Theo Midterm

Question 1

Moral theology and dogmatic theology. Faith and Morality, connections?

Answer 1

Moral theology does not take place in a vacuum but exists in intimate relationship with dogmatic and systematic theology – our morality flows from jesus christ – christianity is the way, a lived faith, has practical implications and if we ignore those our morality ceases to exist

Question 2

the relationship between spirituality and morality.

Answer 2

are we in love with jesus christ… is it changing our whole life?

Question 3

moral theology and sacred scripture

Answer 3

the principle source of moral theology is sacred scripture – sacred scripture in its entirety – Scripture teaches us specific commands, before we can know what to do we need to know who we are. Sacred scripture teaches us who we are. Scripture is the soul of theology. Papum totio #16. Says sacred scripture should highlight the lofty vocation of the Christian faithful. Sacred scripture highlights the lofty vocation to holiness.

Question 4

Freedom?

Answer 4

key concept is freedom - without freedom cannot talk about moral life – misunderstanding is freedom is to do whatever we want – freedom to do the good is correct understanding.

Question 5

three font principle?

Answer 5

evaluate the morality of our actions - the object (what you are doing), the intention (why you are doing it) and the circumstances (everything surrounding it –state of mind, etc.) – most important criterion is the object because circumstances and intentions sometimes diminish our responsibility but they are not

Question 6

Synderesis?

Answer 6

conscience is sometimes synonymous with synderesis, our ability to discern what is good and evil, distinguish between good and evil, and being drawn or attracted to what is good; conscience in addition implies our ability to make judgments in different circumstances, to apply that knowledge to concrete circumstances - basic ability

Question 7

misconceptions of conscience

Answer 7

invincible ignorance of conscience is example of someone who makes effort to form conscience but is still mistaken due to our limitations, in which case your conscience retains its dignity; different from someone who just doesn’t care

Question 8

Natural law?

Answer 8

our ability to access the divine and eternal law – plan for us and whole universe – aquinas begins with first precept, to do good and avoid evil, makes it more specific (life, reproduction, society, truth); proximate precepts (decalogue); remote precepts – human god given ability to discover what is good and what is evil and to apply this discovery to our every day situations – applying it to specific situations

Question 9

virtue ethics and norm ethics -

Answer 9

• norm ethics are focused on individual external rules and obligations; virtue ethics is focused on habitual forms of behavior so you don’t ask yourself all the time, it simply flows from you, it’s about what kind of person you are becoming

Question 10

principle of double effect - helpful in ambiguous situations

Answer 10

we cannot engage in any action which is intrinsically evil

we intend only the good action, not the unintentional side effect we foresee but do not intend

the evil consequences are not the means –it is never permissible to

the harmful consequences do not exceed the good consequences