This book presents a collection of texts by the German physicist and philosopher Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker (1912-2007) in English, for use in seminars on the philosophy of religion, the comparative study of religion, but as well on the relationship between religion and the scientific worldview. Most texts appear in English for the first time. Weizsäcker became famous through his works in physics, mainly in the early development of nuclear physics. Later he would also become well known as a philosopher (...) and analyst of contemporary culture. He also worked very intensely on projects for the prevention of nuclear war and for peace in general. (shrink)

The author casts a retrospective glance at the stations of the fifty years old discussion about the mandate of ecumenical deacony. Today two basic conceptions are marked off: the conception of a prophetic deacony, informed by the leading notion of »justice« on one side, and the conception of a caritative deacony, informed by the leading notion of »reconciliation« on the other. The author discusses the tention between these concepts in their theological foundations and takes a look at the significance of (...) these concepts in situations characterized by »complex emergencies«. Therefore he explores criterions and standards, on which the mandate of ecumenical deacony could be orientated for the future. (shrink)

The paper reflects about ways and criteria of arriving at ethical judgements and decisions in ecumenical dialogue. After a brief historical retrospective the paper discusses more recent perspectives of an ››ecclesial ethics‹‹ as they have been put forward in an ecumenical study on ››ecclesiology and ethics ‹‹ and then further developed and confirmed in dialogues with the Roman-Catholic and the Orthodox churches under the auspices of the World Council of Churches.