Book Reviews

In this brief, highly readable book, Ron Sisk defines a Christian approach to contemporary ethical issues that works. His selected topics and discussion prompts make the book useful for individual and group study. Chapter 9 alone is worth the price of the book!

—Rev. Dr. Michael Smith
Retired Pastor, Editor, and Writer
Knoxville, Tennessee

At a time when the church and its leaders are navigating ever more polarizing political and cultural landscapes, we all need this “ethical” road map more than ever. Ron boldly addresses some of the most crucial social and theological challenges of our day through the wise, thoughtful, and faithful lens of Christian ethics. More important than agreeing or disagreeing with any views shared in this book, the reader is invited into honest reflection and then left with a clear framework for continuing their own discernment. This book is a timely gift to the church and Christ’s disciples.

—Rev. Dr. Corey Nelson
Pastor, First Presbyterian Church of Fort Collins

Ron Sisk is right. We have lost our way in discerning right from wrong, truth from falsehood. This book points to a practical, rational, balanced way forward. It is a timely, practical, and necessary guide for our time.

—Dr. Loyd Allen
Emeritus Professor
McAfee School of Theology, Mercer University

How can we give our best response to the complex moral issues that confront us? Ron Sisk’s book Right and Wrong gives us a thoughtful way forward. Though I don’t agree with all he proposes, I do benefit from having engaged the rigors of his easy-to-read book.

—Leslie Hollon, PhD
Baptist Pastor, Ecumenical Leader, Traveler

Deeply learned yet remarkably accessible, this primer by a seasoned Christian ethicist and pastor Ron Sisk charts a focused agape pathway in a morally confusing epoch. He writes with perceptiveness in our religiously plural context, offering the admonition that “intelligence, science, curiosity, [and willingness] to work with the Holy Spirit” is the right approach. I recommend this as a constructive offering to adult faith formation groups, theological students, and all who seek helpful moral guidance in our fraught times.

—Dr. Molly T. Marshall
President, United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities

If you like to think, read, and have conversations about current issues and Christian moral values, I recommend Ron Sisk’s new pandemic memoir, Right and Wrong: Finding Values for the 21st Century. Sisk, a retired pastor and seminary ethics professor, wrote this book during the Covid pandemic as he was thinking about the connections between crucial social issues and making ethical decisions from a progressive Christian perspective. He brings his training in political science, American social history, and Christian ethics to his work with biblical interpretation, church, and culture.

Each chapter ends with questions for personal reflection and group conversations. I believe these conversations and studies will be most productive with people and in groups that have the knowledge, vocabulary, experience, and maturity that produce healthy discussions and fruitful actions.

—Ray Higgins
Retired Seminary Ethics Professor, Pastor, and
CBF Arkansas Executive Coordinator

Ron Sisk’s Right and Wrong has two major strengths. The first is the way it parses contemporary culture’s ethical challenges in the context of a commitment to classic Christian values rooted in agape. The second is its encouragement to pursue a way to think about ethical issues without attempting to mandate a singular response. Sisk’s method and content will remind readers of Rilke’s wise encouragement to “live the questions.”

—Richard F. Wilson
Emeritus Professor of Religion
Mercer University