Christian Ethics and the Moral Psychologies

Book excerpt: Interest in psychology permeates our culture, with psychological solutions advanced for a host of moral dilemmas. How should ethically minded Christians include insights from such disciplines as psychoanalysis, cognitive moral development, and neuroscience in their theological reflection? Don Browning offers a serious proposal for combining these disciplines with the best in ethical reflection from a Christian standpoint. Along the way, he introduces readers to the moral psychology work of Sigmund Freud, Carol Gilligan, Antonio Damasio, and others, opening up a dialogue between their work and the hermeneutics of Hans-Georg Gadamer and Paul Ricoeur. Browning also recognizes the potential limits of the conversation between Christian ethics and the moral psychologies, pointing out where they must diverge.