Catholic Ethics the Catholic Religion

Catholic Ethics

The Catholic religion has a long and well-documented history; scholars and priests since the faith's inception have recorded not only the happenings of important figures, but their perceptions and theories about the implications of these events for the faith. Today, Catholic scholars still immerse themselves in the meaning of the Holy Scripture. In Principles of Christian Morality, three preeminent Catholic scholars examine interpretations of moral theology, focusing on ethical matters facing the Church. While none of these men is "a specialist in moral theology," they do present compelling arguments regarding Christian ethics (8). Here, each man's contribution to the volume will be briefly summarized, then all three will be related to one another and evaluated in terms of each other, and finally, a more thorough treatment of Schurmann's essay will be included.

The first contribution, by Heinz Schurmann, was written as a submission for the International Theological Commission's December 1974 session. Schurmann discusses the New Testament's influence on morality, via both its statements and interpretations. Schurmann begins by noting that the Second Vatican Council, which had recently taken place at the time of his writing, gave more emphasis to action in a Christian lifestyle. Schurmann questions how this balance between Holy Scripture and practice could be achieved-"we must face the question of how far Holy Scripture and how far experience-that is, ethical reason-are competent to discover what is right action" (13).

Schurmann examines the questions of whether the words and deeds of Jesus Christ and the apostles are considered ethical norms which bind disciples to them. In examining the words and deeds of Christ himself, the instruction as to how His followers are to behave is implicit at the least. The words and deeds of Jesus are to be seen as "the ultimate ethical norm," that is to say, the model after which disciples are to follow in their own words and deeds (23). The deeds and teachings of the apostles, to be understood as having been significantly influenced by and patterned after Christ, are also to be understood as models, although not ultimate ethical norms, for disciples to follow. The apostles can disseminate the works of God and Jesus Christ through the spiritual gifts of wisdom, gnosis, receiving revelation, and the ability to instruct one another (29).

The next author in this compilation, Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI), discusses the distinction between practice (orthopraxis) and established beliefs (orthodoxy) and the need of having a fixed point of moral reference (48). Ratzinger, in an effort to establish a practice for Catholics in a modern context, explored the possibility of the shifting meaning of religious law and commandments (50). The opposite of praxis, Ratzinger states, is the belief "that affirms that there is no such thing as a specifically Christian morality and that Christianity must take its norms of conduct from the anthropological insights of its time" (49). Ratzinger concludes that praxis is indistinguishable from a genuinely believed truth in Christ-that to imitate Jesus Christ is "inseparable from faith" and that "faith's praxis depends on faith's truth" (62, 70). In other words, if one genuinely holds a belief in Christ, that faith will influence one's practices and in turn, will relate the truth with the praxis.

The final author in Principles is Hans Urs von Balthasar, who treats the subject of "the fundamental[s] of Christian morality and...its inner logic" (7). Balthasar sets forth nine precepts of Christian morality in summary form, exploring Christ as the universal, concrete norm for Christian morality, with the golden rule as a summation of God's law and Christ on the cross as the only salvation from sin (85, 87). Balthasar relates the covenant with Abraham and the bestowing of the commandments, the law, on Moses at Sinai with the concept of the commandments being a representation of ultimate law. The author then asserts the tenet of natural law that men naturally seek what is good, and that to know the good and not pursue it is to reject God (99, 101-102). Balthasar closes with a comparison of the freedom of an individual and his membership in an aggregate social group -- the only true way to combine the two identities, he says, is in Christ, where the two identities converge.

All three of these discussions attempt to explain a modern facet of Christian belief and practice-Schurmann in his examination of a New Testament interpretation, Ratzinger in his reconciliation of praxis and theory, and Balthasar with his overview of justifications for action based on faith. Each man treats a subject that is distinctly modern in its discussion, most notably Ratzinger's response to the Marxist concept of praxis, but all three topics can be related back to moral theology and trace the origins of each question to an older debate-Schurmann's interpretation is similar to debates over the superiority of the New or Old Testament in previous eras of Church history, Ratzinger's theory vs. practice topic has been an issue among Christians since the inception of the faith, and Balthasar's exploration of the underlying moral and ethical motives behind actions has been relevant since time immemorial.

The essays are all applicable to any era of Church history, and all are well reasoned and theologically sound. In the interest of space, however, only one will be analyzed in detail here, that of Schurmann. In his piece, Schurmann asserts why the Gospels can be understood as the most relevant commandments on how to live in accordance with Christian principles, and gives a basic rationale for seeming contradictions in the Old Testament. He notes that "a historically determined obfuscation" occurs in the parables and recollections of the Old Testament, which allows the stories to be interpreted to fit into the era of its readers more comfortably (14). If the literal truth is to be taken from Old Testament lore, they lose their value once their implements are outdated-if, for example, an ox cannot be understood as an automobile, or a tribute to the king cannot be understood as a tax paid to the government. Instead of this strict interpretation, Schurmann suggests an exegesis of the texts in context of the current era.