ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on the making of Christian morality, one of the great moral traditions in world history. It follows the convention of using the term 'morality' of moral practice and discourse relating directly to it, while ethics is reserved for secondary reflection on morality. Thus while a study such as this is part of ethical enquiry, its subject-matter is the developing moral ethos of the early Christian communities. The book presents the problems of the historical approach is thus to determine how the diachronic progression should be described. Primary evidence reflecting the ethos of the early faith communities is clearly of great importance, and this ethos cannot be studied without reference to historical and contextual factors. The synchronic approach lends itself to a theological and life-related appraisal of the moral dimension of the New Testament.
