Highly intelligent... It is understandable while being scholarly and should be read by anyone seeking an overview of ethical history as it relates to the present. -- Church and Synagogue Library Association.

As the twentieth century draws to a close and the rush to globalization gathers momentum, political and economic considerations are crowding out vital ethical questions about the shape of our future. Now, Hans Kung, one of the world's preeminent Christian theologians, explores these issues in a visionary and cautionary look at the coming global society. How can the new world order of the twenty first century avoid the horrors of the twentieth? Will nations form a real community or continue to (...) aggressively pursue their own interests? Will the Machiavellian approaches of the past prevail over idealism and a more humanitarian politics? What role can religion play in a world increasingly dominated by transnational corporations? Kung tackles these and many other questions with the insight and moral authority that comes from a lifetime's devotion to the search for justice and human dignity. Arguing against both an amoral realpolitik and an immoral resurgence of laissez faire economics, Kung defines a comprehensive ethicfounded on the bedrock of mutual respect and humane treatment of all beingsthat would encompass the ecological, legal, technological, and social patterns that are reshaping civilization. If we are going to have a global economy, a global technology, a global media, Kung argues, we must also have a global ethic to which all nations, and peoples of the most varied backgrounds and beliefs, can commit themselves. "The world," he says, "is not going to be held together by the Internet." For anyone concerned about the world we are creating, A Global Ethic for Global Politics and Economics offers equal measures of informed analysis, compassionate foresight, and wise counsel. (shrink)

Does God exist? The question implies another: Who is God? This book is meant to give an answer to both questions and to give reasons for this answer. Does God exist? Yes or no? Many are at a loss between belief and unbelief; they are undecided, skeptical. They are doubtful about their belief, but they are also doubtful about their doubting. There are still others who are proud of their doubting. Yet there remains a longing for certainty. Certainty? Whether Christians (...) or Jews, believers in God or atheists, the discussion today runs right across old denominations and new ideologies - but the longing for certainty is unquenched. Does God exist? We are putting all our cards on the table here. The answer will be "Yes, God exists, " As human beings in the twentieth century, we certainly can reasonably believe in God - even more so in the Christian God - and perhaps even more easily today than a few decades or centuries ago. For, after so many crises, it is surprising how much has been clarified and how many difficulties in regard to belief in God have melted into the Light that no darkness has overcome. (shrink)

Many people find modern art, in whatever medium, meaningless. Its radical questioning of all aesthetic norms, its wild experimentation and its lack of direction stand in stark contrast to the past, with its great tradition of meaningful artistic expression. Of course, it can be argued that modern artists are simply feeling much more deeply what anyone alive today must sense, however vaguely and superficially: a deeply pessimistic and often nihilistic mood. And if art is to have integrity, artists cannot escape (...) that. However, anyone who believes in a first and last ground of meaning of the world and man, even at a time of the disintegration of traditions, can scarcely believe in a definitive chaos of art: if art is a genuine representation of the realities of our time, it should be possible, by understanding it more deeply, to find greater meaning the other side of seeming meaninglessness. This, briefly stated, is the argument of Hans Kueng's latest study, both profound and provocative, which introduces a new and important dimension to his thought. (shrink)

Explore how the principles of a global ethic can be found in Judaism and how they can provide the ethical norms for all religions to work together toward a more ...

Küng fordert seit Jahrzehnten ein gemeinschaftliches Weltethos aller Religionen als Voraussetzung für den Weltfrieden. Vorliegendes schmales Handbuch bietet äeinen kompakten Überblick über Idee, Begründung und Umsetzung des Weltethosä.

SCHLAGWÖRTERS: KissingerS. RichelieuS. BismarckS. MorgenthauS. MachtS. MoralS. WeltfriedenS. WeltreligionenS. WohlfahrtsstaatS. NeokapitalismusS. GlobalisierungS. MarktwirtschaftS.

While Walls to Bridges is a broad and comprehensive work, the actualization of a Global Ethic is concrete-not abstract. Professor Küng's vision into the future, built on the expanding Global Ethic is an inspiring read and a call to action for all. What is similar among the world's religious ideologies? What's next in the evolution of the global ethic? Professor and theologian Hans Küng has devoted much of his life to answering these questions. Küng achieved global notoriety in the 60's (...) when he became the first major Roman Catholic theologian of the 20th century to question the notion of papal infallibility. For this, he was stripped of his license to teach as a Roman Catholic theologian but continued teaching as a tenured professor of Ecumenical Theology at the University of Tübingen, Germany. In the 1990s, Küng initiated a project subsequently referred to as the Movement for a "Global Ethic." After massive world-wide research into past and present ethical principles, he spelled out clearly the foundational ethical principles that the world's religions and ideologies, past and present, de facto held/hold in common, that is: The minimal code of behavior that everyone in fact accepts (e.g., "Do not lie, steal, kill innocent persons....") This English translation of The Global Ethic Handbook is a culmination of the "Movement" Küng began in the 90s. He describes his vision for a Global Ethic and takes the reader through the essential aspects of a Global Ethic, including its social, political, legal, economics, communications, esthetics, and philosophical applications. It even describes his translation of the Global Ethic/Weltethos into musical compositions-indeed, a full-blown opera! (shrink)