Böcker av Robin (University of Kent Gill

Many would agree that human perfection is unattainable. Yet depictions of human perfection are widespread. Examining both secular culture and the New Testament, Robin Gill explores this paradox. Gill argues that Synoptic accounts of the Transfiguration offer a Christian understanding of perfection with important implications for social ethics.

This 1999 book examines evidence about church communities, showing that churchgoers are distinctive in their attitudes, beliefs and behaviour. However, these are shared by many non-churchgoers as well. The distinctiveness of church communities in the modern world is thus real but relative, and is central to Christian ethics.

How can Christian ethics contribute significantly to health care ethics in today's Western, pluralistic society? Gill explores the healing stories in the Synoptic Gospels, identifying four core virtues present within them - compassion, care, faith and humility - that might bring greater depth to a purely secular interpretation of health care ethics.