Aligwekwe, Uzoma G.

Response as Responsibility. the Theocentric Foundations of Ethics

Response as Responsibility is a contribution to the ongoing discussion about a sustainablefoundation for contemporary ethical decision making. Whereas the anthropocentric ethicalperspectives argue that considerations for morality are to be derived from purely humanpoints of reference, contemporary theocentric ethical perspectives argue that suchperspectives are myopic and they try to show their limitations. They plea for a normativecriterion that centres not only around the question of what is good for man, but one thatincludes the question of what is good for whole creation and what is right for man in relationto the ordering of the natural and social worlds. The theological ethics of Richard H. Niebuhris one of such theocentric ethical perspectives which sought to address these issues. This bookexamines the concept of God's Sovereignty in Niebuhr's response ethics and the idea of aresponsible moral life that derives from such an understanding. It poses the question ofwhether Richard Niebuhr's theocentric ethics can serve as a sufficient basis for contemporarymoral decision making and sought to answer it by taking recourse to his available writings.Dr. rer.nat. Dr. theol. Uzoma G. Aligwekwe is a psychologist, a theologian and a RomanCatholic priest. He received his Doctorate degrees in Theology and in Psychology from theUniversity of Innsbruck, Austria. Uzoma is an independent researcher and works currently asa clinical psychologist at the Psychiatric Clinic Upper Wallis in Switzerland.