Responsibility as Response: Biblical-Theological Remarks on the Concept of Responsibility
The term of responsibility is ambiguous. In a general sense it means nothing more than answering questions about human behaviour (in Greek: logon didonai; in Latin: rationem reddere). In order to get a more precise sense of responsibility this article discusses concepts of responsibility, worked out...
Main Author: | |
---|---|
Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
Sage
2009
|
In: |
Studies in Christian ethics
Year: 2009, Volume: 22, Issue: 4, Pages: 461-471 |
Further subjects: | B
Language
B Creation B Secularization B Biblical Anthropology B Word of God B Ethics of responsibility B reverence for life B Reason |
Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
Parallel Edition: | Electronic
|
Summary: | The term of responsibility is ambiguous. In a general sense it means nothing more than answering questions about human behaviour (in Greek: logon didonai; in Latin: rationem reddere). In order to get a more precise sense of responsibility this article discusses concepts of responsibility, worked out by Albert Schweitzer, Hans Jonas, Richard Niebuhr and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. The discussion is concentrated on two problems: (1) extensification of responsibility in accordance with the expansion of technological power; (2) limitation and intensification of responsibility in accordance with human capability and readiness. The central question is that of the subject of responsibility: How becomes man, who abdicates responsibility, ‘the responsible self’ (Niebuhr)? Referring to this question the biblical language is of great importance as the word, which re-establishes communication between God and man. Responsibility in the biblical sense means the response to this word of God. Therein lies not only a radicalising and intensifying of responsibility, but also its enabling and limiting. |
---|---|
ISSN: | 0953-9468 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Studies in Christian ethics
|
Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1177/0953946809340950 |