Includes bibliographical references (p. 163-165) and index.

Part I: Starting points -- Some decisions are easier than others. Easy decisions ; More difficult decisions ; Moral dilemmas -- The deep basis of the moral life. Practical decision-making ; Why ethics is ultimately religious ; Acceptable and unacceptable forms of revelation ; The useful incompleteness of religious tradition ; Moral virtue and character ; Intuition and deliberation in moral decision-making -- The absolute and the relative in moral life. Have we become too relativistic? ; The natural-law approach ; God as the absolute ; Facts and values ; Individual integrity and communal authority ; The transcendent absolute ; Rules and relationships -- The moral burden of proof. A legal analogy ; Applying the idea of "presumption" to ethical decision-making ; Moral presumptions as a common starting point -- Basic moral presumptions. Uses of Scripture ; Positive Christian value presumptions ; The limits and flaws in human nature ; Presumptions that preserve balance ; A presumption for Scripture and tradition ; When presumptions are in conflict -- Part II: Applications and illustrations -- Difficult personal decisions. Sexual intimacy and family life ; Contraception and abortion ; Choosing a spouse ; Divorce ; Vocational choices ; The uses of our money ; Political choices -- Hard choices in the public arena. Abortion ; Homosexuality ; The dilemma of "affirmative action" ; Securing economic justice ; Environmental policies ; Criminal justice ; Uses of military power -- Hard choices at the global level. International institution building ; International security and policing ; Nuclear disarmament ; Economic globalization ; Global warming -- Hard choices in communities of faith.