A Critical Review of Paul Lehmann’s Koinonia Ethics through the concept of Conscience

Whereas traditionally the nature of God and his actions have been counted as decisive for human morality, it has been argued even by some moral philosophers that human moral autonomy is such that reference to deity in any decisive way is either irrelevant or at best an optional appendix to the moral life. Such an argument sounds like a prelude to the age of pluralism as the apex of relativism. Through the theocentric ethic of Jonathan Edwards, we can argue for a type of theological ethics to be ethically responsible without compromising our faith in the sovereign God. Such a consistent theocentric ethics for Edwards plays a role of prelude to the contemporary theological ethicists. It is also the perennial problem when Paul Lehmann observed the ethical predicament of human being which appears in the question of the cleavage between the ethical claim and the ethical act,the dilemma between ethical irrelevance and ethical relativism and the tension between freedom and responsibility . Now the crucial question arises; how can Christian ethics provide an fulcrum for removing this impasse. For this emerging task, Lehmann’s consistent concern is with whether Christian ethics authentically brings together “the humanity”of human being and “what God is doing in the world”. It is difficult yet impressive to keep up with Lehmann’s sophisticated argument for koinonia ethic. Especially Lehmann’s insightful historical survey of the concept of conscience makes us well prepared understanding his main issue on how we can overcome the ethical impasse to which the existing ethical suggestion (either autonomy or heteronomy) eventually leads. Standing firmly on the tradition of Reformation, Lehmann seems to transform these two options nicely into a dynamic ethical reality,“action of God in the world to make and to keep human life human.”In this creative process, the concept of conscience is crucial as the fulcrum of human responsiveness, although its origin is theonomous.