The Search For A Universal Ethic The International Theological Commission S 2009 Document On Natural Law

The best contemporary English-language resource on pursuing a universal ethics In this volume twenty-three major scholars comment on and critically evaluate In Search of a Universal Ethic, the 2009 document written by the International Theological Commission (ITC) of the Catholic Church. That historic document represents an official Church contribution both to a more adequate understanding of a universal ethic and to Catholicism’s own tradition of reflection on natural law. The essays in this book reflect the ITC document’s complementary emphases of dialogue across traditions (universal ethic) and reflection on broadly applicable ethical guidance within the Christian tradition (natural law). Among other things, the document situates the natural law ethical tradition within the larger search for a universal ethic. Along with its insightful essays, Searching for a Universal Ethic offers — for the first time in published form — the Vatican’s official English translation of In Search of a Universal Ethic. Contributors: John Berkman Serge-Thomas Bonino, O.P. David Burrell, C.S.C. Lisa Sowle Cahill Joseph E. Capizzi David Cloutier Anver M. Emon Robert P. George Sherif Girgis Jennifer A. Herdt Russell Hittinger M. Cathleen Kaveny Anthony J. Kelly, C.Ss.R. Fergus Kerr, O.P. Steven A. Long William C. Mattison III Gilbert Meilaender Livio Melina Michael S. Northcott David Novak Jean Porter Martin Rhonheimer Tracey Rowland

In this volume twenty-three major scholars comment on and critically evaluate In Search of a Universal Ethic, the 2009 document written by the International Theological Commission (ITC) of the Catholic Church. That historic document represents an official Church contribution both to a more adequate understanding of a universal ethic and to Catholicism s own tradition of reflection on natural law. The essays in this book reflect the ITC document s complementary emphases of dialogue across traditions (universal ethic) and reflection on broadly applicable ethical guidance within the Christian tradition (natural law). Among other things, the document situates the natural law ethical tradition within the larger search for a universal ethic. Along with its insightful essays, Searching for a Universal Ethic offers — for the first time in published form — the Vatican s official English translation of In Search of a Universal Ethic. Contributors: John Berkman Serge-Thomas Bonino, O.P. David Burrell, C.S.C. Lisa Sowle Cahill Joseph E. Capizzi David Cloutier Anver M. Emon Robert P. George Sherif Girgis Jennifer A. Herdt Russell Hittinger M. Cathleen Kaveny Anthony J. Kelly, C.Ss.R. Fergus Kerr, O.P. Steven A. Long William C. Mattison III Gilbert Meilaender Livio Melina Michael S. Northcott David Novak Jean Porter Martin Rhonheimer Tracey Rowland

Christian ethics is a wide and varied field; so diverse are the methods and approaches, theological perspectives and starting points, and scopes of inquiry and purposes—dare we even call it a discipline?—that the field is rarely considered as a whole. Christian ethics includes historical, descriptive, critical, constructive, and applied projects on countless topics. Lending creative energy to this field of study are a range of partner disciplines, including, most prominently, theology, philosophy, and sociology, each containing multiple schools themselves. To envision the entire field of Christian ethics is a difficult task; to reenvision the entire field may perhaps be impossible for one person. Thus, this publication includes original research by multiple scholars, each offering a distinct perspective from their primary partner discipline. Chapters include Roman Catholic and Protestant voices from Europe, Asia, and North America. In aggregate, these writings contribute to a composite reenvisioning of Christian ethics, refracting our collective vision through the prisms of diverse academic and methodological perspectives in this vast field of inquiry, study, and practice.

This book compares historical and modern natural law ideas across global Christian traditions and explores their use in church law.

In her book Hille Haker pleads for a radical course correction of Catholic social ethics by focusing on three foundational concepts of social ethics: human rights, human dignity and moral responsibility based on the interplay of compassion, solidarity and justice. The author argues for a historically and politically mediated ethics that replaces the natural law ethics. The theoretical reflections of the book are carried out by the practical social-ethical studies: The politicization of individual human rights is examined in the contexts of migration, religious freedom, and criminal justice. Human dignity is spelled out as "vulnerable agency" allowing for a sharp criticism of Catholic sexual morality and neglect of women's human rights.The book ends with a discussion of the relationship of political theology and political ethics and its social-ethical implications for the further development of a Critical Political Ethics.

How do ethical norms relate to human nature? This comprehensive and interdisciplinary volume surveys the latest thinking on natural law.

Theological Ethics in the book title is intended to mark a departure from the manner of Catholic practice named Moral Theology. This departure has two strands, because the practice that the Second Vatican Council critically addressed was a manualist tradition, while much of the practice following the Council has been represented as relativist. This book is not manualist in that the focus is upon method rather than on codified specification of behaviours. The work is not relativist in that the focus on method is firstly scriptural, approaching scripture in a holistic or canonical manner; and, further, is lawful, in an approach of law that focuses less on precept and more on understandings of natural law that brings together phenomenological evidences and scriptural evidences. The scriptural and natural law perspective present in the book also engages cross-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary learnings. These streams of scripture, natural law, and inter/cross-disciplinary learnings have a confluence in discourse in the manner of dialogue, a manner that is dialogical. An essential aspect of dialogue under the banner of Reconstructing Theological Ethics is that it should engage contemporary culture––not in a sense that contemporaneity or modernity should be determinative, but in the sense that the reasoning, argumentation, and dialogue should have resonance with contemporary thinking and rethinking of issues that remain in contention for contemporary audiences. Theological Ethics is a wide remit, and the book provides a methodological focus on Selected Topics in Human Sexuality.