Love and Conflict: A Covenantal Model of Christian Ethics

In Love and Conflict, Joseph L. Allen offers an understanding of Christian ethics that centers around the idea of covenant. First, Allen interprets human relationships as covenantal; and second, he proposes covenant love, patterned after God's steadfast love, as the basic moral standard. Love and Conflict proposes covenant love as the central theme in Christian ethics and argues that the reality of conflict is a significant factor in ethical dilemmas—a factor often overlooked in proposed standards of conduct. In attempting to identify priorities among various claims, Allen adds an important feature to Love and Conflict by distinguishing four types of moral conflict. He also discusseds the interrelation of love and conflict in marriage, political community, and church. Originally published in 1984 by Abingdon Press.