Moral Theology Research Articles

Bootcamp for our Consciences around Race: Reflections for my Sister/Brother White Catholics

In 2020, it is clear that racism must be a moral priority for white American Catholics, as for all white Americans. To face racism maturely, our consciences need more robust formation than we received as children preparing for First Reconciliation—or as adolescents at Confirmation, when we were instructed that we must be prepared to act boldly to defend our commitment to Christ. One way to build a racially-mature conscience is to seek feedback from anti-racism accountability partners, as the author did. Another is to explore the distinction in Catholic moral theology between invincible and vincible ignorance—what we can know and what we cannot—in order to discern whether an action or inaction is moral. Much of what liberal whites claim we can’t know without input from Blacks is readily available if we have ears to hear.

Reflections on Veritatis splendor

The encyclical Veritatis splendor represented a renewal of moral theology in the spirit of Vatican Council II. Pope St. John Paul II emphasized Gospel teaching in light of the Old Testament, reiterating the animating role of the Holy Spirit in the New Law. Properly understood, the New Law is not a code of obligations, but a dynamic life of charity made intelligible through grace and the natural law. As a primary connection between human beings and divine law, natural law inclines persons toward the good, thus providing an apprehensible link between human freedom and objective truth—enabling us to determine what is good and evil. This understanding of judgment provides a corrective for theological trends toward proportionalism and consequentialism.

III

III John S. Grabowski Mark S. Massa utilizes Thomas Kuhn's model of paradigm revolution and replacement in the history of modern science to offer a novel reading of modern Catholic natural law theory. The various paradigms of natural law do not betray linear, organic development as much as wholesale replacement of competing accounts as each sought [End Page 70] to explain better the anomalies of the reigning paradigm and the "data" of lived moral experience, the complexity of which always exceeds the ability of any one model to capture. Certainly, this Kuhnian lens yields insights into the inadequacy of what Massa calls the Neo-scholastic paradigm in the face of the twentieth century crisis of Catholic moral reasoning before and after Humanae Vitae. Yet one cannot help but wish that the landscape was surveyed more widely both historically and analytically. The use of Lonergan's account of "historical consciousness" to outline the overturning of the "classicism" of modern Catholic moral theology can have an ahistorical ring insofar as this language fails to acknowledge its own embeddedness in a historical tradition with its roots in Hegel, Vico, and others. It also tends to create an unfortunate binary in regard to method—either one is classicist or "historically conscious"—as if there were no other alternatives. Something like Alasdair MacIntyre's account of dialogue within and among rival historical traditions seems to offer a more sophisticated approach to this history without smoothing away Massa's sharp Kuhnian edges of disagreement. Another set of problems is posed by Massa's decision to focus on what he calls the "micro-tradition" of natural law. This can create the impression that natural law is a sufficient or stand-alone methodology for Christian moral reasoning and the language of virtue or scripture is an afterthought or add on. In regard to some of the thinkers he engages (e.g., the proportionalism of Richard McCormick or the new natural law of Germain Grisez), this might be fair. But certainly, Jean Porter gives significant weight to the language of virtue in her "robust realist" recovery of Thomas and Lisa Sowle Cahill spends a significant amount of time wrestling with the biblical witness in constructing her pragmatic, cross-culturally capable, feminist ethic. And beyond these figures, much of the work of post-conciliar renewal has been precisely in a deeper engagement with biblical theology and virtue theory. When it comes to the Angelic Doctor himself whom Massa sees as the font of the many paradigms he surveys, the problem is even more pronounced. It is worth considering that while the Summa Theologiae devotes a mere question to natural law (I–II, q. 94), the language of virtue (and opposing vices) occupies much more space within the prima secundae and virtually all of the secunda secundae. Further, Aquinas's entire account of virtue is situated within a deeply biblical account of creation and salvation history. The effort to construct an entire moral system on the basis of natural law is simply foreign to Thomas. In the end Massa's reading is interesting, but the lens too narrow. Catholic moral theology—medieval or modern—cannot be reduced to a [End Page 71] dispute over the most adequate accounts of natural law without significant distortion. John S. Grabowski The Catholic University of America Copyright © 2020 American Catholic Historical Society

АКСІОЛОГІЧНІ КОНЦЕПЦІЇ КАТОЛИЦЬКИХ ФІЛОСОФІВ ХХСТ.: Д. ФОН ГІЛЬДЕБРАНД І Т. ШЛІПКО

Understanding of values and attitude towards them have always been an object of interest for religious thinkers. For many centuries, Catholic moral theology has formed and tried to justify a kind of teaching about absolute and objective values that regulate human behavior. In 20 th century this task did not lose its importance for philosophers who used new methodologies and improved conceptions of personality. D. von Hildebrand and T. Ślipko were among them. The German phenomenologist D. von Hildebrand developed an original conception of three categories of the important, which helped him explain the feature of person to be motivated to act by objects with completely different properties. He distinguishes between subjectively satisfying, objectively important and important in itself or value. At the same time, D. von Hildebrand focuses on value as a category of the important, which requires a special, regulated by morality attitude of the person. His idea of response to something important in the object shows person as a free and active subject who is responsible for his or her relations with reality. Polish Thomist T. Ślipko sees value as a specific category of reality, which is objective, but is experienced subjectively. Value for him is a pattern according to which a person is called to improve his or her humanity. T. Ślipko distinguishes between absolute values (including moral) and relative ones, which are created by people in history and are changeable. The end of person's existence, in his opinion, is self-improvement, the development of oneself as a subject capable of recognizing values-patterns and changing oneself according to them. Both D. von Hildebrand and T. Ślipko emphasize the connection between the value and personal spheres. Both philosophers are true to the traditional Catholic moral teaching and personalist principles. The contribution of D. von Hildebrand and T. Ślipko to axiology is important for those Catholic thinkers who are trying in practice to solve in a Christian way complex moral problems of our time.

The Beatitudes, Merit, and the Pursuit of Happiness in the Prima Secundae: The Action of the Holy Spirit at the Heart of Moral Theology

The Beatitudes, Merit, and the Pursuit of Happiness in the Prima Secundae: The Action of the Holy Spirit at the Heart of Moral Theology

Journal of Moral Theology, Special Issue on Contingency and Catholic Colleges, edited by Matthew J. Gaudet and James Keenan, S.J.

Journal of Moral Theology, Special Issue on Contingency and Catholic Colleges, edited by Matthew J. Gaudet and James Keenan, S.J.

THE PERIPHERIES AND THE EUCHARIST: POPE FRANCIS, THE TEOLOGÍA DEL PUEBLO, AND THE CONVERSION OF CATHOLIC BIOETHICS

Moral theologians in the US have been engaged in an ongoing conversation that attempts to predict what effect — if any — the papacy of Pope Francis will have on the field of Catholic bioethics. The many predictions fail to appreciate the full power of Francis’ deeply sacramental and ecclesial vision. In­formed by Vatican II and the Argentinian teología del pueblo, Pope Francis locates the sacramental work of Christ in two constantly interacting poles — the Eucharist and the peripheries. Via Pope Francis, these poles become recursively interactive twin starting points for the conversion of Catholic bioethics.

The main stages of Roman law assimilation into European jurisprudence

Предпринята попытка систематизации основных этапов проникновения основ римского права в юридические концепции европейских государств, происходящего с момента их зарождения в конце XII в. до начала их сведения в национальные кодифицированные акты в XVIII в. Отмечается, что в этот период в европейских университетах и других научных школах наблюдалось преобладание преподавания римского права, в том числе Свода гражданского права (Corpus iuris civilis) – Дигестов Юстиниана, ставших основным текстом для проведения юридических исследований. Особое внимание уделено периоду между возникновением первых университетов в странах континентальной Европы и разработкой в XVIII в. национальных кодифицированных правовых актов.

KARL MARX E A DOUTRINA SOCIAL DA IGREJA: RELAÇÕES E DIFERENÇAS FUNDAMENTAIS

Catolicismo e Marxismo são tão antagônicos assim? Existe algum ele­mento em comum? Esse debate vem ocupando historiadores e acadêmicos desde a publicação de Rerum Novarum e do pensamento de Karl Marx, que irrompem como reação à Revolução industrial conduzida pela economia de mercado do capitalismo. O artigo descreve, primeiramente, seus pontos de contato: origem cronológica e motivação comum; a exploração do proletariado e a centralidade do trabalho humano. Em seguida, expõe as duas diferenças fundamentais: o marxismo como teoria crítica da economia política e a Doutrina social da Igreja como teologia moral. Quanto ao objetivo: em Marx é alcançar a sociedade comu­nista sem classes. O objetivo da DSI é auxiliar os cristãos a viver a esperança no Reino de Deus, antecipando sua realidade em sinais concretos na história. Em terceiro lugar, o texto aborda os recentes sinais de aproximação entre os dois. Marxismo e Doutrina Social da Igreja continuam atuais.

Habermas and the Question of Bioethics

In The Future of Human Nature, Jürgen Habermas raises the question of whether the embryonic genetic diagnosis and genetic modification threatens the foundations of the species ethics that underlies current understandings of morality. While morality, in the normative sense, is based on moral interactions enabling communicative action, justification, and reciprocal respect, the reification involved in the new technologies may preclude individuals to uphold a sense of the undisposability (Unverfügbarkeit) of human life and the inviolability (Unantastbarkeit) of human beings that is necessary for their own identity as well as for reciprocal relations. Engaging with liberal bioethics and Catholic approaches to bioethics, the article clarifies how Habermas’ position offers a radical critique of liberal autonomy while maintaining its postmetaphysical stance. The essay argues that Habermas’ approach may guide the question of rights of future generations regarding germline gene editing. But it calls for a different turn in the conversation between philosophy and theology, namely one that emphasizes the necessary attention to rights violations and injustices as a common, postmetaphysical starting point for critical theory and critical theology alike. In 2001, Jürgen Habermas published a short book on questions of biomedicine that took many by surprise.[1] To some of his students, the turn to a substantive position invoking the need to comment on a species ethics rather than outlining a public moral framework was seen as the departure from the “path of deontological virtue,”[2] and at the same time a departure from postmetaphysical reason. Habermas’ motivation to address the developments in biomedicine had certainly been sparked by the intense debate in Germany, the European Union, and internationally on human cloning, pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, embryonic stem cell research, and human enhancement. He turned to a strand of critical theory that had been pushed to the background by the younger Frankfurt School in favor of cultural theory and social critique, even though it had been an important element of its initial working programs. The relationship of instrumental reason and critical theory, examined, among others, by Max Horkheimer, Theodor W. Adorno, and Herbert Marcuse and taken up in Habermas’ own Knowledge and Interest and Theory of Communicative Action became ever-more actual with the development of the life sciences, human genome analysis, and genetic engineering of human offspring. Today, some of the fictional scenarios discussed at the end of the last century as “science fiction” have become reality: in 2018, the first “germline gene-edited” children were born in China.[3] Furthermore, the UK’s permission to create so-called “three-parent” children may create a legal and political pathway to hereditary germline interventions summarized under the name of “gene editing.”In this article, I want to explore Habermas’ “substantial” argument in the hope that (moral) philosophy and (moral) theology become allies in their struggle against an ever-more reifying lifeworld, which may create a “moral void” that would, at least from today’s perspective, be “unbearable” (73), and for upholding the conditions of human dignity, freedom, and justice. I will contextualize Habermas’ concerns in the broader discourse of bioethics, because only by doing this, his concerns are rescued from some misinterpretations.[1] Jürgen Habermas, The Future of Human Nature (Cambridge, UK: Polity, 2003).[2] Ibid., 125, fn. 58. 8[3] Up to the present, no scientific publication of the exact procedure exists, but it is known that the scientist, Jiankui He, circumvented the existing national regulatory framework and may have misled the prospective parents about existing alternatives and the unprecedented nature of his conduct. Yuanwu Ma, Lianfeng Zhang, and Chuan Qin, "The First Genetically Gene‐Edited Babies: It's “Irresponsible and Too Early”," Animal Models and Experimental Medicine (2019); Matthias Braun, Meacham, Darian, "The Trust Game: Crispr for Human Germline Editing Unsettles Scientists and Society," EMBO reports 20, no. 2 (2019).

From Vatican II to Amoris Laetitia: The Catholic Social and Sexual Ethics Division and A Way of Ecclesial Interconnection

This paper navigates the development of ethical issues during Vatican II and the impulse to develop a new moral theology just after the Council. This paper argues, on one hand, thatGaudium et Spesdevelops a new moral theology based on the imperative of conscience mediated by faith in issues of social ethics. On the other hand, the old moral orientation was preserved on sexual ethics. After the council, these two moral faces have led magisterial teaching to two different paths that can be seen chronologically in approaches used for issues of social and sexual ethics. Vatican II encouraged a new moral theology, visible in social ethics in the years immediately following the Council. But the same spirit was not embraced by the Magisterium on issues of sexuality until the publication of Amoris Laetitiawith its ecclesiology of pastoral discernment.

Casuística nos Trópicos: a pragmática teológico-moral de Francisco Rodrigues na Ásia portuguesa (séculos XVI e XVII)

A partir da década de 1550 e especialmente a partir do fim do Concílio de Trento, os esforços de padronização litúrgica, doutrinária e dogmática da igreja foram sentidos no império português e nas suas franjas através de uma crescente preocupação com dilemas morais. A atuação de teólogos da Companhia de Jesus de Goa foi fundamental para a resolução destas questões na Ásia. Identificando limites da teologia moral europeia, o presente artigo analisa o legado de um destes teólogos, Francisco Rodrigues, localizando sua influência e alcance através da análise filológica dos seus escritos. Propõe-se a definição da casuística teológico-moral de Goa como categoria de classificação para este corpus textual, caracterizado pelo estabelecimento de uma teologia moral desatrelada do contexto europeu, visando a aplicação de soluções para os casos morais da região e o favorecimento da conversão e da manutenção da fé.

À la recherche de la liberté humaine. Débat contemporainchrétien sur la liberté

Reflection on human freedom will remain a constant motive for reflection in moral theology. Without freedom, there is no human act, so there is no morality in the strict sense of the term “freedom”. That is why it is worth returning to the issue of freedom, but taking into account new ways of understanding it. Freedom will remain a current problem in the struggle of man for good, especially in social life. For Christian thought on this subject, the encyclical of John Paul II Veritatis splendor will remain relevant – read it again.

The International Union of Social Studies of Malines and the Catholic Cultural Turn

Abstract The present article argues that the unexpected end of the Union de Malines’ Code de morale culturelle, an international collaboration of prominent twentieth-century Catholic moral theologians, should be attributed to three shifts in Catholic Social Teaching, only the first two of which the Union de Malines managed to undergo: from scholastic hegemony to theological diversity, from social doctrine to personalism, and from a juridical style of writing to a humanistic one. Particularly this last shift, introduced by the Second Vatican Council, proved to be a too big a leap for the Union, understood as a ‘little social tradition,’ to take. The cultural turn, which the Union de Malines had in fact anticipated, proved by the end of the council to belong to the future.

Book Review: Curran, Charles: Diverse Voices in Modern U.S. Moral Theology

Book Review: Curran, Charles: Diverse Voices in Modern U.S. Moral Theology

After Vatican II and Veritatis splendor: Five Moral Theology Textbooks

Pedagogy in moral theology follows some of the particular concerns Catholic theologians have had since the Second Vatican Council as well as the aftermath of John Paul II’s encyclical on moral theology, Veritatis splendor. Most of the textbooks reviewed here teach virtue, Christian practice, and Thomas Aquinas’s theology, as largely positive responses to the Council and John Paul II. Catholic moral theology thus appears as a relatively stable field, though the authors use multiple approaches. There are, however, some moral theologians offering alternative perspectives on moral theology. One book reviewed here contends with Humanae vitae and resists both Thomas Aquinas’s authoritative voice and Veritatis splendor’s argument against proportionalist thought. The textbooks offer a range of pedagogical tools for varying student levels. Two of the overall gaps in the field, as indicated by these textbooks, might be more direct engagement with Scripture, and a proper locating of Catholic social teaching within moral theology.

Peter H. Sedgwick, The Origins of Anglican Moral Theology

Peter H. Sedgwick, <i>The Origins of Anglican Moral Theology</i>

Teologia moralna wobec wyzwań współczesności

Teologia moralna jest dyscypliną teologiczną, która zajmuje się moralnością czynów ludzkich w świetle Objawienia Bożego. Do jej uprawiania potrzebny jest rozum kierowany przez wiarę, co oznacza, że poza argumentacją ściśle teologiczną, posługuje się ona także argumentami rozumowymi. Teologia moralna, będąc nauką teologiczną, formułuje zasady postępowania dotyczące różnych dziedzin ludzkiego życia i jest jednocześnie otwarta na aktualne uwarunkowania ludzkich czynów. Wychodzi naprzeciw wyzwaniom, jakie niesie ze sobą postęp naukowy, techniczny i cywilizacyjny. Dziś w epoce postmodernizmu dominuje tendencja sprowadzania wszelkiego sądu do indywidualnej oceny, do przedkładania jej ponad obiektywną prawdę. To skutkuje niekiedy odrywaniem moralnych rozstrzygnięć od doktrynalnych fundamentów Kościoła i zbytnim skupianiem się nad skomplikowaną etycznie sytuacją człowieka. Teologia moralna stanowi taką dziedzinę wiedzy, która jakby z natury swej domaga się ciągłej odnowy i nowej, pogłębionej refleksji nad moralnymi zagadnieniami życia człowieka. Tak zresztą było w historii tej dyscypliny i tak dzieje się dzisiaj.

ПРОБЛЕМИ СИСТЕМАТИЗАЦІЇ БОГОСЛОВСЬКОЇ ТЕРМІНОЛОГІЇ В ОСВІТНЬОМУ ПРОЦЕСІ

The establishment of theology as an academic discipline raises the question of the normalization of its lexical means.Ukrainian religious vocabulary as a whole, and, in particular, its certain lexical-semantic groups referred to as “religious terms”, “church terms”, “sacred terms”, “theological terms” and others based on a subject matter, have been the subject of many linguistic studies. Of particular interest to this research are the studies focused on theological terms in the area of their usage – theological (liturgical) practice and corresponding theological texts. For instance, N.V. Puriaieva gave a characterization of the usage of the Ukrainian language in the liturgical practice of Ukrainian churches, problems of a sacred language, and the vocabulary of church service terms; B. Ogulchanskiy studied the development of Ukrainian theological terms in liturgical and theological texts from the Art Nouveau period to the present. Nevertheless, the development of theological education in Ukraine makes it important to standardize theological terms used in the education process.Considering certain historical factors, religious studies still have a great influence on the interpretation of religious concepts in the scientific community. This discipline uses the more standardized approaches allowing to use them for applied research. For example, religious studies distinguish the following beliefs about God withing theology: Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist theology, etc. Christianity is divided into Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant theology. Eastern Orthodoxy includes apologetic theology (apologetics), biblical theology, dogmatic theology, moral or practical theology, comparative theology, etc.Compared to religious studies, the term “theology” lacks consistency in theological sources.The study and understanding of sacred texts and eminent theologians’ commentaries to them have been one of the main theological methods from the earliest times. These texts vary among confessions and even withing one church, which is especially common for Eastern Christianity.In our opinion, this analysis points to the reason for the incoherency of the modern theological terms and outlines the possible ways of eliminating it which is essential not only for theological practice but also for theological education.

Heritage of the Professor of the Kyiv Theological Academy Vasyliy Ekzempliarskiy as a Prologue to the History of the Domestic “Public Theology”

The article is dedicated to the intellectual history of the early twentieth centuryof the Kyiv Theological Academy. In the years of the First Russian Revolution (1905-1907) in the Kyiv Theological Academy was formed a liberal party of professors. They were advocating the idea of a reform of theological education system. In particular, the reformers called for the democratization of the inner life of the theological academies, for the academies autonomy in relation to the power of the bishops, and for the election of higher administrative positions in the academies. In addition, liberal professors tried to find new ways of Orthodox theology developing. They advocated the approximation of theology to the needs of the present, for overcoming the closeness and scholasticity of academic theology. One of the brightest representatives of this ideological course was the professor of the Kyiv Theological Academy Vasiliy Ekzemplyarskiy (1875-1933). In teaching moral theology, he tried to discuss with the students the actual social problems.In his publications in the 1905-1912, one can see the seeds of what is now called “public theology”. In particular, his program articles were dedicated to the problem of the morality of international politics and the problem of the death penalty. A wide resonance was caused by his article devoted to the comparison of the social doctrine of St. John Chrysostom and Leo Tolstoy. The views expressed in this article caused the discontent of the church leadership. In particular, Ekzemplyarskiy here severely condemned the “official” theology, which, in his opinion, tried to justify the non-Christian actions of the state through biblical arguments. As a result, in 1912, Ekzemplyarskii was dismissed from the Academy and was able to return to teaching only after the February Revolution, 1917. In connection with further revolutionary upheavals, the ideas of professor Ekzemplyarskiy, unfortunately, did not develop. Nevertheless, the legacy of Vasiliy Ekzemplyarskiy was an important prologue to the formation of domestic “public theology”.