Posts Tagged ‘ethics’
A Conversation with Lauren Winner, Part 2
June 21, 2017
Continued from yesterday. This post originally appeared as a web-exclusive feature accompanying Image issue 84. Each chapter of Lauren F. Winner’s book, Wearing God: Clothing, Laughter, Fire, and Other Overlooked Ways of Meeting God (HarperOne), explores a single biblical image of God through a mix of exegesis, cultural history, and personal essay. I asked Winner about her…
Read MoreWhen Ethics Conflict with the Law
August 8, 2016
Among the courses that I teach is Professional Responsibility—Legal Ethics—which is a subject covered on every state bar exam in the country. The professional code of ethics—the Model Rules of Professional Conduct—sets out in statutory form a log of rules that cover such varied topics as candor to the tribunal and third parties, conflicts of…
Read MoreThe Vegan at Our Chicken Slaughter
July 7, 2016
A few years ago, we invited the newest neighbor in our rural intentional Christian community to help us slaughter the chickens we had raised for meat. Our neighbor told us about his guest up the hill; he was visiting from the city and he was a strict ethical vegan. Our neighbor warned his vegan friend,…
Read MorePoetry as a Weapon of Jihad
January 18, 2016
“Strap on a suicide vest? Join a global mission whose leaders preach hatred and acts of violence against civilians? Spurn the traditions of one’s own community in favor of radicalization? Jihadis face a hard sell. By definition, poetry is a way to say what cannot be said in ordinary terms.” I sat stunned after reading…
Read MoreThou Shalt Not Kill Time: The Ethics of Storytelling
September 14, 2015
Is The Great Gatsby a crime novel? (There’s a murder.) Crime and Punishment? (It’s in the title.) Moby Dick? (Oh the whales!) People like to make distinctions between mystery, crime, and detective fiction. But what’s the essence of a good mystery? What are the boundaries of what constitutes a crime? How narrowly professional or intentional does a character have to be to be considered a detective? And how do any of the novels in this loose genre relate to literary fiction?
Read MoreYou First
November 21, 2011
How many times have you heard the admonition “Don’t be a hero” in any given circumstance involving danger? To the extent it’s meant as a caution against foolhardiness and the kind of bravado sought for bravado’s sake, it’s wise advice. There’s nothing praiseworthy in risking your life and others’ when the object is impossible or…
Read MoreWorth
October 11, 2010
There’s a 1920s film clip, available on YouTube, of George Bernard Shaw jauntily arguing that anyone who can’t explain his cost to society should not be allowed to live in it. Said the celebrated playwright: “[I]f you’re not producing as much as you consume or perhaps a little more, then, clearly, we cannot use the…
Read More