Moral Theology Research Articles

Catholic Health Care Ethics: A Manual for Practitioners ed. by Edward J. Furton

Reviewed by: Catholic Health Care Ethics: A Manual for Practitioners ed. by Edward J. Furton Basil Cole O.P. Catholic Health Care Ethics: A Manual for Practitioners. Third Edition. Edited by Edward J. Furton. Philadelphia: Catholic Bioethics Center, 2020. Pp. xvii + 753. $49.95 (softcover). ISBN 978-0-935372-70-0. This work is not for beginners in the field of medical moral theology or Catholic bioethics. It presumes that one is already working in the medical field and knows some of the tools for appraising difficult moral questions about health. This reviewer can only indicate what he considers some highlights. This third edition contains studies by thirty-seven new authors, in addition to authors of the second edition whose articles were updated (to varying degrees). The volume consists of six parts with a total of thirty-nine chapters, some of which are divided into many subchapters written by different authors. Part I, "Foundational Principles," focuses on fundamental moral theology, with a new chapter on the Ethical and Religious Directives. Part II places new emphasis on "Health Care Ethics Services," and contains many articles on the importance of bioethical committees and consultation services for hospitals and dioceses. Part III addresses beginning-of life issues such as family planning. Part IV turns to end-of-life issues with some very deep reflections on determining death, care of the dying, advance directives, and solutions to controversies surrounding burial of corpses or the fetal remains of those who perished in the womb, whether by deliberate abortion or otherwise. Part V, "Selected Clinical Issues," attempts to unravel difficult problems, such as concerning organ donation and vaccination development based on previously aborted fetuses or human experimentation, and the interplay of patients with those who care for them. Finally, Part VI, titled "Institutional Issues," discusses, among other problems, the hospital care of newborns, collaborative work with other hospitals, conscientious objections, and gender dysphoria. Due to the size and scope of newer problems facing Catholic bioethics and healthcare, not all pertinent difficulties are, or could have been, included in this admittedly ample third edition. [End Page 493] What happened that such a large amount of bioethical thinking was needed in such a short period of time since the second edition, published in 2009? Scientific discoveries and medical cure and care advances remind us that some parts of ethical thinking are not absolute or stable because new dilemmas emerge, although the cardinal and theological virtues remain the same. Saint Thomas Aquinas, as well as common sense, teaches that one's first natural inclination that guides the desire for happiness is to remain and flourish in existence notwithstanding certain limitations such as illness and death (STh I-II, q. 94). This inclination is the basis for all healthcare and one of the first principles of bioethics. Medical decisions are governed by the principle of totality, that a part of the human body can be sacrificed for the survival and well-being of the whole (STh II-II, q. 65, a. 1). But in practice, medical decisions can be morally right or wrong insofar as they uphold or violate other principles of human flourishing. The order, or teleology, of human nature, knowable by reason and confirmed by divine revelation, contains standards, rules, precepts, and commands, not merely ideals, that indicate what kinds of medical behavior violate the moral domain of a person and the fundamental goods of human nature. Some medical interventions are wrong, not because the Church says so (as if they were simply edicts), but because certain natural goods are diminished, impeded, or harmed within the human person, thereby undermining the dignity of the human person as an image of God. While "autonomy," "beneficence," "nonmalfeasance," and "justice to others" are standard value words that today's hospitals apply to good health care for individuals, these notions do not define what is to be done in a clinical situation. The value of autonomy, for example, could lead a patient to desire something such as euthanasia, which violates the autonomy of the Catholic hospital and a doctor's conscience. Some systems of bioethics have added health maximalization, efficiency, and proportionality to the traditional principalism of Tom Beauchamp and...

U.S. Moral Theology from the Margins ed. by Charles E. Curran and Lisa A. Fullam

U.S. Moral Theology from the Margins ed. by Charles E. Curran and Lisa A. Fullam

Crime and Punishment: The Selected Tenets of the Decalogue in the Polish Television Series Ojciec Mateusz [Fr. Matthew

This article considers whether the popular Polish drama-crime television series Ojciec Mateusz [Father Matthew], which is directed by Maciej Dejczer and has been broadcast on TVP1 since 2008, prompts viewers to reflect on Christian moral norms. This research includes the fields of cultural studies and moral theology. From the point of view of moral theology, the theme of Ojciec Mateusz is the battle between good and evil, the basis of which is the tenets of the Decalogue. This study attempts to answer the questions: Is the religiosity hidden in this series, which does not assume the religiosity of the series’ viewers, evoke religious sentiments among those who believe? And, does the series affect the moral formation of those who do not believe?

Introduction

Introduction Thomas Rzeznik, Co-editor Introduction This year marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the publication of John T. McGreevy's Parish Boundaries: The Catholic Encounter with Race in the Twentieth-Century Urban North (University of Chicago Press, 1996). Still in print, the book remains one of the best-known works in American Catholic history. Cited extensively by scholars beyond Catholic studies, it has had significant influence on our understanding of the history of U.S. race relations and urban community life. It made making a convincing case for why an understanding of Catholic faith and culture matters, challenging those who might not otherwise have paid much attention to Catholics and their parochial affairs to take a closer look. To mark this anniversary, American Catholic Studies invited five accomplished scholars to reflect on McGreevy's work in light of their own research and specializations. They were asked to consider how the work reads now, twenty-five years later. What are its enduring contributions or potential limitations? How has it shaped our understanding of American Catholicism and what research is still needed? At a time of renewed racial reckoning within the church and society, does it continue to speak to us today? Participating in this forum are Dr. Matthew J. Cressler of the College of Charleston, a religious studies scholar interested in the intersection of religion and race; Dr. Thomas Sugrue of New York University, an expert on urban history and the civil rights movement; Dr. Deborah Kanter of Albion College, who has recently written about [End Page 1] the history of Mexican American Catholics in Chicago; Dr. Stephen Koeth, CSC, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Notre Dame, whose research examines the Catholic shift to the suburbs in the post-World War II period; and Dr. Craig Ford of St. Norbert College, a moral theologian with interests in critical race theory and racial justice. Their essays are followed by a response from John McGreevy, professor of history at the University of Notre Dame. We are grateful to these scholars for agreeing to be part of this forum, which had initially been planned as a roundtable for the American Catholic Historical Association's annual meeting this past January. But as with so many other events of the past year and a half, the gathering was cancelled on account of the Covid-19 pandemic. We are pleased that they accepted our invitation to adapt their planned remarks for publication here. [End Page 2] Copyright © 2021 American Catholic Historical Society

IN THE NAME OF "STRAIGHT CONDUCT", MUTUAL HELP, HONEST INDUSTRY AND PEACEFUL COEXISTENCE: REFLECTIONS ON INSTRUCTION AND MORAL EDUCATION (1824-1827)

Abstract In this article, I explore part of Silva Lisboa’s production, where he reinforces state religion and the articulation between science and revelation, a condition to reach a “higher stage”, whose best example could be seen in Great Britain. In my view, with the Constitution of the Brazilian Empire, it was necessary to outline the grounds for a straight conduct, thus associating moral science and theology as a strategy to fight the catechisms of libertinism.

Den Tod studieren. Moraltheologe Rupert M. Scheule über den Master „Perimortale Wissenschaften“

They are an integral part of life, yet many people avoid the topics of dying, death and mourning. All the more remarkable, then, that the University of Regensburg has been offering a master's degree program since the 2020/21 winter semester that explicitly addresses these existential areas. The course of study "Perimortal Sciences: dying, death and mourning interdisciplinary" is unique in Germany. It is led by Rupert M. Scheule, Professor of Moral Theology, who also helped develop the concept. He related to Petra Hemmelmann, editor of Communicatio Socialis, who decides for this unusual course of study, their reasons for doing so and what the students learn and discuss there.

Bound for Beatitude: A Thomistic Study in Eschatology and Ethics by Reinhard Hütter

Reviewed by: Bound for Beatitude: A Thomistic Study in Eschatology and Ethics by Reinhard Hütter Gideon Barr Bound for Beatitude: A Thomistic Study in Eschatology and Ethics by Reinhard Hütter (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2019), 492 pp. In Bound for Beatitude: A Thomistic Study in Eschatology and Ethics, Reinhard Hütter undertakes to "recapitulate, from a Thomist perspective and in critical dialogue with the late-modern philosophical and theological context, the primordial human vocation to the beatific vision" (387). In this recapitulation, Hütter seeks to recover for contemporary theology both a "sound teleological orientation" and the "privileged instrumentality of metaphysics" by means of an explication and defense of Saint Thomas's theology of beatitude and the virtues (2). With insight and sensitivity into the sources and expressions of the contemporary intellectual and spiritual malaise that incapacitates the lasting achievement of both natural and supernatural happiness, Bound of Beatitude hits the mark as a contemporary ressourcement in Thomistic moral theology. The nine chapters of the book are collected together from articles and lectures previously presented and published but are bookended by a prologue and epilogue that are new and substantial and give the book its unity. For this reason, however, the organization makes for an unusual experience for the reader (the prologue and epilogue make up, save the first chapter, the lengthiest sections of the book). In some ways, the book is organized as a study in Thomistic ethics set between a study in Thomistic eschatology. The prologue and first chapter, which substantially treat the first five questions of Summa theologiae [ST] I-II and a metaphysical study of the finality of the created intellect, respectively, begin considerations that are not taken up again until the final chapter, on Marian exemplarity, and the epilogue, on the beatific vision. The extremities of the book thus take up the principle eschatological concerns, while the central chapters largely treat particular virtues under the formality of the distinction between the journey of the viator and the attainment of the comprehensor. Following Saint Thomas, who notes at the outset of the prima secundae that "the end is the rule of whatever is ordained to the end," Hütter uses the prologue to introduce elements of the formality of the end. It is Hütter's contention that a careful reading of Saint Thomas's Treatise on Happiness [End Page 979] (ST I-II, qq. 1–5) will do much to affect a ressourcement of the Thomistic theology of beatitude amidst contemporary anthropocentric views of human happiness. Hütter's treatment of these questions, which contain Saint Thomas's synthesis of Christian eschatology and Aristotelian ethics, is tremendously valuable and worth the reader's serious attention. This Thomistic synthesis resituates the viator's pursuit of happiness beyond an intra-mundane state of existential appreciation for the goods of this world, and rather upon a participation in divine happiness, in which resides the superabundant and surpassing plenitude of perfection sought in any object of earthly beatitude, accessible to our understanding only analogically. Crucially, by refocusing the attention in the pursuit of happiness upon a vision of the divine essence, the viator does not leave behind the promise of integral human happiness, insofar as "every genuine created good … is entailed in divine happiness, the possession of the perfect good" (13). This is a foundational judgment which allows Saint Thomas to likewise affirm the priority of the intellective vision for perfect happiness. In presenting this and other insights and attentively reading Saint Thomas, Hütter forcefully rearticulates the participatory, intellective, and theocentric character of human beatitude in response to modern objections. In the first chapter, the longest of the interior chapters, on the finality of the created intellect or the question of the right articulation of the natural desire for the vision of God, Hütter undertakes to re-explicate the instrumental and indispensable role of metaphysics in sacra doctrina in relation to final human beatitude. Along these lines, Hütter presents a lengthy defense of the principle of finality in order to properly undergird his discussion of the finality of the rational agent in nature and grace, safeguarding the real...

Knowledge of the “Pragmatici”: Legal and Moral Theological Literature and the Formation of Early Modern Ibero-America. Thomas Duve and Otto Danwerth, eds. Max Planck Studies in Global Legal History of the Iberian Worlds 1. Leiden: Brill, 2020. xiv + 382 pp. €94.

Knowledge of the “Pragmatici”: Legal and Moral Theological Literature and the Formation of Early Modern Ibero-America. Thomas Duve and Otto Danwerth, eds. Max Planck Studies in Global Legal History of the Iberian Worlds 1. Leiden: Brill, 2020. xiv + 382 pp. €94. - Volume 74 Issue 3

From Moral Theology to Moral Philosophy: Cicero and Visions of Humanity from Locke to Hume by Tim Stuart-Buttle

From Moral Theology to Moral Philosophy: Cicero and Visions of Humanity from Locke to Hume by Tim Stuart-Buttle

Recenzja monografii Piotra Alexandrowicza Kanonistyczne uzasadnienie swobody umów w zachodniej tradycji prawnej. Poznań: Wydawnictwo Naukowe UAM, 2020, stron 333

Review of Piotr Alexandrowicz’s Book Canonistic Justification of Freedom of Contract in the Western Legal Tradition. Poznań: Wydawnictwo Naukowe UAM, 2020,333 Pages The inspiring monograph of Piotr Alexandrowicz entitled “Canonistic Justification of Freedom of Contract in the Western Legal Tradition” clearly shows that the true creators of freedom of contract were not ancient Roman jurists or emperors, but medieval canonists. Based on Christian moral theology, they built the unique doctrine of obligations without which it is quite difficult to imagine contemporary legal transactions. Their thought was subsequently taken up and further developed by modern thinkers.

Are Immortalized Cell Lines Artifacts?

Recent magisterial teaching suggests that Catholics should prefer COVID-19 vaccines in which immortalized cells derived from the remains of aborted fetuses did not play a role in production, even though all of them can be licitly used. Many scholars contest any distinction between the different vaccines, in part by arguing that these cell lines have become artifacts. This argument is inadequate on a number of levels. First, these scholars have not sufficiently proven the point that the cell lines become artifacts through biotechnological manipulation. Second, considering cell lines as mere artifacts commodifies them in a way that is rejected even by secular authors. Third, this mode of commodification reinforces the technocratic paradigm. Finally, embracing this commodification of cell lines will prevent moral theology from properly judging other aspects of the growing bioeconomy. These arguments suggest that distinguishing between different vaccines remains the most appropriate course.

The Vision of God: Kenneth Kirk – a critical appreciation

A critical assessment of Bishop Kenneth Kirk’s classic book The Vision of God and its reception within, and influence upon, Anglican moral theology.

Using Abortion-Derived Vaccines: A Moral Analysis

Using Abortion-Derived Vaccines: A Moral Analysis* Ezra Sullivan O.P. and Leon Kuriakos Pereira** O.P. Introduction: Object of This Study “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly,” said Jesus Christ (John 10:10), who offers eternal life through union with him by divine grace.1 In the words of John Paul II, this is the “Gospel of Life” which proclaims the inherent dignity of each human life “from its very beginning to its end”—a dignity that every person sincerely open to truth and goodness can recognize. All are called to “affirm the right of every human being to have this primary good respected to the highest degree,” for, the Pope explained, “upon the recognition of this right, every human community and the political community itself are founded.”2 In the past year (2020–2021), the biological and spiritual life of nearly the entire world has been negatively affected by the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) virus, whether directly or indirectly, sometimes in devastating ways. Media provided daily updates about infection rates and death-counts, about rising debt levels, about government-mandated measures including incarceration of citizens within their homes and, more recently, the diffusion [End Page 1011] of vaccines for a majority of citizens. These vaccines are a source of hope for many. Camus, in his psychologically astute novel The Plague (1947), describes how citizens shut up for months by an epidemic longed to leave the confines of their municipality. For a time, guards would gun down anyone who tried to escape. But when the plague had run its course and claimed numerous lives, the gates of the town finally opened and the people jubilantly rejoined long-separated loved ones. In our day, many see the whole world like Camus’s disease-stricken town and many hope that safe vaccines will open the gates of their lockdown and provide a passport to a healthier world. Tens of millions have already received vaccines for COVID-19, and hundreds of millions, if not billions, are slated to do so. Vaccine use has provoked controversy however. For years, some vaccines have been designed, developed and produced using cells derived from aborted fetuses. Many vaccines for COVID-19 have followed suit. Large numbers of Catholics and other people of good will are in a state of perplexed conscience, not knowing what course of action is morally acceptable. Even worse, they are not receiving unanimous guidance, because some authorities have strongly declared themselves in favor of the vaccines whereas other authorities are strongly against them. Nearly the entire world is being drawn into a moral relation to the vaccines: deliberately taking or rejecting them is a moral decision. It is therefore appropriate to consider these issues in an orderly and sober manner, so that neither bodies nor souls may be harmed in this situation. For the sake of thoroughness and clarity, we address some issues found in treatises of moral theology, for many of the treatises disagree with each other, or present only partial treatments of relevant material, or include errors. The object of this inquiry is to investigate the morality of receiving vaccines which have been developed by using cells derived from one of the gravest evils in our time, namely, through the direct killing of children. Through this investigation, we hope to show that certain conditions may render receiving such vaccines morally acceptable, although receiving unethically-derived vaccines is not recommendable without qualification, and in every choice the pandemic offers the Catholic Church and all people of upright conscience a chance to recommit to upholding and defending the inviolable dignity of human life. Much of the impetus of this article comes from requests received from many different quarters to address the morality of receiving vaccines derived from illicit sources. Disagreement about this issue has created significant rifts among Catholics of good will. By the time this work is published, the decision of whether to receive a vaccine or not will have already been made by a majority of people. Nevertheless, we hope that the [End Page 1012] principles outlined here can provide a model for moral decision-making in the future, and help put to rest...

Child Euthanasia and the Church

The creeping expansion of euthanasia around the world, but especially in the West, is a concern for any moral theologian. This expansion has already reached beyond the elderly into younger and objectively healthier groups, including children. The stance of the Catholic Church is that euthanasia is never permissible and must combat philosophies and laws that support it as fervently as possible.

Anthropological Aspects of Problem Of God, Faith and Grace

e arguments presented here can be qualified as a part of the more extensiveproblem concerning relations between the Christian religion and human nature.We have only limited ourselves to paying attention to the essential componentsof the religious phenomenon&Y. It seems, however, that in the context of all thesetheological theses and church rites, the question should be posed about howthey arise from human existence as well as how they can serve it since only thenwould their fully anthropological value be fully manifested. What is more, oneshould refer to a religious phenomenon as such and consider Christianity in itscontext. Christian religion, in spite of its essential separateness from other religions,shares many common features with them. Christians, therefore considerimportant the philosophical question of whether religiousness defines man to thesame extent as the category homo sapiens, homo socialis, homo faber, etc. does&_.e problem of the role that religion plays in human life is also significant. Manyscholars, for example, emphasize the personality-forming role of religion andits role in maintaining man’s mental health;`.Man is then the point of reference when proving the raison d’être of theChristian religion. It is not enough to say that the Church comes from God, wemust also justify that it is necessary for people.Similarly, the problem of verification of the Christian religion does notonly consist in proving that the present-day Church comes from Christ and thatin its historical duration it remains faithful to the will of its founder, but alsoin justification of the thesis that it represents the value necessary for people.
 Since according to the scholastic principle of verum, it can be considered ensand bonum at the same time. e latter is, however, an anthropological issue.Also dogmatic and moral theology, not to mention practical theology andtheology of internal life, which by their very nature deal with man, is characterizedby an anthropological attitude. We have already mentioned that contemporaryCatholic theology is strongly inclined towards anthropology. It must beadded here that the interests of dogmatics and moral theologians should not belimited to the mere interpretation of revealed truths about man, but should alsotake into account the confrontation of these truths with the experience of a manabout himself. en the relevance and validity of dogmatic theorems will becomeclearer and indications of moral theology will become more convincing.

Children’s moral culture in the context of the Christian-anthropological worldview

Introduction. The themes of good and evil, familiarizing the younger generation with the universal values of Good, Truth, and Beauty have been in the focus of the world pedagogical and ethical thought since ancient times, but are especially relevant in the modern era of the postmodern discrediting of all standards. The research purpose is to form a more complete theoretical understanding of the problem of the formation of children’s moral culture in the light of the Christian-anthropological worldview and the patristic doctrine of virtues. Materials and methods. The study was conducted using general scientific theoretical methods: hermeneutic analysis, generalization, synthesis, abstraction, induction and deduction, interpretation of results. Results. As a result of the study, the following definition of the phenomenon of “moral culture” in the context of the Christian-anthropological worldview was given. Moral culture is a system of moral and ethical guidelines and personality traits based on absolute moral values and Christian virtues: abstinence, chastity, mercy, meekness, joy, courage, humility, and love. Moral culture is manifested in the moral behavior and actions of a person and determined by the moral consciousness of an individual striving for self-improvement, heartfelt purity, and good deeds – through the feat of Christian life, overcoming vices and passions. Researchers come to the conclusion that the highest Christian virtue – sacrificial love for God and people – is impossible without the virtue of humility, which is considered in moral theology as a measure of holiness, the foundation of the entire structure of a person’s spiritual and moral life. Discussion and conclusion. Moral culture formation is of intimate and discrete nature, it continues throughout a person’s life, representing its highest goal and ideal. Morality cannot be formed, assimilated exclusively by external influence, it is based on the individual autonomy, the synergy of a person’s own efforts, and the action of Divine grace. Researchers conclude that moralization and moral terror are unacceptable in the formation of children’s moral culture. The research results can be taken into account in the practical activities of teachers working in Orthodox general education and weekend schools, as well as in family education.

The Main Proposals for the Content of Moral Theology in the Light of the Documents of the Council’s Renewal

In the analyses to date only the conciliar guidelines concerning the basic issuesof moral theology have been considered. %is does not mean at all that in thedocuments of the Council’s renewal there are no indications on many issuesthat are simply discussed in the detailed part of moral theology. Such a subjectis the issue of religious freedom, which is linked to the treaty on faith. %eCouncil’s postulate is also to discuss the problem of the priesthood of the faithfulin connection with the treatise on the honour of God (de religione). Moralissues of dialogue and ecumenism, including the participation of Catholicsin the religious life of other faiths (communicatio in sacris), are awaiting elaboration.%e Council’s guidelines for the moralistic theologian also refer to theissue of contemporary social life, which has become the subject of the secondpart of the Gaudium et spes Constitution and were developed by Paul VI in theencyclical Populorum progressio.It seems superfluous to give a complete list of conciliar indications in thearea of moral theology which relate to detailed topics of this theological discipline.In the Council’s renewal of theology, it is not a question of seeking newcontent, but of showing the “old” truths and principles in a living relationshipwith the revealed word of God, taking into account the needs of the humanrace of our time.

A Perspective of Moral Theology on the Problem of Tissue Donation and Organ Transplantation

e main objective of the present article was to show what is the crux of themoral problem of transplanting human organs and how it should be resolvedfrom the point of view of Christian morality. e issue posed by contemporarymedicine reveals several aspects, therefore it cannot be resolved too hastily. eformulation of the general position on the fairness of transplantation requiredconsideration of several specific issues implied by the general view of the phenomenonunder discussion. Considering the situation of the donor, from whomthe organ to be transplanted to someone else is taken, leads to the conclusionthat retrieving the organ from the body of a deceased person cannot be regardedas impious or immoral.Similarly donation of one’s organ, whose transplantation is not necessaryto maintain someone else’s life, should also be considered as morally correct.In the case of the donation of an organ necessary for maintaining the life of thedonor, one should regard the act as morally condemnable, mainly because of thecooperation of the recipient with doctors, which aims at inflicting death onan innocent person. In certain specific situations, the donation of one healthyorgans (from a pair), which is necessary to maintain the life of another personmay turn out to be an obligation dictated by family love or the love of the fatherland.e greatest number of reservations and difficulties in the field of organtransplantation concern the issue of the recognition of death, especiallyin connection with the successes of resuscitation. One should bear in mindthe ambiguity of death criteria in the ongoing discussions, from tests of deathin a biological sense, through clinical death, ending with the recognition of thedeath of the brain. Despite the existing discrepancies in opinions, it is possibleto declare the death of someone with full responsibility at a time when thereis still the possibility of harvesting an organ from that person and transferringit to someone else. A judgement of this type is not and cannot be issued withabsolute certainty.For the goals set in a given situation, it is completely sufficient and canfully justify undertaking transplantation activities. Conscientious considerationof the discussed case allowed the author of present article to concludethat the possible admission of the possibility of death in a given case cannot beidentified with the deliberate act of taking someone’s life. e final conclusionof this key part of the investigation turned out to favor organ transplantationin the sense that it does not have to involve the accelerating the death of thedonor. Practical difficulties with regard to organ transplantation, connectedin particular with the need to establish specific preferences as to the selection of organ recipients on both a macro and micro ethical scale, are not sufficientarguments which could make us firmly reject their implementation. ey canbe, however, overcome under certain conditions. ey are not, in any case,a decisive argument in favor of rejection of organ transplants in general. Also,possible abuses cannot be regarded as such an argument. It must be admittedthat their occurrence is possible, and may pose a serious threat in this regard.Nevertheless, cases of abuse can accompany and indeed they do accompanyall human activities, even the most noble in moral terms. In the face of thepossibility of abuse, in the discussed area of medical activities, associated witha special kind of risk, it is necessary to appeal to doctors that they should maintaina great sense of responsibility and a noble moral attitude.

A Case Study of the Reception of Aristotle in Early Protestantism: The Platonic Idea of the Good in the Commentaries on the Nicomachean Ethics

The present article examines the philosophical ethics of Protestants teaching in higher education during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and their reception of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, 1.6. Two theses are illustrated. First, the survey of fourteen commentaries shows clear parallels with the medieval interpretation of the Ethics, which the Protestant authors creatively expanded. Thus, the continuity of Protestantism with the earlier tradition of Christian philosophy is substantiated in this specific case for a representative group of authors. Second, over against the prejudices according to which Protestantism simply censured ethics and subsumed it into moral theology, this article shows that, in truth, Aristotle was still the fundamental philosophical reference in a topic as central as the definition of happiness, and that the Platonic “theological” alternative was not considered appropriate for a philosophical discipline.

Badania dotyczące praktyki postu w rosyjskiej historiografii kościelnej w okresie przedrewolucyjnym

<p>Chrześcijaństwo od wieków określało ideologię rozwoju społecznego Europy. Cerkiew znacząco wpływała na bieg wydarzeń historycznych, konstytuując światopogląd jednostki i społeczeństwa. Post chrześcijański jest ważnym składnikiem odrodzenia duchowego, sposobem opanowania naturalnych ludzkich instynktów, wyrazem posłuszeństwa wobec Boga. Chociaż historiografia postu nie została dotąd szczegółowo zbadana, wzbudza ona obecnie duże zainteresowa­nie badaczy jako kwestia aktualna i perspektywiczna. Celem pracy jest określenie kierunków badań nad postem, podjętych przez związanych z cerkwią historyków w okresie narodzin i rozwoju rosyjskiej historiografii cerkiewnej. Powstanie państwa absolutystycznego w Rosji wywołało działania reformatorskie, które znacząco wpłynęły na rozwój nauk historycznych. Autor artykułu analizuje genezę i rozwój rosyjskiej historiografii cerkiewnej w okresie cesarstwa (1725–1917), omawia stan badań nad postem w ujęciu związanych z cerkwią historyków rosyjskich. Pod koniec XVIII i w pierwszej połowie XIX wieku badacze nie stawiali konkretnych celów badawczych, więc wyniki ich ustaleń były obarczone prawosławną apologetyką i ograniczały się do opisu spuścizny rosyjskiej hierarchii cerkiewnej. To zadecydowało o uproszczeniu analiz, opierających się na prowidencjalizmie jako metodzie badawczej. Dopiero w okresie reform liberalnych w latach 60. XIX wieku intensyfikuje się działalność badawcza, a prace historyków stają się wieloaspektowe. Badania nad postem prowadzono przy wykorzystaniu źródeł greckich, łacińskich i słowiańskich. W badaniach historycznych dotyczących postu zaszły duże zmiany: obecnie dominują tendencje do wyboru i prezentacji w monografiach wąskiej problematyki. Post jest opisywany w powiązaniu z historią ogólną chrześcijaństwa i prawosławia, a także w kontekście teologii etyki, w której historia postu zajmuje znaczące miejsce.</p>