Recasting A Covenant Ethics for the Family in Taiwan

Over the past half century, Taiwan has experienced rapid social changes. While traditional Taiwanese family values (mainly shaped by Confucianism) remain influential, they are gradually losing their moral adequacy. Analysis of the evolution of historical family ethics helps us to understand the most serious problems facing Taiwanese families: extramarital relationships and intergenerational conflicts. This book offers a critical reappraisal of covenant ethics in both the Judeo-Christian and Chinese traditions and its ability to provide moral resources for evaluating the current family ethos in Taiwan. The goals of family life, which were closely associated with ancestral worship and filial piety, need to be reconsidered. This book argues that fairness and the solemnness of vow-taking are aspects of both the Judeo-Christian and Chinese traditions that deserve to be promoted more today. The adoption of Christian virtues such as forgiveness and reconciliation would also improve Taiwanese family ethics. This book offers a helpful guide to those exploring the similarities and differences between these two traditions, and to all interested in modern family ethics.

Autorentext

Shang-Jen Chen is Associate Professor of Ethics and Dean of Academic Affairs at the Taiwan Theological Seminary, Taipei. He holds a doctorate in Christian Ethics from Princeton Theological Seminary and is an ordained pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan.