Articles | Book Reviews | Education
Religious Ethics: A Sourcebook, Dobrin,Arthur, Hindi Granth Karyalay: Mumbai, 2004. ISBN 81-88769-01-0
by
Joseph Romain
When Religious Ethics appeared on my desk, I was thrilled. Finally someone, author/editor Arthur Dobrin, had produced a useful guide to the ethical frameworks of many world religions.
Dobrin, Professor of Humanities at Hofstra University in New York, has presented "a compilation of short answers to complex questions, a kind of introduction to religious ethics…". And as a starting point for a study of religious ethics, it is successful.
Dobrin presents us with 55 questions asked and answered by members of 34 faith groups or denominations. The faiths queried include Bahá'í, Buddhism, Christian, Confuscian, Hindu, Humanist, Islam, Jain, Judaism, Scientology, Shinto, Sikhism, Taoism, Vodoun, Wiccan, and Zoroastrian. The answers cover a lot of territory: General questions look at the concepts of ‘good and bad', belief, and the role of religion in society; Use of Force asks questions regarding killing, suicide, etc., Science and Medicine asks about such things as blood transfusions, animal rights, abortion etc. and Behavior looks at questions of sex, gender, drugs and alcohol. The answers range between quick, monosyllabic responses, which leave the reader without comfortable comprehension to extensive responses with footnotes, analysis and authority.
And the question of the authority of the respondents is a problem. All of the respondents appear knowledgeable concerning the ethics and the morality demanded by their faith groups. This provides us with a view into the ethical guidelines of each faith group from the point of view of the respondent, who may or may not be authorized by the faith group to respond. In some cases, it is clear that the respondent is authorized, and in others it is clear that the responses are opinions; sometimes, and this is where biggest problems arise, it is not clear whether the answers to questions represent a single viewpoint, or a faith group perspective.
It may be unfair to expect non-hierarchical organizations to provide authoritative answers to ethical questions; not all faith groups organize themselves or their ethics along the lines we might wish for in a study such as this. And Dobrin's respondents have, in most cases, given us clues as to whether their answers represent a personal response or a faith group response. (e.g. Michael Hale, Minister of Travis Baptist Church in Corpus Christi, Texas says "This is one Baptist Pastor point of view and I do not speak for all Baptist. No one can speak for all Baptist on issues. [sic]")
But the chief problem this reader has with the book is not so much the authority of the answers, but rather with the fact that the answers are printed verbatim, and apparently without benefit of editor-contributor dialogue. When a respondent has clearly misunderstood the question, or has failed to provide a useful response, the answer is printed without elaboration. For Example, the Sunni Islamic respondent (Rashid Abdulkareem) answers the question, "Are there moral codes regarding dress and hairstyles?" with the answer: "Yes." It would be helpful to have some idea of what the moral codes say, and what the dress or hairstyles might be. And this would require a dialogue to have taken place between contributor and author/editor. Sadly, this does not seem to have been the case.
Religious Ethics: A Sourcebook is a fascinating excursion into the moral disposition of a broad variety of faith groups. As a jumping off point for a study of religiously-grounded ethical codes, it is useful. It does not provide guideposts for deeper understanding of faith and ethics, and though it does not provide anything like situational analysis it does provide a very sound basis for the student of religious studies, ethics, or comparative religions with a useful launching point.
As a practical guide to protocol, behaviour, or understanding of ethical values or codes of faith groups, I am afraid that I must give it something less than a star in the top left hand corner of the page. This may not be entirely fair; it may say more about this reviewer's needs than about the value of the book, but I nonetheless believe that Religious Ethics could have been a more valuable book than it is had the publisher insisted on more editorial intervention.
All that being said, Dobrin's book would provide useful grounding to anyone who is involved in care and spiritual guidance in a Multifaith environment. Religious Ethics: A Sourcebook would make a valuable contribution to any collection of comparative religion, interfaith understanding or ethical systems, and the author should be commended for laying a heavy paving stone on the road to Multifaith dialogue.
With the provisos given above, I highly recommend this book for use by anyone involved in the business of understanding world religions, faith-based ethics, and structured human value systems. Chaplains, counsellors, ethicists, social workers, and workers in the field of diversity training would find this a valuable, if limited, resource.
Joseph Romain is the Manager, Multifaith Information Services, Ontario Multifaith Council on Spiritual and Religious Care.
Posted by editor on June 7, 2004 03:03 PM