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Interest GroupsMembers are encouraged to sign up to participate in the Interest Groups. Under the My Features - E-lists tab in your profile you will be able to subscribe to receive communications for the Interest Groups. If you would like to proposal a new interest group please review the guidelines. Anglican Theological EthicsAnimal EthicsBusiness EthicsChristian Ethics and Disability InclusionChristian Ethics in Historical ContextChristianity and Prison AbolitionClimate JusticeComparative Religious EthicsConflict, Nonviolence, Just PeaceContemplative EthicsEconomic PolicyEnvironmental Ethics and TheologyEthics and Catholic TheologyEthics and LawEthics and Political EconomyEthics and SexualitiesEvangelical EthicsFamily and Social ResponsibilityFieldwork in EthicsFuture ScholarsHealth Care EthicsInterrupting White PrivilegeLGBT and Queer Studies in EthicsLiturgy and EthicsMigration EthicsMoral Theory and Christian EthicsNeuroethics and TheologyPedagogyProtestant Perspectives on the Natural LawReformed Theology and Ethics (formerly Covenantal Ethics)Restorative JusticeScripture and EthicsTechnology EthicsUniversity EthicsAnglican Theological EthicsConveners Luke Zerra This Interest Group provides a forum for papers and conversations centering on the Anglican contribution to the field of Christian ethics or moral theology. Presentations and papers focus on historical and contemporary topics related to our general theme. Participants from all traditions who are interested in joining our discussion, or in offering a contribution, are most welcome. A subsidiary purpose of our group is to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas between persons who teach or work within Anglican ecclesial and educational institutions. Animal EthicsConveners Adrienne Krone Animal studies (sometimes called human-animal studies) is steadily gaining traction in the academy as scholars of all stripes are no longer bracketing the “question of the animal” in their research. Theologians, philosophers, ethicists, and other scholars of religion are accordingly rethinking the place of nonhuman animals in their theorizing and in their communities as they reflect on the extent of human obligations to other animals, among other questions. Officially launched in 2016 after an exploratory meeting in 2015, the Animal Ethics Interest Group is open to members of the SCE, SJE, and SSME and has been interreligious in orientation and scope from its inception. We meet to share our work with one another in the growing fields of “animal ethics” and “animals and religion,” to enhance our opportunities for collaboration, and to increase the visibility of and knowledge about animal ethics across our three societies. Business EthicsConveners David Clairmont The Business Ethics Interest Group exists to: • convene scholars in Christian ethics who share an interest in problems, theories, methods, and / or pedagogies in business ethics, so that they may find partners in professional collaboration • make such scholars aware of opportunities for presentation, publication, and professional development in the field of business ethics, so that the contributions of Christian ethics may be magnified there • bring notable scholars who work at the intersection of business ethics and Christian ethics to SCE, so that SCE attendees may learn about thought leadership at that intersection. Christian Ethics and Disability InclusionConveners Sarah Jean Barton Often referred to as “the hidden majority,” people with disabilities (both physical and cognitive) make up roughly 26% of the adult population in the United States according to the CDC. Moreover, according to the Americans with Disabilities Act, the term “disability” can include: mobility impairments, intellectual and developmental disabilities, learning disabilities, chronic illness, temporary injuries and illness, addiction, and mental health, and more. Legislation such as the ADA has made many spaces more physically accessible to the disability community, including the universities and institutions in which many members of the SCE study and work; however, there is still a great deal of social and structural exclusion of the disability community within the academy. Christian ethics has been slow to engage disability and disability theory as lenses that inform our work; instead, disability is often folded under the topic of bioethics or healthcare. This past annual meeting represented a groundswell of interest in disability studies as its own discipline, with 3 concurrent presentations (5 presenters among them) and a panel in the Moral Theory and Christian Ethics interest group. It is clear that this is a growing area of Christian ethics, particularly among junior scholars and students. Christian Ethics in Historical ContextCo-Convener Co-Convener When Faulker wrote that “the past is never dead; it’s not even past” he may have meant that we study history—of thought and of practice—because we need to understand ourselves better. We also study history to make ourselves better; we look to the past for ideas that have been lost, or are worth remembering. In a society drawn to novelty, looking back can be a salutary exercise. Yet it can also mislead, when it tempts us to nostalgia or eisegesis. How, then, can we fruitfully pursue ethics in its historical context—and what is the place of such endeavors in contemporary religious ethics? Christianity and Prison AbolitionConveners Kathryn Getek Solis Purpose: The group aims to create a space for discussion of Christian-ethical approaches to incarceration broadly, and prison abolition in particular. No commitment to prison abolition is assumed. Description: The public scholarship of Michelle Alexander, Bryan Stevenson, and others has sparked a much-needed discussion of mass incarceration. Where once prisons seemed like a necessary part of life in the US, today they are viewed as a moral problem, even a moral abomination. Today, challenging the prison-industrial complex is broadly recognized as an imperative. However, the current popular discourse on “criminal justice reform” is too often framed as a pragmatic, policy issue rather than as a moral and, potentially, theological question. We aim to encourage a variety of critical approaches to incarceration that draw on traditions of Christian ethical reflection, including Black and womanist theology, Catholic social thought, social gospel, Latinx theology, and analytic approaches. We aim to create a space for discussing the implications of challenging incarceration at its roots, as those roots are entangled with race, class, gender, disability, and other issues. What would it look like to imagine, collectively, a world without prisons? With many Christian communities engaging with incarceration as a social justice issue, and with some Christian organizers (including those formerly incarcerated) promoting prison abolition, how can academic Christian ethicists learn from the communities most affected by incarceration – perhaps inviting us to think about the project of Christian ethics, as a whole, in new ways? Climate JusticeConveners Eric Schnitger The Climate Justice Interest Group (CJIG) facilitates scholarly, pedagogical, and practical conversations and discernments at the intersections of climate change and justice, from the unique viewpoints and capabilities of our scholarly bodies. In the first year of our seven-year charter (2016--Toronto), the CJIG session was hosted by the SJE and focused on justifications for, and feasibility of, “conference sabbatical” concepts, which are gaining increasing attention in scholarly bodies around the United States and globally. Future years' meetings will continue this inquiry while also expanding to considerations of climate justice and race, as well as other topics. All members of the SCE, SJE, and SSME are warmly invited to participate. Topic sessions for future meetings will be discerned by CJIG members and acted upon by the leadership team. Comparative Religions EthicsConveners Jung Lee The purpose of the Comparative Religious Ethics Interest Group is to encourage and facilitate the cross-cultural study of religion and morality within the SCE. The Group provides a forum for discussions of methodological, historical, and substantive issues in the comparative study of religious ethics, and it seeks to identify and develop resources for teaching in the fields of comparative ethics and world religions. Topic of this year's meeting to be announced. Conflict, Nonviolence, Just PeaceConveners Janna Hunter-Bowman We explore pivotal ethical questions, challenges, and emerging insights related to the issues of large-scale conflict. Our focus is on the deep transformation of conflict which cultivates a more sustainable just peace. Toward this end we engage, struggle with, and develop the intersectional praxis of active nonviolence, particularly related to the Christian journey. With this attention to praxis, we seek to bridge theoretical discourse with the emerging practices and practitioners in the field. We also seek to provide an inclusive and welcoming forum for various perspectives and types of moral reasoning on these issues. Contemplative EthicsConveners David Clairmont Meditation and contemplative prayer can be forms of intellectual inquiry in themselves, providing a unique perspective from which to "do" the work of theological ethics. The Contemplative Ethics Interest Group will have as its main purpose to encourage the scholarly exploration of contemplative religious practices, the cross-cultural study of monasticism and other forms of intentional Christian community, and the historical and theological study of prayer and spirituality as resources for Christian ethics. Economic PolicyConveners Norman Faramelli This Interest Group seeks to address the increasing economic and wealth gap in our society and its related problems by exploring the establishment and management of economic policies (monetary and fiscal policies). In doing so, the Economic Policy group particularly focuses on the following goals: First, it helps the members of SCE recognize the pervasive, potent, and structural impact of the monetary system; Second, it discerns how the power of economic policy could be redirected to bring conducive public benefits; Third, it also promotes the public awareness of these extremely important, yet largely neglected issues. Environmental Ethics and TheologyConveners Ryan Juskus Laura Hartman The Interest Group on Environmental Ethics and Theology is grounded in the conviction that the environmental challenge raises critical issues of faith and ethics for theological education. Participants network together to exchange syllabi, circulate available resources, and cooperate in efforts to build a more concerted response to the ecological crisis. Ethics and Catholic TheologyConveners Dana Dillon David Cloutier The purpose of this group is to organize sessions at the annual meeting of the SCE that address important and timely topics in Catholic theology that have direct relevance to Christian ethics, and thus that are of interest to not only Catholics but all members of the Society. Ethics and LawConveners Jonathan Rothchild The Ethics and Law Interest Group considers a wide range of interconnections between law and ethics, such as: theological and ethical assumptions that inform law; whether existing laws and court decisions are ethically justified; and whether laws or jurisprudential conventions should be changed. Ethics and Political EconomyConvener This Interest Group meets annually to broaden and deepen our understanding of the interaction of ethics and economics. Our preferred procedure is to invite an outside scholar or practitioner (usually an economist from the local area of the SCE meeting) to speak on an agreed-upon topic and then to proceed with discussion of attendant descriptive and normative issues. This allows us to focus on a timely question and to engage with an economist or other expert whom most of us would otherwise know only through the written word. Ethics and SexualitiesConvener This group explores questions of sexuality and sexual relations/hips from both contemporary and historical perspectives. It discusses sexuality-related issues in the context of pedagogy, religious traditions, and current movements. Evangelical EthicsConveners Theo Boer Christine Pohl The goals of this Group are 1) to analyze evangelical contributions to Christian ethics, 2) to evaluate evangelical ethics in relation to other approaches, 3) to consider the ethical implications of evangelical theologies, 4) to bring ethical reflection to bear upon the evangelical subculture, and 5) to share approaches to teaching ethics in evangelical institutions. Family and Social ResponsibilityConveners Marcus Mescher This group gathers members concerned with questions regarding both relationships internal to families, and those between families and the social order. Past agendas have included presentations and discussion on members' research, panels of representatives from church and public policy institutes concerned with children and families, and analyses of recent popular and scholarly publications concerning these issues. Fieldwork in EthicsConveners Todd Whitmore The purpose of the Fieldwork in Ethics Interest Group is to explore the methodological challenges of conducting qualitative fieldwork and discuss how Christian ethicists are currently incorporating fieldwork and ethnography into the discipline of Christian ethics. Future ScholarsConveners Catherine Yanko Darren Yau
The Future Scholars Interest Group seeks to provide a space for doctoral students to present their research to the Society of Christian Ethics and receive feedback from accomplished scholars in their professional guild. The Future Scholars Interest Group is open to any doctoral student member of the Society of Christian Ethics. Health Care EthicsConveners Joseph Kotva The Health Care Ethics Interest Group meets each year to discuss ethical concerns in the general area of health care. Previous topics include access to health care, assisted suicide, and the approach taken by different faith traditions to theological reflection on health care issues. The group is open to anyone interested in any of these areas. Formal papers are not presented in the interest group, and the group encourages a significant amount of verbal and materials exchange among attendees. Interrupting White PrivilegeConveners Julie Mavity Maddalena This group will gather members of the SCE and SJE who are actively interested in probing the dynamics of white privilege and white racism in their work and lives, countering those dynamics, and teaching for critical consciousness and active resistance to white privilege and white racism. LGBT and Queer Studies in EthicsConveners Brandy Daniels In the early to mid-twentieth century, religious ethical scholarship expressed a variety of sentiments concerning relationships between persons of the same sex. Various scholars declared that these relationships were not so much morally wrong as psychologically impossible. Contemporary ethical debate has shifted in light of the political struggles over the legalization of "gay marriage." Ethical discourses from the margins - including feminist, womanist, and liberationist ethics - have sought to define the conditions under which LGBT identities and relationships might be morally right, psychologically healthy, and socially constructive. What faith communities and religious scholarship can do to foster such conditions remains a complex issue with far-reaching implications. One of the central aims, then, of this interest group is to destabilize discourses in ethics by introducing queer concepts and methods to interrogate constructs of identity and sexuality. Liturgy and EthicsConveners Debra Dean Murphy Formed in response to growing interest in the role of worship in the Christian life, the Liturgy and Ethics group will provide a working forum for those interested in such questions as 1) embodied participation in worship and the formation of disciples, 2) sacraments and moral life (e.g., Eucharist, baptism), 3) the impact of cultural forces on congregational worship and moral action, historically, and presently 4) constructive theological work on worship’s proper relation to the moral life 5) connections between specific ethical questions (bioethics, ecological ethics, etc.) and liturgy. Migration EthicsConveners A defining issue for our times, migration raises significant issues in Christian ethics: Who is my neighbor? What does it mean to be human when national identities shift or are challenged? For those forced to leave home, what does it mean to live a flourishing life? How should the peoples of God act out their identity in the midst of exodus, exile, and dispersion? What is owed to migrants, including those affected by climate change? These questions affect Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Pentecostal communities differently, but each community is engaged with questions of migration ethics. Many members of the Society of Christian Ethics write on migration, whether in the form of monographs, academic articles, or pieces for general audiences. The Migration Ethics interest group seeks to gather those efforts together, honing the contributions of Christian ethicists on this issue and encouraging others to take up the issue. Members of SJE and SSME interested in migration ethics are also warmly welcome to take part. Moral Theory and Christian EthicsConveners Mathew Puffer There is a diversity of moral ideas and theories used in religious ethics. Whether in social ethics, theological ethics, comparative religious ethics, or applied ethics, ethicists from a broad spectrum of religious traditions and convictions all engage moral theories in one way or another. It is our conviction that many differences in views on particular moral issues are at least partly due to different understandings, critiques and affirmations of various moral theories. This interest group is designed to provide a place for sustained discussion dedicated to critical reflection on both classical and contemporary moral theories and on their use in religious ethics. Neuroethics and TheologyConveners
Christopher Krall Purposes
PedagogyConveners Elizabeth Barre This group provides a forum in which both newer and more experienced teachers/scholars can learn from one another about teaching religious ethics courses more effectively. The major goal of the session is to provide participants with ideas and practices that they can use in their own courses. As always, our conversation will include the exchange of pedagogical strategies relevant to the theme. You are invited to bring something to share: a syllabus, case, exercise, or teaching tip. Protestant Perspectives on the Natural LawConveners Paul Martens The Protestant Perspectives on the Natural Law interest group provides a forum for discussing how reflection on the natural law has been or should be regarded by those within Protestant traditions. These historical, critical, and normative conversations offer intellectual focus to an area of emerging scholarly interest. The group also serves as a venue for ecumenical exchange between Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox Christians on a topic of perennial theological interest. Reformed Theology and Ethics (formerly Covenantal Ethics)Conveners SueJeanne Koh The Reformed Theology and Ethics Interest Group fosters reflection and conversation on the work of ethics in a Reformed key. Restorative JusticeConveners Michelle Harrington This interest group on Restorative Justice will explore issues in this area that need the research and reflection of Christian ethicists, especially issues at the intersection of judicial criminal trials, forms of public truth-telling about atrocities undertaken by governments, and the restoration of political community in the wake of such atrocities. The group will share knowledge of significant work already being done in this area and will encourage members to consider addressing some of the pertinent issues in future SCE meetings. Scripture and EthicsConveners Erin Dufault-Hunter Kyong-Jin Lee This interest group explores issues of biblical authority and interpretation in relation to Christian ethics. Technology EthicsConveners Luis Vera Extraordinary developments in technology over the past thirty years have transformed human society in profound ways. This has complicated old moral debates and instigated a host of new ethical challenges. The Technology and Ethics Interest Group is designed to (1) provide a location for reflection on critical issues in technology ethics, (2) increase interest in technology ethics among the broader membership of the SCE, (3) increase awareness of the implications of new technologies for other areas of ethical inquiry (e.g., economic ethics, sexual ethics, questions of public discourse, etc.), and (4) explore ways in which distinctively Christian perspectives may contribute to public discourse on technological development.
University EthicsConvener |