Formerly known as the "Annual of the Society of Christian Ethics, this is the second volume of the first year of appearing biannually in its new incarnation and an essential resource for students and faculty pursuing the latest developments in Christian and religious ethics. Contents include, "Ethics, Liberalism and the Law: Toward a Christian consideration of the Morality of Civil Law in Liberal Policies" by Joel James Schuman; "Mental Illness Is Missing--and Why This Matters to Bioethics" by Janet R. Nelson, "'A Threefold Cord Is Not Quickly Broken: ' Virtue, Law, and Ethics in the Talmud" by Dov Nelkin; "United States Welfare Policy in the New Millennium: Catholic Perspectives on What American Society has Learned about Low-Income Families" by Thomas Massaro, S.J.; "Journey Images and the Search for Reconciliation" by William Johnson Everett; "Locke, Martyrdom, and the Disciplinary Power of the Church" by Jennifer A. Herdt; "Should We Design Our Descendants?" by Audrey R. Chapman; "To Tell the Truth: will the Real Public Theology Please Stand Up?" by E. Harold Breitenberg, Jr.; and "After the Slippery Slope: Dutch Experiences on Regulating Active Euthanasia" by Theo A. Boer.

Christine E. Gudorf is professor of religious studies at Florida International University, the author of Body, Sex, and Pleasure: Reconstructing Christian Sexual Ethics, and coauthor of Christian Ethics: A Case Method Approach.

Paul Lauritzen is chairperson of the Department of Religious Studies and director of the Program in Applied Ethics at John Carroll University in Cleveland, and editor of Cloning and the Future of Human Embryo Research.