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CHRISTIAN MORAL PRINCIPLES (AUTONOMOUS (LOVE AS THE ONLY X ETHICAL…
CHRISTIAN MORAL PRINCIPLES
AUTONOMOUS
LOVE AS THE ONLY X ETHICAL PRINCIPLE THAT GOVERNS X PRACTICES.
Should be .... summarised in J' sacrificial life.
HANS KUNG:
supports autonomy. Rejected infallibility of the Pope, license to teach removed by Church in 1979.
POPE FRANCIS:
supports moral guidance routed in love. Rules of Catholic tradition should be recognised as well as modern challenges of human relationships.
ROMAN CATHOLIC
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PROTESTANT
E.g. Fletcher & James Gustafson, goodness isn't revealed by God BUT a condition of being human. Christianity highlights it explicitly as agape. Ethics are autonomous & teleological- aim for most loving situation.
4 working principles.
Some argue - more to Jesus' teaching than love, e.g. Sermon OTM: His teaching does dispense the law but looked @ ways- 'fulfil' it, by considering how to develop it inwardly in relationship w/ God.
ethics are self-governed.
APPLIED TO EUTHANASIA
: J specifically challenged rule-based ethics & encouraged autonomy. We should ask if it respects someones' life not if its right or wrong. Rejected by Joseph Ratzinger for undermining Magisterium.
THEONOMOUS CHRISTIAN ETHICS & PRACTICES
BIBLE as the only authority for Christian ethical practices
BIBLE
Source of moral authority- God the author.
Infallible. If there's problems w/ understanding biblical text. Prob lies w/ us.
Theonomous ethics shown through real life situations rather than clear commandments, e.g. King Davids adultery w/ Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11) shows what living 'moral life' is NOT.
Must be understood in theological context of life lived as a covenant w/ God.
OT:
establishes ethics- social & personal, e.g 10 commandments. Prophets such as Amos & Isaiah focus in particular- social justice & treatment of poor.as examples of response to God's covenant.
NT:
Jesus' Sermon on the Mount- new covenant isn't just about following set laws from OT BUT involves inner law of love, peace, faith & righteousness.
Modelled on Jesus' sacrifice.
LITERALISM
Is it realistic?
'If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away' (Matthew 5:29).
KARL BARTH:
scripture has high value BUT literalism could be dangerous- gives Bible divine status than can only rightly be given by God-
'BIBLIOLATRY'.
Bible must be read- source of inspiration NOT truth itself.
CONTRADICTIONS
OT
War & retributive justice 'an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth'.
Capital punishment apparent for blaspheming (Genesis 9:6).
Deuteronomy 20:10-20- Israelites allowed to kill foreign women & children.
NT
Sermon on the Mount: consciously revised old law.
Reconciliation replaces retribution & love of enemies taught in addition.
ethics governed by God's law.
HETERONOMOUS
Protestant Ethical Heteronomy
STANLEY HAUERWAS
: X ethics can only be done in X worshipping community. J adapted OT teaching- Sermon on the Mount & we continue to adapt tradition today.
X communities need to Q society's values by living & practicing X social virtues.
CRITICISMS
PROBLEM OF SOURCES
What are legitimate sources for X ethics?
Are some, e.g. Marxism, alien to X thinking?
Do some sources have greater authority than others & if so what principle determines the hierarchy?
Tradition emphasised BUT Jesus appears to criticise religious traditions, e.g. Pharisees focusing on ritual cleanliness.
BIBLE, REASON, CONSCIENCE & CHURCH TRADITION
: Richard Hooker & Hugo Grotius. Bible evolved over time, developing out of needs of communities & so reason & conscience should guide its use in ethics.
Stanley Hauerwas on Abortion:
pregnant 15 yr old 'it is our problem', as a church. 'seen by us not as some pressing social problem'.
Roman Catholic ethical heteronomy
AQUINAS' NATURAL LAW
: humans set apart from animals- HUMAN REASON to know God's eternal law giving us more creative existence.
MAGISTERIUM
: collective wisdom of church leaders & teachers published- PAPAL ENCYCLICAL. All ordinary circumstances, Magisterium should be followed- has AUTHORITY.
Christian ethics accessible through natural world, reason, conscience & church authority.
LIBERATION THEOLOGY
: 'Ethics from below'- begins w/ marginalised, political & economic struggles of 'top-down' trad Church teaching.
Some use of Marxism. Criticised as while its good at questioning power, it also criticises religion for being exploitative.
VERITATIS SPLENDOR:
a recent encyclical on moral theology. Reasserts centrality of reason, conscience & NL, which is moral law, knowable to all. Humans are sinful & cannot rely on reason alone so church- guide.
ethics governed by several sources of authority of law.