Introduction
Theology
Universal in scope
starts with Faith –
(Romans 4:19-24) - faith as righteousness, i.e. right action
(Heb 11:1] Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for,
the conviction of things not seen.
Faith seeking understanding
Reason informed by faith
A "Both/and" Proposition
Lessing: “The great religious truths were not rational when they were revealed,
but they were revealed so that they might become rational.”
Thomas Aquinas: The Hierarchy of Knowledge
Faith in an authority (Revelation, Scripture)
Reason – (Philosophy/science, Theology)
Direct Apprehension (Vision & Experience)
Moral: pertains to mores (from mos, moris)
What is a more ?
Mores – sociology, anthropology, psychology
(Habits of the Heart - Bellah- p.37 from deTocqville)
What is moral ?
What is Moral Theology ?
Fundamental of Moral Theology: The Person is always understood in relationship to others
Socrates: The unexamined life is not worth living; Questions
Plato: Forms; the form of the Good, The Soul, The Virtues, Transmigration of Souls
Aristotle: Virtue Vir, Virtus Virile, Virtuousity Arete
Intellectual & Moral Virtues
Moral virtue is an expression of character, formed by habits reflecting repeated choices. A moral virtue is always a mean between two less desirable extremes. Courage, for example, Is a mean between cowardice and thoughtless rashness; generosity, between extravagance and parsimony.
Teleology: The 4 Causes (Efficient, Material, Formal, Final)
Who What Why
Man’s Final Cause…
is Happiness: For the unrefined = food, sex, drink & entertainment
For the refined = Noble, right conduct, excellence = Arete
“Virtue is its own reward”
However, one cannot persuade/argue to this.
One must be trained, with sanctions,
For right conduct,
To internally transform preferences,
So habits are virtues.
The Stoic Philosophers circa 125 BCE – 200 CE
Greek school prevalent in Asia Minor
The Logos
Happiness is living according to
nature and reason
Stressed the Cardinal (hinge) virtues
Prudence (Wisdom)
Fortitude (Couage)
Justice
Temperance
& the universal brotherhood of man
Baltimore Catechism : “Why did God make me ?”
…To know, love & serve Him (thru our neighbor) in this world = virtue
… And to be happy with Him in the next.
Models of Morality: Krishna, Buddha, Confucius, Zarathustra, Jesus, Muhammad
"The Law" versus personalities – WHO we are/should be vs What we should do.
The Didache - circa 100 CE
The teaching of the Twelve Apostles
The FIRST Christian catechism
morality & liturgy
The Two Ways of living: Life and Death
The Yoke of the Lord
“Do what you can”
Sigmund Freud - circa 1870 – 1920
The Person: Three operational elements -
Id - primitive, instinctual drives, operates on the pleasure principle
for the satisfaction of the biological drives with the individual unaware.
The Biological Drives- hunger, thirst, sleep, avoidance of pain, sex, Waste elimination, stimulation, physical contact, maternal Instinct
Learned Motives- Fear/anxiety, & Social motives (aggression, achievement, dependency, approval)
Ego - the seat of subjective identity; the reality principle is operational, delays gratification.
The ego and the id are in conflict
Superego - Acquired thru identification with a reference group & its values, mores
Compare Freud's structure to The Vices: Gluttony, Lust, Avarice, Anger, Envy, Sloth, Pride
The Virtues: Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, Temperance
Carl Gustav Jung – 20th century student of Freud
The Law/Drive for/of Completeness.
Archetypes - cross cultural, pre-existent, human Inheritance, collective unconscious,
-- manifests the spiritual
hence Natural/Universal Law is knowable
Friedrich W. Nietzsche: What can go wrong; The power of ideas
“God is Dead”
“Will to Power”
The Superman (Over-man)
Master Morality vs Slave Morality
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How & what you think determines what you do.
What you do, determines your life.
Your life affects other lives & the shape of the world
The Whole Person - We are formed by what we do.
Double deviance
Cognitive dissonance
Cultural collapse (movie "Hawaii')
We are formed by what we do, so I am the person who does the sort of things that I do.
Moral Goodness of Persons Rightness of Acts
Badness Wrongness
The Goal of human existence - God, goodness, love by striving = Happiness
Love: Like the many Eskimo words for snow…
Philia
Eros
Agape
Chaos Theory - broken symmetry (evil, original sin)
Conscience / Formation - be suspect of the id/ego
Casuistry (from case)
A Good Moral Argument for Rightness / Wrongness of Acts
1. What scripture says, specifically & generally FAITH
2. What tradition says; has the question been asked before FAITH
3. What does reason say; how reason looks at the world REASON
(The reasonable man principle of common law)
4. How do other sciences look at the matter REASON
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