Moral Principles

Question 1

theonomous Xian ethics origin

Answer 1

Bible as the only source of authority: theonomous Christian ethics
• Example of propositional revelation (for Fundamentalists)
o Acceptance of truths revealed by God.
• Goes back to Luther
o Per sola fide (by faith alone)
o Per sola scriptura (by the Bible alone)
o Both Calvin and Luther viewed the Scripture as the ultimate source of authority

Question 2

theonomous - fundamentalists

Answer 2

• Still upheld by Fundamentalists, believe God directly conveyed to the various writers of the Bible, salvation contained with in it.
o Biblicist view, coined by Migliore, idea that Bible is authoritative because it was divinely inspired.

Question 3

theonomous - hays and curran

Answer 3

• Hays shows how the Bible has a set of principles e.g. those to love God and your neighbour (Mark 12) and paradigms, which are stories that help people live a moral life, Acts 4:36.
• Curran gives example of household codes in Colossians 3:18-4:1 and Ephesians 5:22-6:9. Biblicists take these literally to mean that subordination of the wife should be the norm.

Question 4

theonomous - teachings

Answer 4

• Bible has rich set of rules e.g. 10 Commandments in Exodus 10 and SOTM in Matt 5-7
o 10 C provides variety of teachings as to how we should socially interact with one another and how we should act personally.
o SOTM – JC adopts old Jewish laws and looks at psychological and emotional causes of moral laws. Places emphasis on internal thoughts and acts.

• When the Bible is not explicit on a certain issue e.g. abortion, Biblicists look to commands such as ‘do not murder’ as well as scriptures about God knowing the infant from the womb to conclude that life begins at conception and therefore all forms of abortion are wrong.

Question 5

theonomous - divine command theory

Answer 5

• The Divine Command Theory
o Idea that humans should live their life according to God’s will as revealed in the Bible.
o Relies on philosophical belief that God is omnipotent and can act as he wants to, but according to his nature, he will always act in an ordered and good way.
o Humans are really obliged to obey such a God and they can do so by following his will laid out in the Bible.
o + Theistic framework allows for objective moral truths
o - Socrates, “Does God command this particular action because it is morally right, or is it morally right because God commands it?”

Question 6

theonomous - SOTM

Answer 6

o JC went up Mount to deliver ‘new law’ just as Moses went up Mount Sinai to receive the 10 Commandments.
o Re-expresses traditional Jewish law, replacing physical laws with more emotional and psychological laws.
o ‘You have heard that it was said, ‘do not commit adultery’. But now I tell you: anyone who looks at a woman and wants to possess her is guilty of committing adultery with her in his heart’
o Provides wide variety of ethical commands Inc. moral behaviour and spiritual behaviour.
o Standard is set in Matt 5:48, ‘be as perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect’
o Richard Mouw claims that just because there is a Biblical command in Bible to love, does not mean it rules out the possibility of other Biblical commandments.

Question 7

theonomous - advantages

Answer 7

• Biblicists feel they can trust and rely on everything in Bible due to it being guided by the Holy Spirit, who represents the omniscience of God.
• It provides an ‘ethical safety net’ as if you follow the commands in the Bible, you know you are doing the right thing.
• Timeless as it is the WofG can speak into even the most modern of ethical situations. Can apply virtues of Bible to modern situations.

Question 8

theonomous - disadvantages general

Answer 8

• Bible could be deemed ancient book that simply demonstrates how the authors perceived both God and Jesus, helpful to give glimpse of past, cannot be literal as it is culturally and socially relative e.g. teachings on women in Church 1 Cor 12.
o ‘Women should remain silent in the churches.’
o Reflecting Jewish practice of time, written by Paul
o Meaning lost in translation (Lalein in Greek = chatter)
• Bible is contradictory in many passages.
o Texts on divorce differ:
o Matt: do not divorce unless she is adulterous
o Luke: never divorce

• Many contradictions within OT and NT. E.g. ‘Eye for an eye, tooth for the tooth’ (OT – Exodus: 21:15, promotes war) vs. ‘Love your neighbour’ (Matt 5)

Question 9

theonomous - disadvantages, macnamara

Answer 9

• MacNamara views the Bible not as literal but as a great work of literature from which you can glean important moral insights. Not a rulebook.

Question 10

theonomous - disadvantages, barth

Answer 10

• Karl Barth criticises taking the Bible literally, claiming it is ‘bibliolatry’. Bible is witness of word, not actual word. Have to use reason to figure out if Bible themes are to be taken as symbolic, metaphorical or literal.

Question 11

theonomous - disadvantages, deidun

Answer 11

• Deidun argues using Bible as rulebook results in picking and choosing. Problems: diversity of the biblical material, the time and culture bound nature of it and much of it was written to address the specific needs of people at the time means.

Question 12

heteronomous - church of england differing views

Answer 12

o Low church/evangelicals take Bible as sole source of authority.
o Anglo-Catholics (high church)/liberal Anglicans do not have a single source of authority, look to Bible, ancient Church traditions and reason.

Question 13

heteronomous - CofE, tradition

Answer 13

• Richard Hays deems tradition ‘the Church’s time=honoured practices of worship, service and critical reflection’
• Church deemed as ‘moving with the times’, shift in understanding.
• Stanley Hauerwas supported this idea. JC reinterpreted OT laws, shows that we must do the same for our modern society. Must do this as a collective body of Christ, rather than individually, as job of interpreting is that of the Church community’s as a whole. Must put into practice JC’s values e.g. response to 15 year old pregnant girl.

Question 14

heteronomous - CofE, reason

Answer 14

• Use of the mind to analyse information.
• God made us rational can use reason to decide which Bible teachings are still useful and how to interpret Bible in light of modern day world.

Question 15

heteronomous - RCC, church tradition

Answer 15

o Use Scriptures, have Apocrypha also.
o Church tradition
• Look at teachings of Church fathers e.g. Aquinas and Augustine, but also the magisterium.
• Can speak ex cathedra, cannot be questioned by members of Church, directly from God.
• Apostolic succession means Pope = descendant of St Peter, holds same amount of power to decide beliefs of RCC church. Does this through sermons, letters and encyclicals.

Question 16

heteronomous - RCC, church tradition (encyclicals)

Answer 16

• Papal encyclical – letter issued by Pope to senior clergy on significant topic/teaching, has doctrinal authority.
• E.g. Veritatis Splendor, Pope JP II, 1996
o Have reason in form of NL. Reason is flawed however, meaning the Church will guide individuals in moral decisions.
• Evangelium Vitae, P JP II, 1995
o Confirmed that the direct and voluntary killing of an innocent human being is always gravely immoral.

Question 17

heteronomous, RCC - CCC

Answer 17

• Summarises decrees and declarations of RCC

* Provides an unambiguous answer, recognises however that moral action should also incorporate conscience and prayer.

Question 18

heteronomous, RCC - reason

Answer 18

• Reason within RCC comes in form of Aquinas’ NL
• 4 Laws - Aquinas claimed everything follows God’s eternal law as they follow their natural instincts.
• Humans are more profound and can make decisions about how we act, allows us to share God’s eternal reasoning
• Depends on starting point of humanity as good, naturally seek goals that are in accordance with our natural purpose as ordained by God.
• Put forward 5 PP, absolute, SP are more flexible and specific, do not apply to every situation. Shows this change through the reference to OT stories where God seems to command things that seem to go against PP and NL.

Question 19

heteronomous, RCC - reason, messer

Answer 19

• Neil Messer highlights that, ‘such acts would normally be examples of murder, adultery and theft, but they are not if God, who is the creator and owner of the world and all living things, commands them’.

Question 20

heteronomous, RCC - reason, proportionalism

Answer 20

• Idea that anyone who uses his or her reason rightly will gain moral understanding.
• Recognise value of NL, but believe that there can be proportionate reasons to reject the absolute rules of that system.

Question 21

heteronomous, lib theology

Answer 21

o Priests left RCC to go live with poor, used Bible to teach them that God throughout history has physically and spiritually liberated the poor.
o Centred on Bible but has demanded a particular way of interpreting texts, including the use of Marxism to analyse the conditions that the people were living in.
o It rejected traditional RC teaching and as a result was heavily criticised by Pope and Cardinals of time.

Question 22

heteronomous, conscience - bible

Answer 22

• St Paul (innate)
• Conscience = awareness of good and evil
• St Jerome used the term synderesis to mean, ‘the spark of conscience with which we discern that we sin’
• Conscience can be weak and mistaken (1 Cor. 8), love must proceed from a pure heart and a clear conscience (1 Tim 1:5)
• Augustine of Hippo (innate)
• God has put a conscience in every individual
• God’s love poured into humans, revealed in solitary moments
• It is faulty due to the Fall, should also look to Scripture and Church

Question 23

heteronomous, conscience - voice of God within, newman

Answer 23

• Cardinal Newman
• We feel guilt as we stand before the Divine meaning our guilt is exposed
• Should be guided by teaching of RCC
• ‘I toast the Pope, but I toast conscience first’
• Pope Pius IX argued that the conscience has the ‘prerogative of commanding obedience’, seems contrary to Newman?
• Problems…
o Opposing views make it unclear
o Newman’s approach is quite self-centred in that obeying conscience is nothing more than fulfilling your personal inclinations. Newman abandoned his friends to convert to RCC – surely against loving God?

Question 24

heteronomous, conscience - voice of God within, quakers

Answer 24

• Inner light is in everyone, informs the conscience
• Need for silence to understand what conscience is saying
• Need to obey the conscience
• • Tolerant approach to ethics
• • Unifying factor for all humans
• • Not legalistic, only law is to not engage in war
• • Conscience is nothing more than how you have been brought up
• • Conscience can be swayed by e.g. emotion

Question 25

heteronomous, conscience - faculty of mora judgement

Answer 25

• Aquinas
• Synderesis = right reason, distinguished from conscientia which is distinguishing right from wrong
• Synderesis allows us to know moral principles, guiding us towards the good, conscientia is the actual decision
• Conscience = not innate knowledge of right and wrong, all people seek good and sometimes simply pursue the apparent good rather than the real good. Must use reason to stop this.
• • Gets over problem of 2 differing views: one is using reason right.
• • Involves individual in decision making
• • Lose autonomy from being so wrapped up in NL
• • Not everyone is naturally good?

Question 26

heteronomous criticism

Answer 26

o Fundamentalist Xians criticise CofE’s appeal to reason for interpretation of Scripture, as it is too subjective.
o Can criticise legitimacy of Apostolic Succession, many of Pope’s pronouncements just seem too archaic in attitude.
o JC himself seems to speak out against tradition, condemns tradition of Pharisees and Scribes because they represent the rules of men rather than the commandments of God. (Matt 15:2-9)
o Can criticise sources of authority for Lib Theology, particularly their use of Marxism.
o Rosemary Radford Ruether identifies how the Church tradition and Scripture are both shared exclusively by male experiences of life, fail to recognise women’s experiences.

Question 27

Love as the only Christian ethical principle that governs Christian practices (autonomous Xian ethics – self governed): GENERAL

Answer 27

• Love is key theme in NT and life of JC.
• Mark 12: JC clarifies greatest command is to love God, second is to love your neighbour.
• St Paul emphasises importance of agape, ‘love is patient, love is kind’. (1 Cor 13)
• Most interpretations of autonomous Xian ethics see there is one guiding principle: ‘my commandment is this: love one another as I have loved you.’ (John 15:12-13)

Question 28

autonomous - RCC (pope F)

Answer 28

o Pope Francis
• P Francis upholds heteronomous approach to ethics, yet in ‘The Joy of Love’, he writes about all of difficult situations faced by different people in the Bible.
• Advocated compassionate approach to ethics rather than ‘imposing rules by sheer authority’
• ‘Love inspires a sincere esteem for every human being and the recognition of his or her right to happiness’

Question 29

autonomous, RCC (kung)

Answer 29

o Hans Kung
• Lib Catholic, promotes autonomous Xian ethics
• Global ethic: everyone should be concerned about everybody else in the world. It is ‘the minimal consensus concerning binding values, irrevocable standards and fundamental moral attitudes’
• Don’t need an ethic of prohibitions and sanctions, should act as JC did in encouraging disciples to make their own decisions
• Talks about euthanasia as ‘dignified dying’, Xians must apply love, may mean euth becomes act of compassion rather than killing (Rejected by RCC)

Question 30

autonomous, protestant - tillich

Answer 30

• Suggested 3 ethical norms that should work together for Xians: justice, love and wisdom.
• Love = most important, guided by wisdom and has justice as ‘backbone’
• Tillich argues agape includes all dimensions of love; it is a continuous desire to break through isolation in each person.
• Critical of rule-like structure of some Xian ethics, calls this ‘moral Puritanism’
• Agape is person-centred, binding us to the other person and situation, must act in situation, not in hypothetical. Each situation has own voice.
• ‘There is something between love and the situation, and these are the laws of religion, the laws of nations and the laws of society’
• Traditional laws = laws of past
• Against the situation-centred principle of love morally
• Can be difficult to know when to break commandment for love, but this is part of moral life
• View is radically different to legalistic view of Xian ethics as well as the use of Bible. He claims all of these are relevant, but must be interpreted through love.

Question 31

autonomous, protestant - fletcher

Answer 31

• Love is crucial to decision making
• 4 Working Principles:
• Pragmatism – what should be done to make situation most loving
• Relativism – no absolutes, must be relative to love
• Positivism – religious laws are not God-given, but human
• Personalism – all humans should be treated as person due to imago dei, no means to an end

Question 32

Is the principle of love sufficient to live a good life? - yes

Answer 32

• Not an open-ended relativism, because we can understand love, it is a sufficient means for living a good life.
• To some extent absolutist, yet still possesses benefits of relativism.
• Love does not have the problem of conflicting norms, can excuse certain acts. E.g. lying about hiding a Jew is most loving thing to do, whereas Kant would argue we cannot universalise lying and thus should hand the Jew in.
• More flexible recognises exceptions to apparent moral evils.
• Understood universally, respecter of persons.
• Autonomous understanding of morality, modern and appealing in contrast to usual emphasis on reason.
• Love is central in NT and JC teachings.

Question 33

Is the principle of love sufficient to live a good life? - no: barclay

Answer 33

• William Barclay argues the examples Fletcher gives are too extreme, ‘it is much easier to agree that extraordinary situations need extraordinary measures than to think that there are no laws for ordinary everyday life’. Love is insufficient, people need clear cut moral guidelines.

Question 34

Is the principle of love sufficient to live a good life? no: pope pius

Answer 34

• Pope Pius XII claimed SE is too subjective, people can justify anything and its use often goes against NL, which is God’s revealed word in the Bible.

Question 35

Is the principle of love sufficient to live a good life? no: vardy and biblicists/general

Answer 35

• Peter Vardy argued love can be selfish as we are naturally selfish beings.

• Biblicists would argue that we should follow the set rules in the Bible which are the direct commands of God e.g. 10 Commandments and SOTM
• Too flexible, in abortion for instance, do you show love to mother of foetus?

Question 36

Is the principle of love sufficient to live a good life? no; robinson

Answer 36

• J.A.T. Robinson changed his positive view of SE as the only ethic for ‘man come of age’ to the view that following it will ‘descend into moral chaos’

Question 37

Is the principle of love sufficient to live a good life? no: tillich and mouw

Answer 37

• Tillich highlights how it is not love alone, must be used in accordance with justice and wisdom.
• Richard Mouw claims that just because there is a Biblical command in Bible to love, does not mean it rules out the possibility of other Biblical commandments.

Question 38

are christian ethics distinctive? yes: macnamara and hauerwas

Answer 38

• Vincent MacNamara suggests that if you are Xian, then your faith will impact your morality, makes it distinctive e.g. through use of Bible.
• Hauerwas emphasises Xian ethics as shaped by the life and worship of Christian community, sets it shapely apart from society.

Question 39

are christian ethics distinctive? yes: ratzinger and fundamentalists

Answer 39

• Fundamentalists would argue Bible provides distinct ethics.
• Ratzinger and Hans Ur von Balthasar say Xian faith teaches specific moral obligations unknown by reason e.g. through CCC, Magisterium, Bible.

Question 40

are christian ethics distinctive? no: kung and gustafson

Answer 40

• Hans Kung and Josef Fuchs emphasise that Xian faith teach nothing about the content of moral obligation that could not in principle be known by any person of good will.
• James Gustafson argues medical ethics do not theological contribution, can be justified without reference to God.

Question 41

are christian ethics distinctive? no: messer and general

Answer 41

• Neil Messer argues there is a clear link between agape and secular pastoral care, not distinctively Xian.
• Clear link between religious and secular ethics e.g. Kant and Mill/Bentham and teachings of JC.