The moments in Christ's human life noted in the creeds (his conception, birth, suffering, death, and burial) are events which would likely appear in a syllabus for a course in social anthropology, for they are of special interest and concern in human life, and also sites of contention and controversy, where what it is to be human is discovered, constructed, and contested. In other words, these are the occasions for profound and continuing questioning regarding the meaning of human life, as controversies to do with IVF, abortion, euthanasia, and the use of bodies or body parts post mortem plainly indicate. Thus the following questions arise, how do the instances in Christ's life represent human life, and how do these representations relate to present day cultural norms, expectations, and newly emerging modes of relationship, themselves shaping and framing human life? How does the Christian imagination of human life, which dwells on and draws from the life of Christ, not only articulate its own, but also come into conversation with and engage other moral imaginaries of the human? Michael Banner argues that consideration of these questions requires study of moral theology, therefore, he reconceives its nature and tasks, and in particular, its engagement with social anthropology. Drawing from social anthropology and Christian thought and practice from many periods, and influenced especially by his engagement in public policy matters including as a member of the UK's Human Tissue Authority, Banner aims to develop the outlines of an everyday ethics, stretching from before the cradle to after the grave.

About the Author
Michael Banner is Dean and Fellow at Trinity College, University of Cambridge. His publications include Christian Ethics: A Brief History (Wiley Blackwell, 2009) and Ethics and the Doctrine of God, edited with A.T. Torrance (T & T Clark, 2004).

Reviews
Michael Banner does not mince words. Moral theology is odd; moral philosophy is odder; and bioethics, depending on the page to which one turns, is limited, irrelevant and/or uncomprehending. These claims alone recommend The Ethics of Everyday Life both to those who might find them surprising, as well as to those whose work joins Professor Banner's much-needed project: that of re-envisaging and reconfiguring moral theology ... Each chapter provides a deep engagement with a spectrum of historical figures, texts, and aspects of material culture that challenges or upends contemporary cultural assumptions often blithely adopted within contemporary Christian discourse. * M. Therese Lysaught, Studies in Christian Ethics *



Book Information
ISBN 9780198766469
Author Michael Banner
Format Paperback
Page Count 240
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Dimensions(mm) 234mm * 157mm * 13mm