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1.2. Gula, Chap 1
1.2. Gula, Chap 1
1.2. Gula, Chap 1
REASON INFORMED
BY FAITH
Foundations
of
Catholic
Morality
6
The Nature of Moral Theology 7
tian moral theology wants to know what difference being a Christian believer
makes for the way we live our lives. Therefore, it is interested in the implica-
tions of Christian faith for the sorts of persons we ought to be (this is often
called "the ethics of being" or "character ethics") and the sorts of actions we
ought to perform (this may also be called "the ethics of doing"). Both being
and doing, or character and action, constitute interdependent concerns and
must be taken together in any complete project of moral theology. The sort of
person one is depends to a great extent upon the sorts of decisions and actions
one has taken, and conversely, the sorts of decisions and actions which one
has taken depend in part upon the sort of person one is.l
Ethics of Being
Morality is often associated exclusively with behavior guided by rules.
But to focus on behavior and rules is not sufficient for understanding the
scope of moral reflection. If we talk too exclusively of actions, we are in
danger of regarding them as something outside ourselves and as having a
reality of their own. But actions are always expressions of a person. Moral
goodness is a quality of the person, constituted not by rule-keeping behavior
alone, but by cultivating certain virtues, attitudes, and outlooks. Moreover, if
we focus too much on rules, we lose sight of the Christian moral life as
pertaining to a way of life guided by the paradigmatic story of Jesus Christ.
While we are certainly called to do what is right as Christians, we are first of
all called to be loving persons in the imitation of Christ.
Morality, then, has a great interest in the interiority of the person, or the
person's character. In other words, who we are matters morally. For this
reason, moral theology must also pay attention to "character ethics" or the
ethics of being which focuses on what is happening to the person performing
actions rather than on the actions the person performs. It focuses on patterns
of actions, or the habits we acquire, the vision we have of life, the values and
convictions or beliefs we live by, the intentions we have, the dispositions
which ready us to act as well as the affections which move us to do what we
believe to be right. Here is where we locate the classical idea of the virtues-
those personal qualities disposing us to act in certain ways.2 The "ethics of
being" in a Christian context asks "What sort of person should I become
because I believe in Christ?"
Perhaps one of the reasons we have not paid enough attention to char-
acter in morality is that we have relegated the interiority of the person to
considerations of spirituality. When the manuals of moral theology were
introduced after the Council of Trent, spirituality and moral theology went
separate ways. Bringing them together again would be the natural result of
retrieving the tradition of virtue and addressing questions about who we are
8 Reason Informed By Faith
supposed to become. The unity of the moral and spiritual life is emerging
again through attention on the virtues and is in need of further development
in the Roman Catholic tradition.
Ethics of Doing
Yet, interiority, such as good intentions and sensitive dispositions, does
not cover the whole territory. Interiority gets expressed in behavior. The
biblical metaphor that the good tree bears good fruit and the bad tree bears
bad fruit teaches that right actions come from good persons. An "ethics of
being" focuses on the good person; an "ethics of doing" focuses on right
actions. In a Christian context, it asks, "What sort of action should I perform
because I believe in Christ?"l
The interest of the ethics of doing is with making a decision to resolve
conflicts of moral values so that we might do the right action. From this
perspective, moral theological reflection attends not only to the duties and
obligations of the person acting but also to the circumstances which make up
the moral situation. These are considered in light of the moral norms or
principles which guide us through the resolution of conflicting values. In
some respects, the interest of the ethics of doing has affinity with the interests
of canon law and jurisprudence in general, and, in fact, moral theology was
governed for a long time by a juridical perspective.
In sum, moral theology as a whole seeks to relate Christian faith to the
complex realities of living in the world. It asks, "What sorts of persons ought
we to be, and what sorts of actions ought we to perform by virtue of being
believers in Christ?" As a discipline of theology, it presupposes a commit-
ment of faith by which we accept the mystery of Christ as the full revelation
of God and accept the sources of faith as valid sources of coming to the truth
about God, being human, and living in the world. Moreover, since the
incarnational principle, or the principle of mediation, tells us that only
through the human, always and everywhere already graced by God, do we
come to know God and respond to what God is enabling and requiring us to
be and to do, moral theology also takes seriously critical reflection on human
experience as a valid source for coming to know what is morally required.
MORAL THEOLOGY
ETHICS MORALS
(theoretical interests) (practical interests)
Human Person
Criteria of Judgment
Situational Analysis
Figure #1
the nature of the good and religious beliefs in God; Part Two, between the
nature of the human person and being a moral agent; Part Three, between
criteria of judgment and the sources of moral guidance in scripture, Jesus,
church, natural law, positive law, moral norms, and the discernment of spirits.
In addition to a general description of the nature of moral theology, an
introduction to this discipline also needs to consider the tasks of one who
engages in moral theological reflection as well as the significant features of the
context in which moral theological reflection is being done today. These will
be the focus of the next two chapters.
Notes
1. For a further discussion of this distinction, see Bruce C. Birch and
Larry L. Rasmussen, Bible and Ethics in the Christian Life (Minneapolis:
Augsburg, 1976), pp. 79-123.
12 Reason Informed By Faith
2. On virtue in St. Thomas, see ST, I-II, qq. 55-67. For a review of
current literature reflecting the discussion on the nature of virtue and char-
acter, see John W. Crossan, What Are They Saying About Virtue? (Ramsey:
Paulist Press, 1985).
3. The distinction between the ethics of being and the ethics of doing
also helps us understand the distinction between a "right" action (or judg-
ment of moral rightness) and a "good" action (or judgment of moral good-
ness). The term "right" answers "What should I do?" by pointing to actions.
The term "good" answers the same question by pointing to what falls under
the notion of virtue-such as motives, dispositions, and intention. Morality
in the strict sense pertains to the person, to character. Actions are moral only
in a derived or secondary sense because the person expresses himself or
herself in actions. Strictly speaking, "good" and "bad" properly refer to the
person; "right" and "wrong" refer to the action. For a detailed discussion of
the moral goodness/moral rightness distinction, see Bernard Hoose, Propor-
tionalism (Washington: Georgetown University Press, 1987), pp. 41-67; for a
briefer treatment of the same theme, see Josef Fuchs, "Morality: Person and
Acts" in Christian Morality: The Word Became Flesh, translated by Brian Mc-
Neil (Washington: Georgetown University Press, 1987), pp. 105-117.
4. Gustafson's two most significant books which illustrate the struc-
ture and interrelationship of parts in the field of moral theology are Christ and
the Moral Life (New York: Harper and Row, 1968; reprint edition Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, Midway Reprint, 1976), and Can Ethics Be
Christian? (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1975). For a succinct article
on this distinction, see "Theology and Ethics" in Christian Ethics and the
Community (Philadelphia: United Church Press, 1971), pp. 83-100.
5. "Theology and Ethics," in Christian Ethics and the Community, p. 85.
6. See especially Christ and the Moral Life, pp. 1-4.
7. Three articles by Gustafson in which these four base points appear,
although in slightly different form, are "Moral Discernment in the Christian
Life" in Theology and Christian Ethics (Philadelphia: United Church Press,
1974), pp. 99-119; "Context Versus Principles: A Misplaced Debate in Chris-
tian Ethics" in Christian Ethics and the Community, pp. 101-126; and "The
Relationship of Empirical Science to Moral Thought" in Theology and Chris-
tian Ethics, pp. 215-228.
8. This diagram is adapted from the doctoral dissertation of Charles
M. Swezey which examines the correlations more extensively. See What Is
Theological Ethics? A Study of the Thought of James M. Gustafson (Ann Arbor:
University of Microfilm International, 1978), pp. 26-33; see especially p. 30.
U sed by permission.