Overview

Everyone recognizes that it is, in general, wrong to intentionally kill a human being. But are there exceptions to that rule? In Killing and Christian Ethics, Christopher Tollefsen argues that there are no exceptions: the rule is absolute. The absolute view on killing that he defends has important implications for bioethical issues at the beginning and end of life, such as abortion and euthanasia. It has equally important implications for the morality of capital punishment and the morality of killing in war. Tollefsen argues that a lethal act is morally permissible only when it is an unintended side effect of one's action. In this way, some lethal acts of force, such as personal self-defense, or defense of a polity in a defensive war, may be justified --  but only if they involve no intension of causing death.  Even God, Tollefsen argues, neither intends death, nor commands the intentional taking of life.

Full Product Details

Author:   Christopher O. Tollefsen (University of South Carolina)
Publisher:   Cambridge University Press
Imprint:   Cambridge University Press
Weight:   0.402kg
ISBN:  

9781009714358

ISBN 10:   100971435
Pages:   243
Publication Date:   14 May 2026
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
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Table of Contents

Part I. Killing and Christian Ethics: Introduction: Christianity and the Problem of Killing; 1. The core argument; Part II. The Beginning of Human Life: 2. Is it permissible to kill human embryos?; 3. Is it permissible to kill a human fetus?; 4. Is it permissible to bring about the death of a human fetus a side effect?; Part III. End of Human Life: 5. Is it permissible to kill oneself?; 6. Is it permissible to kill those who ask to die?; 7. Is it permissible to kill those who are permanently unconscious?; 8. Is it permissible to kill those who are suffering?; Part IV. Self-Defense, Capital Punishment, and War: 9. Is it permissible to kill unjust aggressors in self-defense?; 10. Is it permissible to respond lethally to innocent threats?; 11. Is it permissible to kill convicted criminals?; 12. Is it Permissible to Kill Military Personnel in War?; 13. Is it permissible to kill non-combatants?; Part V. 14. Is it permissible to kill those whom god commands one to kill?; Bibliography.

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Author Information

Christopher O. Tollefsen is Professor of Philosophy at the University of South Carolina. He is the author of Lying and Christian Ethics (CUP, 2014), and co-author, with the physician Farr Curlin, of The Way of Medicine: Ethics and the Healing Profession (Notre Dame University Press, 2021).

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