Join the Religion and Ethics Workshop this Tuesday for our final lunchtime discussion of the year. (Gourmet) Pizza provided; no preparation necessary.

Michael Turner, “Affirmative Action and the Matter of Deserving: A Theological Perspective.” Swift Hall 200, Tuesday May 22nd at noon.

Paper Synopsis:

Affirmative action garners intense moral debate in large part because it invokes and often challenges widespread notions of deservingness.  Both opponents and defenders of the policy frequently draw on this moral principle in order to fortify their positions.  Christians, however, tend to avoid this line of thinking in their discourse on economic justice because the moral center of their faith relies on grace, a principle that stands inherently in tension with deservingness.  My project argues that grace need not constitute the only valid approach Christians can take in such moral discussions.  A theological concept of deservingness can serve the dual functions of maintaining an ethical perspective informed by grace while acknowledging the moral force possessed by desert.  This essay illustrates the point by applying a theologically rendered notion of desert to the issue of affirmative action.