Foundations of an African ethic : beyond the universal claims of western morality / Bénézet Bujo ; translated by Brian McNeil.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bujo, Bénézet.

Standardized Title:

Wider den Universalanspruch westlicher Moral. English

Language:

English

German

Subjects (All):

Ethics--Africa.

Ethics.

Christian ethics.

Ethics, Comparative.

Africa.

Physical Description:

xvii, 214 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Crossroad Pub., [2001]

Language Note:

Translated from the German.

Summary:

In this groundbreaking book, Benezet Bujo, a leading voice in African Christian theology, offers an informed critique of Western ethics and lays the theoretical groundwork for a new African ethic.

Contents:

Part 1 Fundamental Questions of African Ethics

1. Starting Point and Anthropology 3

The Problem of the cognatus sum 3

Questioning Natural-Law Thinking 11

Virtue and Morality 24

Fairy Tales, Proverbs, Riddles, and Initiation 24

The Narrative Dimension of Virtue 27

Various Understandings of Virtue 29

2. Ethics and Anamnesis 34

The Significance of Praxis and Poiesis for Ethical Conduct 34

Marriage and Sexuality 35

The Anamnetic Dimension of Choreography and Art in General 39

The Palaver between Communitarianism and Discourse Ethics 45

The Palaver as Process for Discovering and Justifying Norms 45

The Essence of the Palaver 54

Part 2 Identity and the Understanding of Freedom

1. Western Christian Ethics and African Anthropology 75

Individual Responsibility in "Autonomous" Moral Theology 76

The Practice of Autonomy in Ethics 76

The Encyclical Veritatis Splendor 80

Individual Responsibility in African Ethics 85

The Community and the Individual 85

World Ethos and the Ethos of Salvation 94

2. Sin and Freedom of Conscience 107

Sin and Conscience in Classic Catholic Moral Theology 108

Catholic Teaching on the Conscience 108

Situation Ethics 112

Sin and Conscience in the African Context 120

The Internalization of Ethical Norms 120

The Community and the Individual Conscience 124

3. Critical Observation: The Challenge of Inculturation 131

Community and Structural Sin 131

Limits to the African Tradition 132

Mistaken Developments 138

The Magisterium and the Authority of the Palaver 143

The Magisterium in Ethical Questions 143

The Palaver as a Complementary Practice 150.

Notes:

"A Herder and Herder book."

Includes bibliographical references (pages 201-209) and index.

ISBN:

0824519051

OCLC:

45835440