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NATURAL LAW
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See the passing of the first millennium the rise of european universities. Systematic thought was becoming more and more important ●
Theology’s approach becomes one of integrating, summarising and articulating its subjects of study
Era of Summas ●
Summas are summary treatises that produced great writings in systematic theology. Summas were often attempts to proclaim the gospel in a philosophically consistent and logically compelling manner
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Two prominent thinkers who contributed to this development were saint bonaventure and thomas aquinas Who was bonaventure?
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Bonaventure was an italian franciscan friar (1217-1274 ce) who taught theology at the university of paris. He attempted, in his theology, to integrate faith and reason, and was influenced by the platonic tradition, which had prevailed in the centuries before. It is from this perspective that Bonaventure developed a synthesis of Christian theology and morality Synthesising theology and morality
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Central characteristic of people was their will, their power to decide and act
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The intellect, while important, was in the order of means, a tool to be used for action
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Love was the centre of the moral life. Knowledge and practical deeds were secondary
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The role of theology is to make intelligible what Scripture teaches about Christ and moral life Who was thomas aquinas?
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(1225-1274) was an italian dominican priest of the roman catholic church and member of the domincan religious order. His work is unparalleled in terms of its influence in the church
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At the time of aquinas, the writings of aristotle were being rediscovered and aquinas drew on aristotle for his articulation of christian theology. For aquinas (following aristotle) humans are intellectual beings or rational animals. Their highest achievement is contemplation
An interest in ethical quesitons
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One seciton of aquinas’ summa theologiae titled pars secunda was a treatise on moral theology. It dealt first with general concepts and then with specific ethical topics. The important point is that aquina incorporated these ethical discussions into his overall synthesis of christian theology
Key points from aquinas in relation to ethics ●
Aquinas was concerned with protecting the notion of a human agent who is the responsible author of his or her own actions
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Human beings are not just “spectators” of the world-orde rin which everything that happens is caused by god’s will. Rather, human beings are actors in the world. God has given human beings the capacity to be reasonable and responsible agents Aristotle’s influence on aquinas
Briefly, aristotle:
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rejected Plato's explanation of reality as involving unchanging Forms.
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was concerned with the phenomenal world, that is, the world that can be known empirically.
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was concerned to differentiate reality and understand how it grows, develops and changes.
For Aristotle, the good consists in the realization of the ends that are potential in one's nature. (Think of an acorn. The 'end' that is potential in an acorn's 'nature' is an oak tree.)
Thomas Aquinas was hugely influenced by Aristotle's notion of the good. We see this influence in Aquinas' ethics, which is described as teleological.
For Aquinas
, a good life under the control of the right reason consists of the best use of:
■
one's rational powers (intellect and will)
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one's lower capacities (appetites and bodily activities)
Teleological and deontological Definitions
What is teleology?
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Derived from greek word telos meaning ‘end’, ‘purpose’ or ‘goal’ and logos meaning ‘the study of’. Of, pertaining to, or involving teleology; relating to ends or final causes;
dealing with design or purpose, esp. In natural phenomena ●
Theory of ethics called teleological ethics. The focus here is on the ‘end’ or ‘consequences’ of an act. An example of this type of ethics, is utiliatiranism, which asserts that the criterion of right and wrong actions is whether they maximise welfare,
that is, the greatest good for the greater number
What is deontology?
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Deontology comes from the greek word deon meaning ‘law’ or ‘duty’ and logos meaning ‘the study of’. The focus in deontological ethics is the ‘law’, the ‘rule’ or the ‘duty’, which takes priority over the results of an action Relation to ends and means ●
Ends: ethic of consequences - (teology)
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Focus = the results of a situation
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Means: ethic of principle (deontology)
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Focus = the principles or rules that guide our actions Christians must act in an imperfect and sinful world in which, not infrequently, the possibilities of an action or inaction all seem, in different ways, morally questionable. Harmless activity may not be harmless
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Some insists: “the higher and more noble an end is, the more it justifies any means used in achieving it”
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Others insist: “in moral matters, the means affects the end: ie. the means are not morally indifferent, and a sharp distinction between means and ends is never possible Example: greenpeace
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Members of greenpeace, an intl organisation that works for environmental conservation and the preservation of endangered species, often break the law in their
effort to get publicity about what they think is right and wrong. For these members of greenpeace, the end (raising awareness of and preventing activities that are harming
the environment or endangering species) justifies the means (breaking the law, damaging property, endangering their own lives and the lives of others). The head of greenpeace, kumi naidoo, states that it is justifiable to break the law inert people to the threat of climate change Example: my brother’s keeper
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A deontologist
will say that what i did was wrong because i lied and lying is always wrong no matter what the circumstances. So, for the deontologist, the end (keeping my brother safe) never justifies the means (lying)
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A teleologist would say that my lying was justified because it protects my brother from harm. So for the teleologist, the end (protecitng my brother from harm) can sometimes justify the means (lying)
The basis of natural law
The basic principle of natural law is: good should be sought after and done, evil avoided. This is known through an intellectual intuition of practical precepts of moral behaviour.
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Natural Law
○
Constitutes an objective set of principles that can be seen as true by the natural light of reason. The claim of the natural law tradition is that moral knowledge is accessible not just to believers but to anyone who is willing to reflect critically on human experience. Natural law assumes that human beings are essentially good and have a capacity to know and choose what is right.
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The Biblical Basis of Natural Law
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The parables of Jesus use ordinary human experiences to highlight basic human values. Paul, in particular, was explicit in his reference to 'nature' as a source of moral knowledge for those who did not have access to the revelation of the God of Israel. Critical reflection on experience is sufficient for
moral enlightenment. (Romans 1:20)
Other sources of natural law ●
Greek Philosophy
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However, the natural law tradition in Christian ethics is due more to Greek philosophy than scriptures. The key Greek philosopher was Aristotle who influenced Aquinas in particular.
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For Aristotle, human nature is rational, therefore, morally good actions are those that are directed (through reason) toward the full actualization of human
potential. While we all have natural capacities for virtue (or vice), these capacities must be developed as habits through practice.
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In the same way that we become better athletes or musicians through practice, we become virtuous by doing virtuous things. We begin by doing objectively virtuous acts because they are taught to us or commanded of us. We are not yet interiorly motivated or do not yet use our reason to choose the
"good". Eventually, through education and habit, virtuous actions come from our own reasoning and intention.
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Romans and the ‘law’ of the natural order
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Another important source of natural law were the Romans who emphasized the 'law' of the natural order. Cicero (d. 43 b.c.e.) wrote of "natural law as the innate power of reason to direct action. To live according to the law given in
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nature is to live according to what reason commands."
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“Order of nature” and “order of reason”
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By the time of the Middle Ages and Aquinas, two strains of interpretation of natural law prevailed. One was the "order of nature" which focused on the physical and biological structures given in nature as a source of morality. The second, the "order of reason" focused on the human capacity to discover in experience what promotes human flourishing and well-being. Aquinas accepted both strains.
Aquinas’ formulation of natural law Connecting natural law with practical reason and eternal law Overview:
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Aquinas links natural law both with practical reason (of which humans are capable) and with eternal law, which posits that god is ultimately the source of moral value and
moral obligation. Everything participates in god’s eternal law according to its nature. So animals participate by instinct and humans participate through reason The work of reason:
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For aquinas, even though the immediate source of moral knowing is human reason, god’s eternal law is the underlying source
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The work of reason is to discover what being human means. Reason does this by reflecting on the total human experience, not merely biological
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Reason “entails the totality of the human tendency to want to know the whole of reality and come to truth”
Our moral duties ●
Our moral duties are known through our best practical judgement on what is required
for any particular personal problem ●
His understanding of natural law:
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Moral duties can be ascertained by reflection on human nature
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God’s plan for us is built into our nature by god’s creation of us
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Based on roman’s 2:14-16 - a law written in our hearts Reflection on human nature ●
By using our reason to reflect on our human nature, we can discover both:
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“Specific” ends
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The specific ends toward which we tend
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An example of a specific end is learning to play a musical instrument. The actual effort we undergo to learn to plan a musical instrument aims at the specific end of playing the instrument ○
“General” ends ■
The general end for which god created us ■
An example of a general end is “happiness” toward which all human beings are oriented. We all seek happiness as a “general end” of our acts. So, learning to play a musical instrument is the specific end and the happiness we experience doing this is the general end To sum up
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For aquinas, this understanding of god’s plan for us, built into our nature by god’s ct of creation is natural law
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For aquinas, special revelation is not necessary for moral knowledge
THE REFORMATION During the years between the death of Bonaventure and Aquinas and the time of Martin Luther, Christian thinkers became less optimistic about a "natural" knowledge of good and evil or of being able to identify or predict intrinsically good or intrinsically bad acts and so, the
possibility of an objective component to ethical decision-making became less and less feasible. This was due to a philosophic movement known as nominalism.
What is nomalism?
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The best way to understand the meaning of "nominalism" is to compare it with "realism". ○
Both nominalism and realism are epistemological theories (epistemology is the study of knowledge, that is, it is concerned with how we know anything.) ●
Example: ○
Think about a concept like "humanity". What exactly is "humanity"? Realism would say that "humanity" is a universal concept that exists apart from the individuals to which "humanity" refers and is something that all human beings share in common. We can think of a philosopher such as Plato who argued that there exists somewhere a more perfect form of every thing that exists in the world. So, for realism, somewhere there exists "humanity".
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Nominalism, on the other hand, would say that there is no reality called "humanity" independent of the particular individuals. So, for example, there are four individuals – John, Mary, Susan and Peter. These individuals may share something in common that we call "humanity" but "humanity" is located in John, Mary, Susan and Peter and not apart from the individuals to which it refers.
Who was martin luther?
1.
Overview:
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If aquinas built his moral theology on th ebasis of a natural law providing human beings with th innate capacity to discern good and evil, nomanalism denied the possiblity for human beings to know anything beyond the concrete and the particular. Thus, if the church (and society) could not impose rational guides for action the other alternative became the demand for conformity. We see develop in the 13th and 14th centuries a kind of ethical legalism which, as
with most forms of legalism, led to enormous abuse by those in power, both in
the church and in the nations
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Into this situation came one of the most influential figures in the history of Christendom was martin luther (1483-1546) a german, Augustinian monk 2.
The reformation
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Luther - the originator of the reformation in europe
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Reformation:
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The 16th century movement for reformation of the doctrines and practices of the roman catholic church which ended in the establishment of protestant churches ●
Luther was tortured by personal feelings of inadequacy and sinfulness. He studied the writings of st. paul and taught theology at the university of wittenberg. However, when luther became an augustinian monk, the church
was far removed from the gospel ideal. Luther was a perfectionist and could never live up to his own expectations for himself 3.
The issue of indulgences
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Luther’s criticism with the catholic church centred on the issue of “indulgences” ●
Indulgence:
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Roman catholic teaching states that: “an indulgence is what we receive when the church lessense the temporal (lasting only for a short time) penalties to which we may subject even though our sins have been forgiven” ●
In the early church and at the time of luther, penances could be quite severe. The church taught the penances ould be shortened or lessened through acts of charity or good works. This became the source of extreme tension for further when, in 1516, johann tetzel, a dominican friar and paper commissioner for indulgences, was sent to germany by the roman catholic church to sell indulgences to raise money to rebuild st. peter’s vasilica in rome. The catholic church taught that justification depends not only on faith but also on the acts of charity and good work a person performs. Donating money to the church was considered a ‘good work’ 4.
Protest against the corruption in the church ●
In response, luther emphasised that faith alone saved a human being. In 1517, he launched his protest against hte corruption of the papacy and the roman catholic church. Luther and most of the reformation movements stressed return to original gospel teachings Faith working through love ●
Luther felt that natural law undercuts the need for grace. He emphasized that fallen humanity is in need of Christ's revelation if human beings are to know what is good in
God's eyes.
Here, luther referred to paul’s letter ot the romans, 1:17
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel: it is the power of God for salvation to every one who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God
is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, "He who through faith is righteous shall live."
Luther roundly condemned the moral and rational work-righteousness inherent in the philosophical theology of the Roman Church. He emphasized that before God, reason must submit to scripture and works must bow to faith. Reason and good works are the result of the freedom gained through the unmerited forgiveness of Christ. Luther portrays the biblical pattern of a life of "faith working through love."
To sum up, Luther:
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Rejected the intellectual tradition of Thomas Aquinas
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Re-appropriates the biblical tradition with its emphasis on surrender to God.
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Insists that faith alone saves - not good works.
PREDESTINATION
Who was john calvin?
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John calvin (1509-1564) french theologian and significant architect of the reformation
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Calvin taught:
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Christian life
understood to be a life of faith and faithfulness in response to god’s grace
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Salvation is entirely the gift of god’s grace; in no respect is it the effect of human “works”
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Moral effort is response to grace, essential but not independently initiated ●
For calvin, christian ethics is about the response of the human subject to what god has already done. Calvin stressed the importance of “vocation” and that god calls us to a morally responsive life
Calvin’s legacy: predestination
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Calvin accepted Luther's criticisms against the Roman Catholic Church and pushed the positions to their logical conclusions; e.g., if everything was God's work, then an absolute and formal pre-destination was clearly a fact, and human free will played no part in one's being saved or lost.
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Calvin systematically works out a doctrine of predestination and defines predestination as…
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“God's eternal decree, by which He compacted with himself what he willed to become of each man. For all are not created in equal condition; rather, eternal
life is foreordained for some, eternal damnation for others.” (
Institutes of the Christian Religion,
III, 21, 5)
Free will and determination
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Believers in free will:
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At least some human actions are the result of free rational choice of humans
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Supporters of determinism
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All human behaviour is due to the operation of causes similar to those which determine the course of events in the natural world ●
Various forms of determinism:
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physical and chemical — for example, our genes determine many aspects of our personality. There is medication for depression because many think that depression is caused by a chemical imbalance.
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Sociological — behaviour is determined by the society we live in. Most people
simply conform to the standards and patterns of behaviour of the society to which they belong. For example, a social institution like schools will shape how we think about things. Also, we may think we choose the clothes we wear but in reality the range of choices is determined by the society in which we live.
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Economic — human behaviour is shaped by economic factors. Marxism is an example of this. Studies suggest that crime rates are higher among the very poor.
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Theological — for example, Calvin’s strong emphasis on divine providence and predestination.
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Reason and grace vs freedom and determinism
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The dialectic between reason and grace is the theological counterpart of the ethical dialectic between freedom and determinism.
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Some think that the human will is so disabled by sin that it cannot choose good except through the supervention of grace (thus determinism).
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Others think that the human person has the capacity to develop and grow and so has the capacity to choose good over evil (Thus freedom).
COUNTER REFORMATION The counter reformation and the council of trent ●
Counter-Reformation is the revival of the Roman Catholic Church between the mid-
16th and mid-17th centuries.
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It had its origins in reform movements that were independent of the Protestant Reformation, but it increasingly became identified with, and took its name from, efforts to 'counter' the Protestant Reformation.
Responding to Protestantism ●
The fight against Protestantism encouraged the reforming movement with the Roman
Catholic Church but it did not create it. It gave Catholic reform a dynamic and vitality. There was an effort to revitalize the ancient practices. Medieval Catholicism sought its highest expressions of devotion in the monastic life.
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New orders and reforms
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During the Counter-Reformation, new orders were founded or new forms were given to established orders.
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An example of a new order was the Jesuits and a new form of an older order (the Franciscans) was the Capuchins.
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There was general agreement that reform was needed, but no agreement on how it should take shape.
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Two main positions: 1) Conciliation and concession with Protestants and 2) Refusing all concession
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Increasing the number of clergy
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The history of the Counter-Reformation is in part the history of the triumph of the conservatives and the militant over the conciliatory and the liberal. If there
is a single theme running through the reforming endeavours of the Catholic Reformation it is the quest for a more adequate clergy.
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Seminaries were established
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Education provided to the seminarians emphasized the behaviour
necessary for the Catholic
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A separate moral theology emerged
Council of trent ●
The Council of Trent (1545 - 1563) was the 19th ecumenical council (a meeting of the
bishops of the whole church convened to discuss and settle matters of Church doctrine and practice) held in the Italian city of Trent.
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The Council was the church's formal response to the challenges of the Reformation movement. It sought to both correct what the Catholic church saw as the imbalance of Luther and the Reformers while at the same time heeding the objections Luther and others raised.
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At the time of the Council of Trent, the Church took up a defensive posture to protect itself from the Reformation. The Council of Trent sought to provide clear lines which would distinguish Protestant protest from Catholic doctrine. It treated doctrine and discipline in parallel.
In its effort to respond to specific challenges of Protestantism it emphasized:
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faith alone was not sufficient for justification, it must be accompanied by hope and love (charity).
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unwritten traditions and Scripture were to be received with equal reverence.
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the seven sacraments (Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Communion, Confession, Marriage, Holy Orders and Last Rites).
Trent emphasised free will and good works ●
Trent formally incorporated into its binding teaching the doctrine of the ancient Council of Orange affirming both free will and the gratuity of the beginnings of grace, while denying predestination to damnation.
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But Trent added, following the exhortation of the Bible and of common sense, the necessity of doing good works. It also clearly affirmed that good works in Christ merit a reward, not of themselves, but because of Christ.
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The Council of Trent insisted that the Christian sacraments were efficacious instruments through which God acted to confer grace.
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There was great emphasis placed on the practicalities of behaviour.
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Seminaries were established to train priests. This helped to ensure clear and consistent teaching of doctrine.
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For the first time a clear and formal system for the education of clergy was developed. Clergy were taught the behaviour necessary for the Catholic.
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The Council of Trent insisted on the importance of knowing proper moral action.
The legacy of the council of trent:
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Moral theology emerged as a discipline distinct from other theological disciplines. It became cut off from sacred scripture and spirituality and became aligned with canon law.
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The focus was practical concern: is a particular action sinful and, if so, how sinful?
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The point of reference was the 10 commandments and the laws of the Church.
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No real consideration of the character or virtue of a person.
The importance of the sacrament of penance
Trent: a reforming council on the sacrament 1.
The moral manual method ●
As reforming council, trent stressed the importance of the sacrament of penance
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Attempted to reform the catholic institution and catholic life
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All catholic were obligated to confess once a year, therefore it was necessary to train priests. The moral manual method spread in this context
2.
Determining clear guidelines ●
In the seminary, the teaching of morality became closely allied with canon law
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The focus was determining clear and concise guides for the kinds of behaviour, which were allowed and those that were forbidden
3.
Emphasis on the sacrament ●
The emphasis on the sacrament of penance meant priests emphasis on the sacrament needed to be trained to serve as confessors. The practical problem of the confessor was to determine if the penitent has sinned or not and if the penitent had sinned, how series was the offense. This became the primary focus of moral theology-determinig the sinfulness of actions and the principles underlying the correct solution of cases 4.
Moral theology focus
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The manuals of moral theology emerged as a way of helping priests in their role as confessors. The manuals were focused on the individual acts in order to determine the degree of sinfulness. The moral manuals attempted to lay out what was permitted and what was forbidden
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The key questions used ot assess ones actions were:
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What am i doing?
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Is it allowed?
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How far can i go?
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Moral theology became more and more legalistic and narrowing