Introduction Living the Christian Story: The Distinctiveness of Christian Ethics is a book which tries to set out a theological basis for Christian ethics in broader theological and cultural context. This book answers the question of what should be the distinctiveness of Christians living, how that distinctiveness can be penetrated to non-Christians and how Christians might be able to speak and live ethically within this secular world. Trying to answer above mentioned questions, Colwell argues Christian community as a “faith community” and Christian ethics as a life-transforming in Christ. For him, it is Christ who is distinctive for Christian faith and living. (89) For him, Christian ethics is distinctive because it invites all people to participate in ethical life through Christian story which is fundamental to Christian Ethics. In other words, Colwell claims that Christians need to adopt the ethical approach which laid down its foundation in Holy Scripture to persuade non-Christians. Purpose …show more content…
John E. Colwell is Dean of Spurgeon’s College, London. The purpose of the book is to outline, in contrast with the varying theological moral systems that have been advanced throughout the years, what I would like to call a biblical ethics with ecclesial model. Throughout the book, he used Thomas Aquinas, Karl Barth, Stanley Hauerwas and Johnathan Edwards as partners. For him, the gospel is the representative of Jesus Christ and gospel story is an adherence to truth and importance for the life of Christians. (76-78, 169-171) So what he tried to present to the secular world is that “gospel is the means of addressing relations between the Church and secular world and Christian ethics as a continuous formation in the story of the gospel.”