Seeing Good, Doing Evil
The Limits of Moral Ignorance
- Philosophy
- Publisher: Wipf and Stock
- Published: 2020
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Publisher's Description
According to the Apostle Paul, what can be known about God--and by extension, about ethics--is plain to people, so we are "without excuse." Romans 1:18-21 teaches that we will be "without excuse" when God confronts us for whatever beliefs and actions seemed good to us on the day, but weren't. In our time, this notion has come to seem at least unpalatable, and more likely unbelievable. Michael D. Russell's book is an extended meditation on the possibilities in this Pauline statement and a concerted effort to enable us to understand and accept it. Situated in Reformed Protestant discussion of this matter, he offers some clarifying proposals. Maintaining all the while that whoever we are we are indeed without excuse, Michael proposes how to understand that conclusion without accepting some of the usual routes to it.
Endorsements (5)
“Michael’s first book is a much-needed addition to the resource kit for modern apologetic cultural engagement. He blends clear exegesis, historical theology, and contemporary application with profound insight. It will be a wonderful blessing for all who seek to proclaim ‘Christ crucified’ to a world that has no hope.”
“Michael Russell’s book is a valuable resource for any thoughtful Christian believer seeking to engage in apologetics and evangelism. By clear and careful argumentation, and drawing on a variety of disciplines, Russell demonstrates the plausibility of the view that all humans are morally accountable to God, in a way that both upholds the integrity of the Christian Scriptures and respects the empirical testimony of those with whom we are seeking to engage.”
“Straddling the disciplines of apologetics, Pauline exegesis, ethics, systematic and practical theology, Russell effectively argues that God’s moral truth ‘presses in’ upon us all. Object Relations theory supplies an effective device to explain how this can be and at the same time be beyond the capacity of the non-believer to articulate. This work brings a fresh defense of a form of intuitionism through which both moral culpability and imprecise knowing of God’s law have their place.”
“Seeing Good, Doing Evil is as impressive as it is valuable. Michael Russell’s integrated, multi-disciplinary study gives fresh attention to one of the great conundrums of Christian theology—the moral culpability of finite human beings before a fully sovereign God—and arrives at a compelling new solution. While primarily a work on practical ethics and apologetics, Russell also makes contributions in New Testament exegesis, Pauline scholarship, and theological anthropology, yet does so while remaining well-grounded on the realities of human experience and practical Christian ministry. Building a healthy case for intuitionism and being unashamed in its recourse to Scripture, Seeing Good, Doing Evil is a most welcome resource for honest, thinking, active Christian believers.”
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