Liberal scholarship did not shrink from the challenge of social ethics, which may be defined briefly as questions of ‘moral rightness and goodness in the shaping of human society’. Typically, it attempted a synthesis of Christian perspectives with those derived from secular disciplines in a quest for the highest corporate morality: hence appeal was made above all to principles and ideals. But it could also sponsor a prophetic dynamic much more closely related to the biblical tradition, and transcending anything that could be described as ‘the simple application of historical examples to contemporary problems’. Indeed, liberal scholars gradually absorbed perspectives from social science which enabled them to acquire some understanding of the importance of context, although they did not always recognise the extent to which their own views were shaped by society and its intellectual traditions in particular: witness their acceptance of the myth of progress, usually in the form of a theological rationalization.

The theological and philosophical background of social ethics is impressive.