SACRIFICIAL AGAPE AND GROUP SELECTION IN CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN CHRISTIANITY

Author: Tillman, J. Jeffrey

Source: Zygon, Volume 43, Number 3, September 2008 , pp. 541-556(16)

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Abstract:

Human altruistic behavior has received a great deal of scientific attention over the past forty years. Altruistic-like behaviors found among insects and animals have illumined certain human behaviors, and the revival of interest in group selection has focused attention on how sacrificial altruism, although not adaptive for individuals, can be adaptive for groups. Curiously, at the same time that sociobiology has placed greater emphasis on the value of sacrificial altruism, Protestant ethics in America has moved away from it. While Roman Catholic ethics has a longstanding tradition emphasizing an ordering of love, placing love of self second only to love for God, Protestant ethics in America has adopted a similar stance only recently, replacing a strong sacrificial ethic with one focusing on mutual regard for self and others. If sociobiology is correct about the significance of sacrificial altruistic behaviors for the survival of communities, this shift away from sacrificial agape by American Christianity may cut the community off from important resources for the development of a global ethic crucial for the survival of that faith community and humankind itself.

Keywords: agape; altruism; Christian love; evolutionary ethics group selection; Protestant ethics; sacrifice; sociobiology

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9744.2008.00937.x

Affiliations: 1: Professor of Philosophy and Religion, Wayland Baptist University, Wichita Falls, Texas. His address is 4423 Old Windthorst Rd., Wichita Falls, TX 76310.

Publication date: 2008-09-01