Religious Studies

Table of Contents - 2009 - Volume 45, Issue 03  

Articles

Kierkegaard and divine-command theory: replies to Quinn and Evans

R. ZACHARY MANISa1

a1 The Courts Redford College of Theology and Ministry, Southwest Baptist University, 1600 University Ave, Bolivar, MO 65613 e-mail: zmanis@sbuniv.edu

Abstract

One of the most important recent developments in the discussion of Kierkegaard's ethics is an interpretation defended, in different forms, by Philip Quinn and Stephen Evans. Both argue that a divine-command theory of moral obligation (DCT) is to be found in Works of Love. Against this view, I argue that, despite significant overlap between DCT and the view of moral obligation found in Works of Love, there is at least one essential difference between the two: the former, but not the latter, is committed to the claim that, necessarily, p is morally obligatory only if God commands that p.