossible. The
result is similar: the tension is lowered and moral arrows do not
fly. The solution is not to reduce the tension but to increase our
faith in the competence of the Holy Spirit. In Christian Ethics the
problem of distance from Christian Theology is only apparent, not
real.

Keywords

Bible; revelation; ethics; teology; R. Niebuhr; C.F.H. Henry

Hrčak ID:

89840

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/89840

Publication date:

15.12.1993.

Article data in other languages: croatian

Visits: 1.355 *