Don S. Browning
Don Browning has interests in the relation of religious thought to the social sciences, specifically in the way theological ethics may employ sociology, psychology, and the social scientific study of religion. A student of psychology, he has special interests in psychoanalysis, self-psychology, object-relations theory, and evolutionary psychology, and has written on the cultural, theological, and ethical analysis of the modern psychologies. An interest in issues and methods in practical theology led to his work, A Fundamental Practical Theology: With Descriptive and Strategic Proposals. As Director of the Lilly Project on Religion, Culture, and the Family, Professor Browning is now working on issues pertaining to the shape and future of the postmodern family. He has co-authored From Culture Wars to Common Ground: Religion and the American Family Debate. He is an ordained minister of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
(Retired from teaching, Winter 2002)
Browning, D. S. Christian Ethics and the Moral Psychologies. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2006.
Abstract: Interest in the insights of psychology has become part of our culture. Psychological solutions are advanced for a whole host of moral dilemmas. How should an ethically-minded Christian include insights from such disciplines as psychoanalysis...
Browning, D. S. Universalism Vs. Relativism: Making Moral Judgments in a Changing, Pluralistic, and Threatening World, Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2006.
Has moral relativism run its course? The threat of 9/11, terrorism, reproductive technology, and globalization has forced us to ask anew whether there are universal moral truths upon which to base ethical and political judgments. In this timely edited...
Browning, D. (2003). "Feminism, Family, and Women's Rights: A Hermeneutic Realist Perspective." Zygon Journal of Religion and Science, 38 (2): 317-32.
Abstract: In this article I apply the insights of hermeneutic realism to a practical-theological ethics that addresses the international crisis of families and women's rights. Hermeneutic realism affirms the hermeneutic philosophy of Hans-Georg Gadamer...
Browning, D. S. Marriage and Modernization, Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2003.
The processes of modernization and globalization promise more wealth and health for many people. But they are also a threat to the stability and quality of marriage and family life. This new book -- at once sobering and constructive -- looks at the impact...