Heteronomous Christian ethics

Heteronomous Christian ethics

• Ethics that are governed by several sources of authority eg. The Bible, church, tradition, reason, conscience, the Pope etc.

• The Bible’s teachings are supplemented by Church/religious leaders (authorities)

• An example is natural law, as it is the teachings of God (divine law/the bible) + reason

Magisterium

The official and authentic teaching of the Church vested in the Pope and his bishops

What are some similarities between Roman Catholic moral decision making and Protestant moral decision making

• they both use the Bible to an extent, and still consider is valuable

• They both recognise the importance of conscience

• They both have a strong belief in God

• They both have the goal of salvation

What are some differences between Roman Catholic moral decision making and Protestant moral decision making

• Catholics have a single leader (the Pope) vs Protestants just have God

• Catholics have a centralised authority vs Protestants have a decentralised authority

  • This could be a problem as Catholics have one interpretation of the Bible to follow, whereas Protestants have infinite as each priest/reverend will have their own interpretation

• Catholics are more factual vs Protestants uphold multiple sources

• Catholics use natural law as part of their heteronomous approach vs Protestants are more likely to use situation ethics

• Catholics place emphasis on the teachings in the Old Testament vs Protestants emphasise the New Testament

How do Roman Catholics make ethical decisions? (Church tradition)

• morality is informed by the traditions and practices of the Church

• Catholics believe Jesus gave his authority to Peter, and it has been passed down ever since (currently lying with Pope Leo)

• Sacred tradition in the Catholic Church has equal authority to the Bible because the Church teaches it comes from Jesus

• The Catholic Church has a magisterium (its teaching authority) - it’s teachings have a God given authority that is equal to the authority of scripture

• This authority allows clear decisions on moral teachings across a range of areas

• The Catechism resolves to provide an unambiguous answer to many problems Christians face today, also suggesting a way of thinking about difficult moral decisions

• It reasserts the centrality of reason, conscience, natural law and the Magisterium in Catholic moral theology

• Pope John Paul II wrote an encyclical on moral theology called Veritas Splendor in the Catechism and argued that moral law is knowable to all people - all people in all cultures have some sense of good and evil

• Moral law may be known through human reason in the form of natural law and through conscience which awakens a person's awareness of Divine Law (God's laws revealed in the Bible)

• Nevertheless, because they are weak and sinful, humans cannot rely on reason and conscience alone - the Church's role is to guide individuals in their moral decisions.

How do Roman Catholics make ethical decisions? (Reason)

• Roman Catholics make moral decisions by following Thomas Aquinas' Natural Law

• Aquinas believed that humans are able to know God's eternal law through the power of reason - our reasoning tells us that good is to be done and evil is to be avoided

• We can achieve our purpose (union with God in heaven) by following God's Natural Law

• The primary precepts are: preservation of life, reproduction, educate children, worship God, live in an ordered society

• Our human laws (or secondary precepts) are detailed rules deduced by reasons from primary precepts - these include the protection of innocent human life (no murder, no abortion, no euthanasia), the goodness of marriage and wrongness of adultery, respect for property (in establishing an ordered society)

How do Protestants make ethical decisions? (Bible & Reason)

• Bible: For many Protestants the Bible is the primary source of authority because it is the Word of God

• Reason: For Protestant Christians, reason is the process on making sense of Bible and Church tradition

How do Protestants make ethical decisions? (Church tradition)

• Church tradition is how the community of the Church worships and prays using scripture

• The Bible starts tradition because it records the life of the first Christians in the New Testament letters of the Acts of the Apostles

• The Bible gives an account of how early Christians began to discuss what the teachings and works of Jesus meant to them in their lives

• In the book of Acts, there is an account of the early Church being inspired directly by the Holy Spirit which Christians believe continues to inspire it today - this gives the Church authority to formulate ethical codes for Christians, based on the scriptures

• Within Protestant churches, the church has an advisory role: It can recommend one action over another, it can condemn certain actions entirely - you can even be kicked out of the church for certain actions

• However, the individual is still left to decide where to stand in relation to church teaching - for Protestant churches which recognise church tradition, tradition is a way of interpreting the Bible, which may change with time as practice and meanings are seen in the light of the present

• However, ultimately, moral authority always rests with the Bible

What are some arguments against Heteronomous Christian ethics?

• Protestant concerns about ‘Sacred Tradition’: For many Protestants, the catholic view that tradition is equal to the Bible as a distinctive way of knowing the one source of revelation is problematic. Non conformist Protestant Churches see the traditions of Catholicism and Anglicanism as something apart from the rule of God - perhaps this process of following tradition is a distraction from the moral commands found in the Bible

• Jesus’ attitude to tradition: Philip Turner notes that traditions are sometimes criticised by Jesus. Jesus condemns the tradition or teaching of the Pharisees and the Scribes because their traditions represent the rules of men rather than the commandment of God

• Concerns about the exclusion of women’s perspectives: The feminist theologian Rosemary Radford Reuther is critical of the power of Church tradition. She argues that both tradition and the Bible are shaped almost exclusively by male experiences of life, which means the authority of tradition can be questioned because it excludes women’s experiences

• Concerns about reason being set against faith: Reason is sometimes viewed suspiciously by Christians as an attempt to create some distance from the sources of the Bible and tradition

• Authorities could still be flawed

• It is still reliant on the Bible, which has many previously mentioned flaws, and God’s existence, which isn’t proven

• Should the message of the Bible change?

• Interpretations could be skewed eg. Augustine argues that personal reason is flawed due to the Fall

• If someone sought advice from their local Protestant priest and didn’t like what they were told, they could simply find one with an opinion/interpretation that they agreed with (no centralised authority for Protestants so interpretations will differ) - this is flawed as people will simply try to find a way to justify anything based on the word of one priest

What are some arguments for Heteronomous Christian ethics?

• Even conservative Christians have to use reason to decide whether biblical commands are literal or symbolic, prescriptive or descriptive

• As the writers of the Bible wrote according to their circumstances and were limited in their knowledge of the world, the Bible may aid moral reflection but cannot be the sole source of moral authority

• It is still consistent, but can be flexible - Fletcher would argue this is important due to his working principle of relativism

• Can adapt past views to modern society

  • Example: Pope John Paul 2nd allowed contraception, even though it is against the Bible, to stop deaths during the AIDS crisis, even though being gay is against the Bible

• If you follow the authority, then you follow the people in power

• Universal for Catholics as they have a centralised authority (Pope) - mitigates the effects of multiple different interpretations

• Still uses Bible, which is an important source of ultimate authority as it is the word of God, but ensures that the interpretation is correct using the guidance of the Church

• Aquinas would support the use of reason (Natural Law)