Course Description

At the heart of the academic field of ethics is a question about the good. There are many ways of approaching this question: philosophical, biblical, traditional, to name a few. While this course will touch on these three and others, it is designed around the role of “pastor.” Therefore, our guiding question will be, What makes a pastor good? All of our explorations of ethical questions will be seen through the lens of the pastoral role. We will begin with a discussion of the calling or vocation of being a pastor, and then turn our gaze inward to ask “Who am I as a pastor?” We will then gain an overview of prominent philosophical and Christian models for ethics before turning to the various roles/practices/functions of pastoring in the 21st century.

Winter 2025: This course is available onsite and online. Students must register for the online section to gain Zoom access to the course.

Course lectures will be recorded, and students may be captured in course recordings. Access to lecture recordings is normally only given to online students who cannot reasonably be expected to attend the course live due to time zone differences. These students should contact the course instructor for permission to access recordings.