Divine command theory
o It’s a non-
Divine command theory introduction
naturalistic theory
o It argues whatever God commands must be good because because it holds
God is the source of all goodness and what he forbids must that the source of
be evil good is in a
Extra scholarly reference: supernatural being.
o Paul Tillich saw religious morality as one of the approaches o DCT is a meta-
ethical theory
to ethics. Tillich distinguished between three types of ethics:
meaning this theory
Theonomy-an ethic given by God. will attempt to tell
Heteronomy-An ethic imposed by an external source
Autonomy-an ethic from within, developed by us.
o Tillich then argued that the autonomy common int the
modern world ought to take place within the framework of
theonomy-influenced and structured by religious ideas.
Background to DCT:
Ideas of how Christians
should behave are linked to
the Christian understanding
There are many different versions of the DCT:
of God as father.
Weakest version: Gods command are applicable within the
E.g. The apostle’s creed
context of different religious communities. There are
opens with ‘I believe in God
differences of opinion due to limited application.
the father almighty, creator
Stronger version: moral behaviour is good in itself and so
of heaven and earth’.
we should live in certain ways because god wills it, meaning
This shows that God is
only religious believers need to worry about moral
omnipotent, and he made
accountability.
the world through his word
Strongest version: Moral behaviour is good because it is
and since he is perfect his
willed by God you follow Gods commands because it is willed
creation is also perfect.
,
o It’s a non-
Divine command theory introduction
naturalistic theory
o It argues whatever God commands must be good because because it holds
God is the source of all goodness and what he forbids must that the source of
be evil good is in a
Extra scholarly reference: supernatural being.
o Paul Tillich saw religious morality as one of the approaches o DCT is a meta-
ethical theory
to ethics. Tillich distinguished between three types of ethics:
meaning this theory
Theonomy-an ethic given by God. will attempt to tell
Heteronomy-An ethic imposed by an external source
Autonomy-an ethic from within, developed by us.
o Tillich then argued that the autonomy common int the
modern world ought to take place within the framework of
theonomy-influenced and structured by religious ideas.
Background to DCT:
Ideas of how Christians
should behave are linked to
the Christian understanding
There are many different versions of the DCT:
of God as father.
Weakest version: Gods command are applicable within the
E.g. The apostle’s creed
context of different religious communities. There are
opens with ‘I believe in God
differences of opinion due to limited application.
the father almighty, creator
Stronger version: moral behaviour is good in itself and so
of heaven and earth’.
we should live in certain ways because god wills it, meaning
This shows that God is
only religious believers need to worry about moral
omnipotent, and he made
accountability.
the world through his word
Strongest version: Moral behaviour is good because it is
and since he is perfect his
willed by God you follow Gods commands because it is willed
creation is also perfect.
,
