Building Your Own Theology Class, Week 5

Our topic for Session 5 of Building Your Own Theology was Ethics.  Each participant was asked to develop a list of Ten Ethical Commandments as homework for this class and we spent a good deal of time creating a master list: Ethical Commandments 1-10, 11-20, 21-24.  Though this list wasn't completely comprehensive, it was a good start in representing the ethics and values present in our group.  


We then played a game where situations were posed to the group and individuals had to pick one commandment that they would look to in order to make a decision about what to do.  We played several rounds of that, first with individuals making decisions on their own, then pairs, then groups of three, groups of six and finally the whole group together.  Which of those groupings would you think would be most efficient?  Surprisingly, the group felt decision-making groups of three were the most efficient and comfortable. Group members reported that making decisions in groups enabled the process to go more quickly, though we did agree that some compromise may be involved.  How do you make ethical decisions?


Rev. David joined us and towards the end of class, led an excellent discussion about whether congregations can make unified decisions regarding moral questions?  Is it possible for a congregation like ours to take a public moral stand on an issue?  What does that process look like? What is gained? What is lost?  


With only two sessions left in our Building Your Own Theology class, we are making our way towards the final assignment, which will be to compose a personal "credo" statement or statement of belief or faith. Our homework for the next session is to spend some time reflecting on big questions:


• How should people treat each other?
• How do you know how to do the right thing?  (what informs your ethical choices?)
• What is the role of God (if any) in your life and the rest of the universe?
• What gives you hope?
• What is the purpose of your life? 


(click here to download a worksheet with the interview questions.)


For access to all class readings and worksheets, visit our box.net folder for the class.  Readings are taken from Richard S. Gilbert's Building Your Own Theology and are available online only for the limited duration of this class and for educational use only.