christian moral principles

what are theonomous christian ethics?

Ethics as governed by God's law or commands (ethics should be based on the bible)

what denomination of Christianity has a theronomous view of christian ethics?

Protestantism

who started the protestant reformation and why?

- Martin Luther (and John Calvin)

- Disagreed with wealth + corruption of the church (people paying to have less time in purgatory)

- Believed the Church had deviated from God's revelation in the Bible for their own political earthly agenda

- Believed the Church has less authority than the Bible -> only need the Bible

where do the beliefs of theonomy stem from?

Since we are sinful + ignorant by nature, we are incapable of living good lives based on our own powers of reason -> moral values + rules must be revealed by God

what is Bliblicism/Fundamentalism?

Belief that the Bible is the revealed word of God + the writers of the Bible were directly inspired by God -> Bible is the only source of authority for Christian ethics

what does having a propositional approach to scripture mean?

- Believe that the Bible is a collection of messages from God + God is revealed directly to the reader through the words on the page

- Literal interpretation + has a truth value

what does the propositional approach to scripture give the Bible?

Authority -> is an infallible source of info, inerrancy of scripture

what does having a non-propositional approach to scripture mean?

- Believe that God didn't write the Bible when he revealed himself in Jesus but lived a human life + died a human death

- More personal + metaphorical interpretation

- Procedural/experiential knowledge

what quote suggests that the authors of the Bible were only inspired by God?

"I have put my words in your mouth"

- This doesn't take away the character of the human authors

Why does Mouw reject situational approaches?

-  Our whole duty consists of obeying God’s commandments… we must conform to whatever God requires of us … that guidance is transmitted through parables … divine dealings … or sentences which embody commands.” (from Biblical Interpretations)

What factors did Richard B Hays say is included in Christian moral decision making?

- Accuracy -> how accurate is the account

- Range -> what range of texts are used (similar references elsewhere?)

- Select -> does a particular selection of passages tend to be used, rather than the Bible as a whole?

- Contradiction/management -> how are different texts managed

- Focal image -> e.g the loving Jesus vs the Jesus of righteous anger

What does "Sola Scripture" mean?

By scripture alone -> it is infallible + self-authenticating (if there is a problem with understanding the text, the problem lies with us)

What does "Prima Scriptura" mean?

The Bible is the principle source of authority but is understood through Christian tradition + reason

What do Hays and Spohn argue about scripture?

You cannot examine scripture without reference to Church communities + traditions in which it functions

What does covenant mean?

God's special promises + agreement made with humans that require special behaviour from them (as stated in the Bible)

How does the Old Testament respond to God's covenant?

- Establishes ethics as social + personal

- OT prophets (e.g Amos) focus on social justice + fair treatment of the poor as a proper response to God's covenant

How does the New Testament respond to God's covenant?

- Jesus' Sermon on the Mount -> new covenant is not just about following the laws set out in the OT but involve a pure inner motivation + developing virtues -> "be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matthew)

- Devotion to God + love of one's neighbour is inseparable + more important than anything else

What did Karl Barth say about literalism?

- Gave a high value to scripture but said literalism could be dangerous

- Gives the Bible a divine status that can only be given to God (bibliolatry)

- Words of the Bible are witness too God's word not the word or truth itself -> revealed himself through different writers

What did Niel Messer believe about how the Bible should be read?

- Bible must be read critically as a source of inspiration

- Must take into account what type of literature a text belongs to

- Reader needs to use these appropriately + see how they fit into broad themes (love, justice, covenant) + whether they are symbolic, metaphorical or literal

→‘There are different ways you can draw on the Bible and different kinds of scripture – some may not be as easy to draw on as the direct commandments of the teachings of Jesus.’

What did Paul D Miller believe about the Bible?

Includes universal truths but are always culturally conditioned

What are some problems with reading the Bible?

- Contradictions
- Translation mistakes
- Different interpretations

What are some contradictions in the Bible?

OT

- "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth"

- Capital punishment for murder (Gensis),

NT

- "Love your enemy"

- "Turn the other cheek"

- "Love your neighbour"

Which contemporary theologians believed we should read some of the Bible allegorically?

- Richard Mouw -> different aspects of the Bible should be used to inform our decisions (e.g more relevant commandments)

- Feminist theologians -> the Bible may be culturally conditions (e.g widely believed that God has a masculine identity)

What are the criticisms of theonomous Christian ethics?

- Impossible to read the Bible without interpretation -> will always read it subjectively + from a POV informed by our own experience (to read it literally is a subjective choice)

- Danger of bias + narrowness

- Harder to adapt when moral ethics is based on the Bible (fixed source that doesn't change)

- must explain internal contradictions, decide how passages are applied to life today

- The Bible does not state that it should be the only source of authority (solar scriptura is not a part of the Bible)

- Complex -> different experiences of God that may be approached in different ways -> hard to come to a "truth"

what is heteronomous Christian ethics?

Belief that moral authority comes from a combination of the Church, Bible, reason and tradition

what is tradition?

Practices not included in the Bible that have been passed on + developed to help interpret the Bible (e.g liturgy) -> distinct from sacred scripture but closely connected to it

how has Catholic tradition changed?

- Continued through leaders, theologians, Church councils + debates about the Bible as being a significant source of authority

- As the world has changed, so has our understanding of it (e.g medical science with IVF, same-sex marriages)

what denomimation of Christianity holds a heteronomous belief about moral ethics?

Catholicism

What does Catholic ethics require?

Not just the Bible but referring to Church authority, the natural world, reason and conscience

What is the Magesterium?

- The teaching authority of the Church expressed in the Pope, Bishops + Catholic Council

- One of the three sources of authority alongside scripture and tradition

- Allows clear decisions on moral teaching across a range of areas

• acts as the collective teaching of the church

What is a Papal encyclical?

A letter/official teaching with doctrinal authority issues by the Pope to the senior clergy + is then passed onto all congregations (collective wisdom of Church leaders + teachers)

How does reason and conscience tie in with the Church?

- Moral knowledge is available to all -> synderisis

- The conscience awakens a person's awareness of divine law

- BUT people are weak + sinful -> can't rely on reason + conscience alone

- Church's role is to guide individuals in their moral conscience

what are the strengths of the heteronomous approach?

- Jesus told his disciples to make "disciples of all nations" + "whoever hears you, hears me" -> Catholic church interprets this as Christ telling them to preach what they had learned -> gave the Church the authority to create its own teachings (Apostlolic succession)

- Tradition has equal authority to the Bible because the teachings come from Jesus -> oral tradition handed by Jesus to his disciples

what are the issues with Papal infallibility?

Popes have been greedy, sinful (even Peter denied knowing Jesus 3 times)

what are the weaknesses of the heteronomous approach?

- The Church has committed many atrocities (paedophilia, slavery, corruption) BUT Catholics would say that the Church can sin because it is populated by humans but Jesus still wanted them to be a source of moral authority

- Can't safely rely on our reason because we are corrupted by the Fall (Luther, Calvin, Barth)

- Karl Barth -> dangerous overreliance on human reason -> makes revelation unnecessary (but it's necessary because God sent Jesus)

- Ruether -> the Bible is shaped by male experiences -> universality + authority can be questioned due to lack of female experiences

what does autonomy mean in the context of moral ethics?

Individual people have to figure out for themselves what is right or wrong; self-governed, humans impose moral rules on themselves

what is the autonomous view of the Bible?

- Bible is not a special revealed document
- Is a series of deep reflections on ultimate questions with timeless relevance
- Source of study + revelation

why does Fletcher reject heteronomy?

form of legalism that doesn't take situations into account

what is agape?

- Self-sacrificing
- Unconditional
- Undeserved
- "Other-centeredness"

what issues does Fletcher think the Bible faces?

View 1: view the Bible as needing interpretation -> impossibility of deciding whose interpretation is correct

View 2: take the Bible literally -> the “headache” of interpreting what the bible meant is far less trouble compared to trying to live as a literalist

what view does Fletcher have of the Bible?

- Liberal view

- Ethical teaching (e.g sermon on the mount) at most offer us ‘some paradigms or suggestions’

- Doesn't think Christians should view the rules as unbreakable -> whatever maximises agape is allowed (no matter the action)

how did Tillich view love?

- Love is guided by wisdom + justice is the backbone
- Agape includes all dimensions of love (philius etc)

• Moral puritanism

what is moral puritanism?

- Agape is a person centred moral principle binding us to the other person + their situation

- Love needs to act in the immediate, concrete moral situation facing the person, not a hypothetical situation

what does Tillich argue about tradition?

- Traditional laws are wisdom of the past (e.g 10 commandments)

- Not meant to operate as abstract technical forces telling us what to do in every situation -> against the person centred principle of love

- "Nobody should feel compelled - religiously and morally - to follow laws unconditionally"

- Gives authority to individuals of what to do in a particular situation (not just what previous rules suggest) -> rules must be interpreted through love

what does Pope Francis teach about love?

Advocates moral guidance grounded in love

- Recognises rules of church tradition but also the challenges of modern life + the difficulties of human relationships

- "Nor is it helpful to impose rules by sheer authority"

criticisms of autonomous ethics?

- Other important moral values (SoL, forgiveness, truthfulness, justice) -> can't be disregarded + have to be balanced with rule of love

- Christianity includes distinctive, propositional, objective "truths" about reality (incarnation, salvation, afterlife) -> make a difference to moral values + are at odds with secular ethics

- Questions authority of the Church (magisterium) + Bible -> increases risk of subjectivity, injustice (+ problem of predicting consequences)

how is the context (in which Christian ethics is understood) distinctive?

- Set of beliefs about God -> became incarnate (Jesus) to offer salvation/his grace

- Clash between sinful reality (problem of evil) + heaven (future peace + justice)

- Love of God + neighbour aren't separate but part of a covenant agreement

what did Pojman argue about the context of Christian ethics?

It is inspiring -> gives motivation to be moral + confidence to persevere (good will win over evil in the end)

what are the first order moral principles of Christian ethics?

- Sanctity of life
- Agape
- Forgiveness + repentance
- Inner purity, motivation + character development

what are the second order moral principles of Christian ethics?

- Truthfulness
- Justice
- Wisdom
- Wealth should NOT be more important than relationship with God
- Responsible stewardship of the earth

what makes Christian ethics distinctive?

- Moral values (not content)
- Sources of information + ideas about authority
- Diversity of approaches to moral decision making

what did Kung say about Christian ethics?

nothing in the content of Christian ethics which could not be found by any person of good will BUT unique motivation to care for others (agape)

what does Pojman see as unique to theism?

Sanctity of life

what did Fletcher see as distinctive?

Agape (other-centeredness, undeserved, unconditional, self-sacrificing)

what are the sources of authority in Christian ethics?

- Bible (specific revelation)
- Nature (general revelation)
- Church tradition
- Reason
- Conscience

why are the methods of moral decision making in Christian ethics not distinctive?

• Similar to other religions -> following scripture, tradition + community leaders

• Point of contact with secular ethics using reason + conscience

• Natural law has similarities with Kantian ethics (duty based)

• Situation ethics could be described as being the Christian version of act-utilitarianism

why does Richard Hays argue for heteronomous ethics?

“The interpretation of scripture can never occur in a vacuum.”

what did Leeuwen say about a heteronomous approach?

“Individualistic reading of the Bible is unbiblical.”

why does Stanley Hauerwas argue for a heteronomous approach?

- Christian ethics cannot be autonomous but can only be done with a Christian community since Christian ethics begins with the  Bible but continues through tradition.

- Christian communities must develop to address novel moral issues.

why does Morris argue for a theonomous approach?

“finite man is inexcusable when he seeks to change God’s word.”

why does Wilkinson argue for a heteronomous approach?

“Even if, as some believe, Scripture is ‘the Word of God’ … we cannot straightforwardly say that its meaning will be plain. The danger of doing so would be idolatry, the in the sense of making God in our own image.”

“The Bible is not a self-authenticating document, nowhere does it command literal acceptance of itself.”

why does John Paull II (in Veritas Splendour) argue for heteronomy?

JPII reasserted the centrality of reason, conscience, natural law and the Magisterium in Catholic moral theology.

Argued that moral knowledge is knowable to all people as all culture have some sense of good and evil – the conscience awakens a person’s awareness of divine law.

what is an issue with theonomous ethics - interpreting the Bible?

• someone needs to interpret the Bible → who has the authority to interpret the Bible

e.g. encyclicals such as humane vite and mulieris dignitatem

what does theonomous ethics state about scripture?

sola scriptura enables the individual to have a direct relationship with God

how does theonomous ethics link to divine command theory?

asserts moral principles are based on God’s commands - actions are right or wrong based on accordance with divine will

how does John Paul II criticise heteronomous ethics?

veritatis splendour - moves away from consequentialist

importance of moral autonomy founded in divine truth - true freedom is aligning one’s conscience with the objective moral order established by God

what is the autonomy in theonomous ethics?

Individual autonomy to obey God's moral laws grounded in divine authority

why does heteronomous ethics need obedience?

Emphasis on obedience to external authorities or moral codes in heteronomous ethics

what is the relationship with God in theonomous ethics?

Central role of the relationship with God in moral decision-making in theonomous ethics

what is the relationship with God in heteronomous ethics?

Focus on adherence to external laws rather than personal communion with God in heteronomous ethics

how flexible is theonomous ethics?

May allow diverse interpretations rooted in God's character in theonomous ethics

how flexible is heteronomous ethics?

Less flexibility, strict adherence to established norms or interpretations in heteronomous ethics

what is a priesthood of all believers?

Luther's concept emphasizing individual conscience and scripture interpretation.

what does Chesterton quote about tradition?

Tradition is the democracy of the dead’.

how does Turner reject tradition?

sometimes snubbed by Jesus when they go against the word of God. For example, when Jesus worked on the Sabbath.