Hope, Faith, Love, daughters of Wisdom; Thessaloniki, Greece
Theological Ethics 2025: Schedule
Before we meet—from highest priority to lowest:
Read Kreeft's The Best Things in Life before our live sessions to discuss in person. Try to discuss it with family and friends while you read it.
Watch the online lectures for "Being Good" parts I-VII. They are the first eight videos on this YouTube playlist on my channel. We'll skip a lot of the rest of that playlist, and I will deliver some more of it live. Here is the lecture outline for those sections.
Listen to Lesslie Newbigin's two-part overview of the Bible. These will aid what I do live, so listen to them before we meet, and take notes.
It would be good to skim our syllabus and read its tasks page.
You may want to read ahead in Steve Wilkens' Beyond Bumper Sticker Ethics. We'll discuss these in our first few weeks online, so I recommend you work ahead a bit. You could even aim to finish it before we meet live, but prioritize Kreeft, the online lectures, and Newbigin.
In Person |
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Tuesday |
introduce syllabus; re-watch "Faithfulness over Knowledge" Being Good I: Moral Frameworks, Worldviews, and 'Great Truths' ethics in the seven sails of movements |
3:15-4:30pm |
discover: What do Ps 18:20-24 and 1 Cor 3:10-15 teach about the outcome of righteousness? discuss Being Good II: Goodness Gets (Deontology) moral challenges as movemental opportunities: discuss assignment skim the collegiate value paradox? |
4:45-6pm |
APEST in and for our course discover: What do Gen 22:15-18 and Mark 10:23-31 teach about the result of following God sacrificially? discuss Being Good III: Goodness Results (Technique) discuss the moral mentoring assignment |
7-9pm? |
optional/extra topic, by request? possibilities: moral challenge workshop |
Wednesday Aug 27, 9-10:30pm |
discover: What do Prov 11:23-26 and 2 Cor 9:6-11 teach about the relationship between investment and return in God's Kingdom? discuss Being Good IV: Goodness Merits (Karma) discover: What do Ps 135:3-14, Hos 11:8-11, John 4:21-23, John 6:44-45, and John 12:20-23 & 31-33 teach about God and people? discuss Being Good V: Goodness Returns (Platonism) |
| 10:45-12:15pm | discover: What do Zech 14:5b-11, Isa 11:1-10, and 1 Pet 2:4-12 teach about the scope of God's Kingdom? discuss Being Good VI: Goodness Spreads (Aristotelianism) discover: What do Prov 8, Ps 1, Ps 37:27-31, Luke 6:43-45, Rom 2:14-16, and Rom 7:21-25 teach about people? discuss Being Good VII.1: Goodness Expresses (Confucianism) |
| 1:30-3pm | discover: What do Isa 30:9-22, Luke 8:4-10, Luke 11:27-32, Luke 23:13-25, and Rom 3:9-18 teach about people? discuss Being Good VII.2: Goodness Expresses (Existentialism) Being Good VIII-IX: Goodness as 'Something Greater' a 'critical path' for multiplying goodness: Four Fields |
3:15-4:30pm |
discuss John/Coles intro and ch 1 Being Good X: The Good News of Goodness Being Good XI: The Kingdom's Epic History discuss biblical-movemental ethics analysis assignment |
Remote |
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You'll SOAPS or (preferably) DBS one passage per week, with classmates or (preferably) others, while reading a few others for context. Writing out the passage is optional if you can read a passage closely and carefully anyway.
Typical Workflow: 'Weeks' run Tuesday to Monday:
Tues-Wed: SOAPS or DBS Bible passage(s), answer written questions (Canvas), then read and prepare to discuss. Thurs: Discuss, and a student poses a moral challenge in his or her oikos.
Fri-Sun: SOAPS or DBS Bible passage(s), answer written questions (Canvas), then read and prepare to discuss. Mon: discuss the moral challenge.
Week One: Duty: Divine Command and Kantian Ethics Sep 2: read Heb 11:17-19, Rom 4:16-5:1, and Job 42:1-6 and SOAPS/DBS 2 Tim 2:3-13, and report (briefly!) on Canvas Sep 3: read Wilkens ch 12 and take the ungraded quiz on Canvas Sep 4: discuss Kreeft chs 3-4 and Wilkens ch 12; student presents a moral challenge to discuss next time (online) Sep 5: SOAPS/DBS Luke 6:27-36 and report (briefly!) on Canvas Sep 6: read Wilkens ch 7 and John/Coles ch 2, and take the ungraded quiz on Canvas Sep 8: discuss readings and the student's moral challenge (online) |
Week Two: The Way Things Are: Natural Law and Virtue Ethics Sep 9: read Ps 19 and SOAPS/DBS Rom 1:18-21, and report (briefly!) on Canvas Sep 10: read Wilkens ch 11 and take the ungraded quiz on Canvas Sep 11: discuss Kreeft chs 5-6 and Wilkens ch 11; student presents a moral challenge Sep 12: read 2 Tim 2:19-26 and Phil 4:8-9 and SOAPS/DBS 2 Peter 1:2-11, and report (briefly!) on Canvas Sep 13: read Wilkens ch 8 and John/Coles chs 3, and take the ungraded quiz on Canvas Sep 15: discuss readings and the moral challenge |
Week Three: Character: Narrative and Evolutionary Ethics Sep 16: SOAPS/DBS Phil 2:4-16, and report (briefly!) on Canvas Sep 17: read Wilkens ch 9, and take the ungraded quiz on Canvas Sep 18: discuss Wilkens and Kreeft chs 7-8; student presents a moral challenge Sep 19: read 1 Kings 4:29-34 and Matt 12:42 and SOAPS/DBS 1 Cor 2:4-16, and report (briefly!) on Canvas Sep 20: read Wilkens ch 5 and John/Coles ch 4, and take the ungraded quiz on Canvas Sep 22: discuss readings and the moral challenge |
Week Four: Outcomes: Behaviorist and Utilitarian Ethics Sep 23: read Prov 1:8-10, 22:6 and SOAPS/DBS Matt 18:4-7 and Rom 2:6-11, and report (briefly!) on Canvas Sep 24: read Wilkens ch 4, and take the ungraded quiz on Canvas Sep 25: discuss Wilkens ch 4 and Kreeft chs 9-10; student presents a moral challenge Sep 26: read Gen 1:27-31, Deut 6:1-4, Prov 3:1-10, and 1 Cor 12:4-7 & 26-27 and SOAPS/DBS Matt 7:7-20, and report (briefly!) on Canvas Sep 27: read Wilkens ch 6 and John/Coles ch 5, and take the ungraded quiz on Canvas Sep 29: discuss readings and the moral challenge |
Week Five: Situation Ethics and Cultural Relativism Sep 30: read Matt 22:34-40 and SOAPS/DBS 1 John 4:7-21, and report (briefly!) on Canvas Oct 1: read Wilkens ch 10, and take the ungraded quiz on Canvas Oct 2: discuss Wilkens ch 10 and Kreeft chs 11-12; student presents a moral challenge Oct 3: read Rom 15:8-13 and Eph 2:11-22, and SOAPS/DBS Rom 14:1-15:2, and report (briefly!) on Canvas Oct 4: read Wilkens ch 2 and John/Coles ch 6, and take the ungraded quiz on Canvas Oct 6: discuss readings and the moral challenge |
Week Six: Ethical Egoism and Cultural Naivete Oct 7: read Gal 5:13-26 and SOAPS/DBS Matt 6:25-34, and report (briefly!) on Canvas Oct 8: read Wilkens ch 3 and John/Coles ch 7, and take the ungraded quiz on Canvas Oct 9: discuss readings; student presents a moral challenge Oct 10: moral mentoring/coaching report due Oct 11-13: read Lewis ch 1 and John/Coles chs 8-9, and take the ungraded quiz on Canvas |
Week Seven: Conclusions (No meeting on Columbus Day) Oct 14 Tuesday: discuss readings and the moral challenge Oct 15: read Prov 4:10-19 and Dan 12:2-3 and SOAPS/DBS Matt 13:24-30 and 36-43, and report (briefly!) on Canvas, then read John/Coles ch 10 Oct 16: discuss readings online; student presents a moral challenge Oct 17: read Dan 7:9-10 & 21-22, Rev 20:4, and Matt 19:27-28 and SOAPS/DBS 1 Cor 6:1-4, and report (briefly!) on Canvas Oct 18: read Wilkens ch 13 and John/Coles ch 11-12, and take the ungraded quiz on Canvas Oct 20: discuss readings and the moral challenge, then final student presents a moral challenge |
Week Eight: The Abolition of Man, and the abolition of our course Oct 21: read Lewis ch 2 and John/Coles chs 13-14 Oct 22: read Lewis ch 3, and take the ungraded quiz on Canvas; biblical-movemental ethics analysis due (Canvas) Oct 23: discuss readings and the final moral challenge Oct 24: oral exam (scheduled in two groups of four) Oct 25: moral challenge action plans due |