Pocket Dictionary of Ethics

Ethics is as old as the city-state and as new as cyberspace. Guided by the wagon tracks of moral tradition, it nevertheless rides the cutting edge of science and technology. Increasingly it is moving into the corner offices of law, business, medicine, science and technology.

But few of us arrive in our first ethics class--or take our seat on an ethics committee--with a grip on the range of ideas and thinkers, perspectives and pitfalls that make up this ancient conversation about what is good and right and moral. We may feel like college math students who slipped through high school without learning algebra.

The Pocket Dictionary of Ethics is a convenient boost to help you catch up.

Among the 300 definitions provided by Stanley J. Grenz and Jay T. Smith are

terms, from altruism to virtue

issues, from animal rights to war

ethicists, from Saint Augustine to Peter Singer

perspectives, from Aristotelianism to utilitarianism

marketplace specialties, from advertising to technological ethics

Not only does this brief and convenient reference book take you where your desktop dictionary was not designed to go, it doubles as your basic A-to-Z survey or refresher course in ethics.

**

About the Author

Stanley J. Grenz (1950-2005) earned a B.A. from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1973, an M.Div. from Denver Seminary in 1976 and a D.Theol. From the University of Munich (Germany) in 1978, where completed his dissertation under the supervision of Wolfhart Pannenberg.

Ordained into the gospel ministry in 1976, Grenz worked within the local church context as a youth director and assistant pastor (Northwest Baptist Church, Denver), pastor (Rowandale Baptist Church, Winnipeg), and interim pastor. In addition he preached and lectured in numerous churches, colleges, universities and seminaries in North America, Europe, Africa, Australia and Asia.

Grenz wrote or cowrote twenty-five books, the most recent of which is Rediscovering the Triune God: The Trinity in Contemporary Theology (2004). His other books include The Social God and the Relational Self: A Trinitarian Theology of the Imago Dei (Westminster John Knox), Beyond Foundationalism: Shaping Theology in a Postmodern Context (with John R. Franke; Westminster John Knox), The Moral Quest: Foundations of Christian Ethics (IVP), A Primer on Postmodernism (Eerdmans), Women in the Church: A Biblical Theology of Women in Ministry (with Denise Muir Kjesbo; IVP), Revisioning Evangelical Theology: A Fresh Agenda for the 21st Century (IVP), and The Millennial Maze: Sorting Out Evangelical Options (IVP). He has also coauthored several shorter reference and introductory books for IVP, including Who Needs Theology? An Invitation to the Study of God (with Roger E. Olson), Pocket Dictionary of Ethics (with Jay T. Smith), and Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms (with David Guretzki and Cherith Fee Nordling). He contributed articles to more than two dozen other volumes, and has had published more than one hundred essays and eighty book reviews. These have appeared in journals such as Christianity Today, The Christian Century, Christian Scholar's Review, Theology Today and the Journal of Ecumenical Studies.

For twelve years (1990-2002), Grenz held the position of Pioneer McDonald Professor of Baptist Heritage, Theology and Ethics at Carey Theological College and at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia. After a one-year sojourn as Distinguished Professor of Theology at Baylor University and Truett Seminary in Waco, Texas (2002-2003), he returned to Carey and resumed his duties as Pioneer McDonald Professor of Theology. In 2004 he assumed an additional appointment as Professor of Theological Studies at Mars Hill Graduate School in Seattle, Washington.

Jay T. Smith (Ph.D., Trinity College-University of Bristol, D.Min., Carey Theological College) is senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Bozeman, Montana and principal of the Montana Centre for Faith, Adventure and the Arts.