Religious Ethics in a Time of Globalism ─ Shaping a Third Wave of Comparative Analysis

Bucar and Stalnaker's selection of new approaches to the comparative study of religious ethics provides an accessible introduction to the most current research in the field, and shows that a variety of perspectives on religious ethics are worth pursuing in our increasingly interconnected world. The diverse scholars in this volume demonstrate that many sorts of analysis are shaped by comparison and comparative interests, even when they focus on a single topic or question, as long as they are informed by analogous studies of other traditions, cultures, or religions. This collection exemplifies a thought-provoking, multidisciplinary engagement with global ethics today.

Elizabeth M. Bucar is an associate professor of comparative religious ethics in the Department of Philosophy and Religion at Northeastern University. She works within the Shia and Catholic traditions on issues of gender, politics, and emergent technologies (new media and medical advances). Her books include Does Human Rights Need God? (co-edited with Barbra Barnett, 2005), Creative Conformity: The Feminist Politics of U.S. Catholic and Iranian Shi`i Women (2011), and The Islamic Veil: A Beginner's Guide (2012). Aaron Stalnaker is an associate professor of Religious Studies and East Asian Languages and Cultures at Indiana University. He studies ethics and philosophy of religion, giving serious attention to both Chinese and Western theories and practices. He is the author of Overcoming Our Evil: Human Nature and Spiritual Exercises in Xunzi and Augustine (2006), a comparative study of different models of moral and religious personal formation, as well as numerous articles. His current research concerns the idea of virtuous mastery as it relates to the ethics of authority and hierarchy.