REL261 Final
George
"'Same-Sex Marriage' and 'Moral Neutrality'" (ER), - From class: can't have a law that is morally neutral - clarifying what marriage is and what acts constitute marriage - instrumental vs, intrinsic good of marriage, nonheterosexual married sexs are by definition instrumental goods - arguing against the idea that moral judgment cannot be the basis for "the public law of matrimony" - marriage is between man and women because its based on the ability to reproduce: "no martial act not reproductive in type - this act is instrumental and intrinsically good -point of sex is marriage rather than physical pleasure -unites biological and spiritual - doesn't have to do with sterility - "one flesh union" - liberal arguments view homo and hetero sex as the same thing when they are not - unity of body, sense, emotion, reason, and will is central to our understanding of humanness itself" - government should support the correct conception not be neutral - will cause confusion about what exactly marriage is, and if people don't know they wont be able to participate in it
Gregory
"Agape and Special Relations in a Global Economy" (ER) -main q: "How should a Christian, in a country like the United States, understand his or her obligation to strangers during globalization?" -Christians should agree w/ singer but not because they follow his reasoning -increasing discussion of business ethics by Christians dif from Singer: Christians reject the view that Christians (either individually or collectively) are responsible for either the ultimate or the entire moral good of the world. - ordo amoris, an "order of love." -closer relations deserve more love - does globalization change this? -framework of good Samaritan, talks about Singer explicitly, controversy over the importance of proximity and distance to Christians -Augustine- compassion as potentially dangerous to self and view of others, believes our location "places restraints on our capacity to love others in need" -Christians shouldn't use proximity to decide if they should help or not but should ask "are you crossing to the other side?" purposefully to avoid helping
Andolsen
"Agape in Feminist Ethics" (ER), agape vs. self love women have different sins than men - give too much of themselves, so agape is not a proper moral goal for them From class: home v. public division perfect love as "mutuality" self love vs. self sacrifice, agape - need to give and receive love, both can be difficult bring spheres of family and politics together, solution- look at god in himself in the trinity for perfect love, sets example of mutuality from review sesh: pride as number one sin, call to sacrifice in order to right- Jesus who gives his life for others, we are called to imitate him by serving others, andelson says that has shaped the Christian tradition because it has been shaped by men (pride is not the issue for women) actually if you look at the experience of women in church, society and family, women are less likely to suffer from pride, instead they sacrifice too much -god wants you to be who you're meant to be so women should push back against that
E.O. Wilson
"Apocalypse Now" (ER) - biologist talking to pastor, "You and I", see similarities between -alliance between religion and science - needed for grassroots movement -reverence for life is what unites the two, idea of "stewardship" in the literature, "humanists" bc both concerned with welfare of human race
Lebacqz
"Appropriate Vulnerability" (ER), - from class: Sexual ethic for singleness: requires equal vulnerability, more protections for vulnerability, - sexuality - procreation and union traditionally - she agrees that sex is a gift from god, but thinks another god given purpose is vulnerability which can be see in singleness - "single sexuality" - rereading of Genesis 2: "And the man and his wife experienced appropriate vulnerability." - sin comes from wanting to control each other w/o vulnerability
Hays
"Awaiting the Redemption of Our Bodies" (CP), - Biblical scholar-quotes a lot of scripture - Disentangling account - "you thought it meant this but it doesn't..." - Lots of emphasis on Romans 1 - homosexuality is not mentioned that often, yet when it is it's a generally negative account, making distinction between being gay and gay sex - why he'll make the claim that there is a distinction between the act and identity - How Paul treats homosexual acts - sin due to perversion of god's creation - Still our community should embrace sinners
Weigel
"Catholicism and Democracy" (ER), history of the relationship between Catholicism and democracy , US as good turning point: acceptance of gov. neutral on religion, church unites with liberals against totalitarians (Hitler, Stalin) -idea of "subsidiary" explained in numbered principles - used to regulate roles of individual vs. community, and large vs. small communities -come to see separation of church and state as good bc it allows each to focus on its actual duties -religious freedom- "interior and public meaning" - seen as protecting religion from the state, not making it irrelevant -pope john Paul II: approach to liberation theology (which was branching off from main church): recognize liberation and serving the poor as impt. Theme of church but rejected locating sin in economic/political structures, putting community over individual, and political inter. Of Christ. -liberation theology is against alliance between church and democracy since it replaced politics of consent with politics of coercion - resacralization of politics vs. desacrialization -church supports democratic revolutions
Gorski
"Christianity and Democracy after Trump" (B) -why did evangicals vote for trump? -" they voted as white Christian nationalists who believe the United States was founded by (white) Christians, and that (white) Christians are in danger of becoming a persecuted (national) minority." - there was an inverse correlation between churchgoing and Trump-supporting. - there has been a positive relationship between democracy and Christians until now when Christians are supporting trump who is antidemocracy -" Rule of law, a distrust of demagogues, a belief in equality, and an ethos of humility - these are a few of the civic supports that American Christianity has long provided for democracy in the United States."
Wendell Berry
"Christianity and the Survival of Creation" -need to renew the Christian religion through saving creation -human ownership of the earth is limited by the bible, a foundation for respecting the environment in the bible -God created all creatures, thus destroying nature is blasphemy, use what we need and no more -Christians have forgotten this because "the holiness of life" is incompatible with the exploitive economy. -human house hold v. house hold of nature, exclusive holiness of the church is wrong -god in the wilderness rather than it being secular -no separation between body/soul, natural/spiritual -""We are holy creatures living among other holy creatures in a world that is holy...our destruction of nature is not just bad stewardship, or stupid economics...it is the most horrid blasphemy"
Johnson
"Debate and Discernment, Scripture and Spirit" (CP), - Hermeneutics - Method of interpretation, and attitude that you interpret - can't ignore passages that condemn sexuality but scripture tells us that we can interpret it (take into account experience, change in context, and kinds of revolution/crazy antics in scripture ought to inform this current debate- - ex. Debates around gentile inclusions-same wild inclusivity and shock should happen in this contemporary conversation as well- learn from attitudes/postures of scripture, not just what it says) "inclusivity must follow from evidence of holiness" - Bible cannot allow "porneia" but it can be defined by intention rather than biology, (playboy also bad) - Church's harsh stance on sexual relations is not proportionate to its representation in the bible -just as god accepted gentiles, if theres enough proof we can accept
West
"Dr. King Weeps from His Grave" (B) -Kings thought US was sick society due to militarism and materialism -both political parties have failed to change this, need a revolution to change this "A revolution in our priorities, a re-evaluation of our values, a reinvigoration of our public life and a fundamental transformation of our way of thinking and living that promotes a transfer of power" -" The age of Obama has fallen tragically short of fulfilling King's prophetic legacy. Instead of articulating a radical democratic vision and fighting for homeowners, workers and poor people in the form of mortgage relief, jobs and investment in education, infrastructure and housing, the administration gave us bailouts for banks, record profits for Wall Street and giant budget cuts on the backs of the vulnerable."
Murray
"E Pluribus Unum: The American Consensus" (ER), -American political unity: we are made "e pluribus unum," one society subsisting amid multiple pluralisms. - importance of constitution and "authority/rule of law," "principle of the consent of the governed" state as separate from society -emphasis on freedom grounded in moral values of christian faith in US -"Its motive was the evident coincidence of the principles which inspired the American Republic with the principles that are structural to the Western Christian political tradition." -in class: catholic natural law emphasis on common good aligns with American values, central places where American and catholic ideas can stack hands and also significant points where they depart - when we start to define what the common good would be and how to achieve it
Cannon
"Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick" (ER) Womanist= reaction to feminist theology-this women that your talking about is white, black women has very different set of pressures and expectations than white women, black feminist position Liberationist=church has been concerned with orthodoxy, getting belief right - that's not wrong but we need to do the work of the church first, the work of the church is freeing the oppressed, take practice and oppression really seriously, feminist theology comes under this -feminist theology says women are an oppressed group "A central conviction is that theoretical structures are not universal, color-blind, apolitical, or otherwise neutral " Canon responding to the assumption that there is a neutral position from which we can do theology, cannot talk about capital T truth. (what you assumed is universal was white and male) -someone is always being oppressed if you think there is a universal category Talking about black women
Heyer
"Internalized Borders: Immigration Ethics in the Age of Trump" (ER), - Talks about trump - Symptoms vs. causes - current admin focuses on symptoms but she thinks we ought to focus on causes - Civic friendship-in light of what we've done to other countries what do we owe the people leaving them: "what we owe in regard to civic friendship" - "The administration has connected economic anxieties with anxieties over cultural shifts, shaping a particular vision of "America First" that casts newcomers as threatening to the nation's identity." - outsiders as social menace - "American Identity" - migration not as an individual decision but product of global trends and injustices - special duty to refugees from wars we've caused or who have family relations to US - catholic doctrine actually asks us to welcome strangers - supports Evangelii Gaudium
Hart
"Leisure and the Christian Life" (B) -establishes the difference between leisure and luxury in the gospel -Christ lived a life that allowed for leisure: "It seems clear that part of the life that he and his disciples cultivated among themselves was one of ordinary fellowship in the restfulness of common meals, good company, and—above all—wine." -importance of wine in the gospel
Michael Novak,
"Liberation Theology and the Pope" (ER), -Christianity is not reducible to Marxist categories, cannot be only understood in a secular sense, Jesus is not a political figure. "Primacy of the spiritual" -church as a commitment to the most needy, - "Christian liberation" concerned with human dignity that cannot be reduced to other categories. -differences between values in Latin America and US -history of movement in Latin America, Marxist idea ignores the data - advocating capitalism, giving window into relationships, elements of critique of Marxism and "they have not had the same democratic options that the rest of the world has enjoyed" - another way of looking at fears and concerns of the liberation theology movement. -Marxist bc the population supports Marxist slogans and as a part of the political apparatus, but not on the actual values. -democratic capitalism as better approach than Marxism -liberation theologians ignore the contradiction between Marxist teachings and practices
Farley
"Norms for Just Sex" (B) From class: Moving away from what sex is to where sex should happen-what kind of relationship supports good sex, enumerates principles to have "good" sex - relational requirements "church's teaching on sexuality is based in an act-centered morality (i.e., what is judged good or bad is an activity). She proposes that the church adopt a relationship-centered morality (i.e. what is judged good or bad is the quality of the relationship between people)" list of principles such as consent, mutuality, equality, doing no unjust harm
Glendon
"Principled Immigration" (B) - Contrast w carroll - carroll sees as Christianity duty, she thinks we should welcome our neighbor because it is good for us (Economically, socially) - But it needs to be a principled immigrant-policies in place that help us avoid bad immigration - Talks about how lack of births increases need for imm. - Wants to clear up social and economic misperceptions of immigrants - "Given America's relative advantages in this age of great migrations, it would be a tragedy if the sending and receiving countries of our hemisphere did not join forces to explore how these advantages can be maximized in ways that are beneficial to all concerned."
Rorty
"Religion As Conversation Stopper" (ER), -ecclesiastical org. as target of secularists, since they create ill will towards other groups to secure their own power - "encouraging exclusivist bigotry brings money and power" -as social justice increases religion will become less necessary "history suggests that religious orgs, always do more harm than good. -should keep religiously motivated views from the public by custom rather than law -uses psalm 72 and Leviticus 18:22. Religious wrongs against gays and Jewish people -wants US to be utilitarian -religion is still dangerous today due to "everyday peacetime sadism that uses religion to excuse cruelty" -cannot have an actual discussion if someone "simply quotes" from their spiritual text -in dialogue w/ Hauerwas: can you separate convictions and religious orgs? -" So we secularists have come to think that the best society would be one in which political action conducted in the name of religious belief is a ladder up which our ancestors climbed, but one that now should thrown away."
Cuomo
"Religious Belief and Public Morality" (B), -" I'm convinced we will all benefit if suspicion is replaced by discussion" -catholic gov officials respect constitution bc "realize that in guaranteeing freedom for all, they guarantee our right to be Catholics" -no law prevents religious people from advocating for their beliefs in legal channels -asks a lot of rhetorical questions -" The values derived from religious belief will not -- and should not -- be accepted as part of the public morality unless they are shared by the pluralistic community at large, by consensus." - religion should not enforce views when others see them as unacceptable -talks about abortion a lot, necessary of making religious convictions a law: "a law not for the believers who don't need it but for the disbelievers who reject it." -examples when bishops have stayed silent on controversial issues that church teachings support "This is in the American-Catholic tradition of political realism. In supporting or opposing specific legislation the Church in this country has never retreated into a moral fundamentalism that will settle for noting less than total acceptance of its views." -many other ways to help children and encourage ppl not to get abortions than just making a law
Williams
"The Body's Grace" (CP), - Moral side of sex comes about when there is a relational aspect of sacrificing yourself and your ego in the process of doing something else for other person that thy are also doing to you - Essayist: Grace is a gift given, don't merit it by definition -offering body as a graced thing to another person, sex being "doomed and tragic and comic" - Present ourselves and receive each other as an "occasion of joy" 59, - Asymmetrical sexual practices =bad - Can find grace through noncommittal sexual practices - "body's grace" - "same-sex love poses the question of what the meaning of desire is - in itself, not considered as instrumental to some other process, such as the peopling of the world." - bible supports idea of reproductive sex as just one type of sex - therefore should accept same sex marriage
White
"The Historical Roots of the Ecological Crisis" -about science and technology and how these have changed/combined overtime, inherently western, -need to go back to medieval times to understand science's impact on environment -farmer's develop new plow -The victory of Christianity over paganism was the greatest psychic revolution in the history of our culture. ideological shift provoked a shift in how humans treated nature -Christianity is the most anthropocentric religion the world has seen. -not only established a dualism of man and nature but also insisted that it is God's will that man exploit nature for his proper ends. - "By destroying pagan animism, Christianity made it possible to exploit nature in a mood of indifference to the feelings of natural objects...Man's effective monopoly on spirit in -this world was confirmed, and the old inhibitions to the exploitation of nature crumbled" -What we do about ecology depends on our ideas of the man-nature relationship. More science and more technology are not going to get us out of the present ecologic crisis until we find a new religion, or rethink our old one. - Look to St. Francis-Francis tried to depose man from his monarchy over creation and set up a democracy of all God's creatures. - Christianity is otherworldly and doesn't believe in the sacredness of the environment so its been destructive ""To a Christian a tree can be no more than a physical fact. The whole concept of the sacred grove is alien to Christianity and to the ethos of the West. For nearly 2 thousand years Christian missionaries have been chopping down sacred groves, which are idolatrous because they assume spirit in nature."
Cox
"The Market as God" (ER), -similarity between gospel story and market -"business theology" -"the market"-containing unseeable forces like god, in the absence of other gods, the market has become one - -market transforms materials into commodities: "radical desacredialization" -like eucharist -example of "Liebenberg" town for sale -evaluates the market on its omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence -religion of the market = Christianity's most formidable rival
Douthat
"The Pope and the Right" (B), -pope francis is not actually against the right -provides three reasons why -capitalism is the most successful way to lift ppl out of poverty -church teaching emphasizes "solidarity and subsidiarity — that is, a small-c conservative preference for local efforts over national ones, voluntarism over bureaucracy." -welfare states can prevent the freedoms that the church supports
Peter Singer
"The Singer Solution to World Poverty" -utilitarian perspective: "what is the ethical distinction between a Brazilian who sells a homeless child to organ peddlers and an American who already has a TV and upgrades to a better one —knowing that the money could be donated to an organization that would use it to save the lives of kids in need?" -financial security/consumerism vs. helping others -idea of "follow-the-crowd ethics" -in class: is there a difference between people you are directly in contact with or not? why do we have immediate revulsion to dora but none to the TV example - is there a difference?
Daly
"The Spiritual Revolution" (CP), Christian depiction of god rooted in the patriarchy "women's liberation" -creates a sacred space for women to be themselves -key terms "sisterhood" - "sisterhood of man" - emancipatory for women but not necessarily at the expense of men "antichurch"-related to sisterhood, sisterhood heals the church, yet it heals by being a reaction against it "exodus community"- follow promise -imaging movement as something similar to emancipatory movements within the church before, not a brand new thing, (also uses charismatic community and community with a mission)- hope for a better church in the future ("offers the church the possibility of discovering its won mission of liberation.")
Biggar
"The Value of Limited Loyalty" (ER), - Christians are people bounded in space, time and culture and that creates our identity - Having a national identity is good, theological reasons to affirm our nation loyalty (our loyalty is ultimate to god, but our national loyalty is not insignificant) - It isn't just "let anyone in and anyone out" - nation's and their distinct lines in the sand matter - Author is British, what it means to be British vs. American -built into dif national identities are different conceptions of national identity - Talks about Christian love - love everyone but not to the same degree - "creatureliness" - Christianity +missionary still affirms the diversity of nations and national loyalty - "In the Christian view that I am commending here, national borders should be conditionally open and they may be transgressed if national autonomy is being exercised irresponsibly." - Still is against nationalist attitudes that discriminate or hold one group over the other/oppress -no idealization/demonization - "Barriers should be open to those immigrants whose admission will not be invasive"
Neuhaus
"The Vulnerability of the Naked Square" (CP), naked public square- argument that there is a myth that we can have a neutral public square but that is always filled in with something but thinks that secularism has become a new religion of irreligion that has forced religious citizens out of the public square -need religious vision to allow society to reach its full potential -in the naked public square religion is replaced by "civil religion"-still have to think about right and wrong (will just come from Judeo-Christian religion but not explicitly) -secular state easily becomes totalitarian -naked public square is not desirable or possible -religion gives people consciences and a purpose for what freedom is for
Carroll
"Welcoming the Stranger: Guidance from the New Testament" (ER), - Christian argument for tolerance, how Jesus used his Jewishness-national differences shouldn't effect the grace we should, who Jesus was and what he did, large emphasis on hospitality, - What is required as a Christian community? Do we have to follow jesus's example? - Emphasizes migration and cultural differences present @ jesus's time, jesus rebukes discrimination against Samaritans (describes these stories in depth) - Peter: Christians as "outsiders and sojourners" only citizens of heaven, "hospitality" - Only mentions Hispanic immigrants - Consider romans 12- don't be shaped to pattern of world - Talks about Romans 13 a lot - what to do about the illegal immigrant -not just about complying to existing laws, also about trying to change problematic laws legally
What's wrong with "Idea of Public Reason"?
(1) Impractical and philosophically wrong-headed. Our rational justifications are relative to epistemic or cognitive context. (2) Historically naïve. Religious convictions have inspired some of the most democratic episodes in public life. (3) Strategically self-defeating. Sterilizing public speech will not alleviate, and may fuel, the very real political dangers of religious convictions—especially via resentment and alienation. It is better to put these arguments in full view of public scrutiny. (4) Anti-democratic. These restrictions impose an unjust political burden on many religious citizens that often betrays an excessive fear of democratic politics itself and undermines potential coalitions of religious and non-religious citizens.
King
(39)"Pilgrimage to Nonviolence," 54-62, liberalism is too optimistic about man's capacity not to sin/use of reason realistic pacifism, nonviolence=power of love (40)"Letter from a Birmingham Jail," 83-100, use of economics for power constructive tension difference between just and unjust laws order vs. justice extremists for love critiques church for being too bound up in the status quo to act (41)"I Have a Dream," 101-106, (42)"A Time to Break Silence," 135-152, Vietnam indiciative of problemativ morals in US society -materialitic rather than people focused Once again love as most powerful force (43)"Black Power Defined," 153-165, use economic power to support our moral convictions
Genesis 1
-creation story -god makes things and sees that they are good, gives men ownership over land
Exodus 20
-took you out of Egypt, no worship other gods, children will be treated based on your actions, - ten commandments, (adultery, murder, covetry, etc)
Catholic Social thought
1) The Common Good (and personalism) vs. the Individual good 2) Subsidiarity, subsidium (help, aid)...the common good should be pursued at the lowest level of organization possible (ie, the family, the local township, etc..) 3) Human Rights Do we need God in order to justify human rights? What is the relation between the idea of human rights and the idea of the limited state and regulated markets?
Volf
A Public Faith, ix-xvii and 77-97 (CP) -people should be free to express their religious views in the public sphere and politics -to properly follow Christ we must mend the world, preach but not coerce, accept and care for others, golden rule means we have to give other religions freedom. -four features of contemp. Society: voluntarism (live through member's choices), difference (establish boundaries between communities), pluralism, relative self-sufficiency -trying to set up a model for action between totalarism and secularism -contrasts church and sect advocates for "internal difference": no total transformation, no accommodation, yes to engagement
Gutierrez
A Theology of Liberation -uses "praxis" -Christianity as a critical reflection on your own values and society's -"By keeping historical events in their proper perspective, theology helps safeguard society and the Church from regarding as permanent what is only temporary. Critical reflection thus always plays the inverse role of an ideology which rationalizes and justifies a given social and ecclesial order." -"development" -from class: preferential option for the poor - god identifies with poor, poor deserve preference because for god the last should be first - they are the center of our theological reflection, and they are the source from which theology comes (that community shapes what theology in practice ought to be, not just that we look to them as an item) Not just about the church, you have to go beyond that Pg. 15- new way to do theology, -revolutionary principle that requires action - uses word "openness" a lot - openness not only towards community in need of support, openness to various ideologies that would support the work of the church, the work of the church is not confined to the church, and the ideology motivating the church are not confined to the church. Importance of the community, locus of reflection and action is not the individual - "The work of Christ is presented simultaneously as a liberation from sin and from all its consequences: despoliation, injustice, hatred. This liberation fulfills in an unexpected way the promises of the prophets and creates a new chosen people, which this time includes all humanity." (Gutierrez). "To know God is to work for justice. There is no other path to reach God" (Gutierrez) -different approaches to religion: as wisdom and as rational knowledge -need both of these - charity as the center of the Christian life. commitment to love of world, church for service not power -connection between environmental and social movement through this view of Christianity
Niebuhr, Christ the Transformer of Culture:
Augustine, John Calvin, and F. D. Maurice. According to this view, all of culture is under the judgment of God, and yet culture is also under God's sovereign rule. Therefore, "the Christian must carry on cultural work in obedience to the Lord" (191). Emphasizing the goodness of creation, the conversionist affirms what can be affirmed and seeks to transform what is corrupted by sin and selfishness. Eternal life begins in the present, Niebuhr writes, claiming the apostle John as a biblical advocate for this perspective. "conversionists vs. dualists Though they hold fast to the radical distinction between God's work in Christ and man's work in culture, they do not take the road of exclusive Christianity into isolation from civilization, or reject its institutions with Tolstoyan bitterness" (190) "It is perverted good, not evil; or it is evil as perversion, and not as badness of being. The problem of culture is therefore the problem of its conversion, not of its replacement by a new creation; though the conversion is so radical that it amounts to a kind of rebirth" (194)
Liberation Theology
B) Sin and Salvation Horizontal and Vertical Temporal and Eternal Individual and Structural C) "Conscientization" (cf. Paulo Freire) "making aware" Liberation/Revolution vs. Developmentalism/Reformism "The Exodus is the long march towards the promised land in which Israel can establish a society free from misery and alienation" (Gutierrez) "To know God is to work for justice. There is no other path to reach God" (Gutierrez)
Benedict XVI
Caritas in Veritate - Love in truth — caritas in veritate - unifying principle across world and countries. Problem with how economy currently works: "world's wealth is growing in absolute terms, but inequalities are on the increase." -need to reevaluate how social systems are working, "social security systems," "mobility of labor," interactions between cultures, food and water as universal rights - I would like to remind everyone, especially governments engaged in boosting the world's economic and social assets, that the primary capital to be safeguarded and valued is man, the human person in his or her integrity: "Man is the source, the focus and the aim of all economic and social life" -respect for life and religious freedom "Populorum Progressio" -original sin in the structure of society -economy must be guided by church teachings, they are not fundamentally at odds, but justice must be applied to every phase of economic activity, every economic decision has a moral consequence
Barth
Church Dogmatics, III/4, 348-356 (CP), -secondary ethical responsibly to animals and plants that is not as strong as to humans, animals and plants are divinely allotted to man but still belong to god -human lordship and corresponding responsibility - respect as gratitude for god's gift -close reading of genesis to support the killing of animals -killing animals is representation of human guilt which only god can remove shouldn't be done lightly -idea of health -""Wherever man exercises his lordship over the animal, and especially across every hunting lodge and vivisection chamber, there should be written in letters of fire the words of Saint Paul in Romans 8: I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us."
Death Penalty Purpose
Deterrence Reformation Retribution Mercy
Pope Francis
Evangelii Gaudium -recognizing/re-encountering gods love, rather than consumer culture, gives us joys -" We are in an age of knowledge and information, which has led to new and often anonymous kinds of power." -have to extend the gospel to this new world: "Just as the commandment "Thou shalt not kill" sets a clear limit in order to safeguard the value of human life, today we also have to say "thou shalt not" to an economy of exclusion and inequality. Such an economy kills." - money as an idol -secularization as limiting religion to the individual and making ethics less prevalent - crisis of information, critical thinking, and family structure. -cities -importance of gospel to give us hope to fight, cannot be taken away, tells us "to desire, seek and protect the good of others." -" Gospel is not merely about our personal relationship with God."-religion should involve social and national life/actions -bc of jesus: "Each individual Christian and every community is called to be an instrument of God for the liberation and promotion of the poor" -" the option for the poor is primarily a theological category rather than a cultural, sociological, political or philosophical one." -mentions economy a lot -shouldn't be focused on short-term success but instead "time" - ""Just as the commandment "thou shalt not kill' sets a clear limit in order to safeguard the value of human life, today we also have to say 'thou shalt not' to an economy of exclusion and inequality." against individualism -In class: Importance of gospel, should spread it Preferential option of the poor - moral obligation to help people in need around us How is this a different argument than the other articles on helping the poor? References doctrine more, does not mention Marx, very similar tale of liberationist impulses, liberationalist concerns, but not the same ideological basis on it, "liberation theology 2.0" - no explicit references to Marxist ideology to support Letters from pope appeal to all good people, not just Catholics, spirit of let us reason together Idea of the common good - politics is not just about competing self-interests and negotiating them, about aspiring towards a common good which is greater than the some of the parts Subsidiarity - notion that any given activity should be governed at the lowest level possible, ex. federal gov only does certain things, different levels of government - state doesn't do everything and individual doesn't do everything - institutions all have their own task and authority,
Pope Francis
Laudato Si -earth as sister, mistreatment of her echos mistreatment of poor, wants to talk to all people about their common home -debasing the earth debases humans -climate as common good, explains science behind and effects of global warming -climate change will hurt the poor the most -global inequality: "we have to realize that a true ecological approach always becomes a social approach; -ideas: ecological debt, population control, "differentiated responsibilities," problem with corporate and developed countries greed. -problem with consumer culture: environmental deterioration and human and ethical degradation are closely linked. - need to develop compassion for poor before we can extend that virtue to nonhuman beings -"cry of poor and cry of earth" From Review Session: concern about current global system, language of human dignity, negative effects of the econ on environment, environmental issue doesn't stand alone but is related to other cultural and ethical concerns (like individualism) moral modern culture (consumerist) is causing environmental damage, not caused by Christian values.
Pieper
Leisure: The Basis of Culture, 25-47 (ER), -leisure as foundation of western culture -idea of the "worker" -leisure used to be intellectual contemplation - "intellectus" vs. "ratio" -today, knowing something requires work
Obama
Philadelphia Speech on Race, March 18, 2008 (B), -"Reverend Wright" -issues of race and religion in US - uses "my" -race disparity still exists - racial anger expressed from the pulpit - believes that these racist fears, often grounded in legitimate worries, can be erased over time -" This time" focuses on issues that effect all races - Ashley Baia sandwich story
Beaudoin
Six Ways to be a Conscientious Catholic Consumer" (B), -" And so our brand economy discloses a task for spiritual maturity: knowing and being known by ourselves and others, without being governed by what we buy." -consumer brands -"direct approach" saying we should consume ethically is not enough, need to show how through "indirect approaches" -indirect: explore our own dignity, question the church's monetary practices, media fasts -direct: dignity, solidarity, stewardship, balance, community, play, local culture, dissattachment from goods - create just don't consume culture
Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith
Ten Observations on the Theology of Gustavo Gutierrez" (CP), -G has selective reading of the bible that politicizes it -Marxism -we already have been saved/redeemed by Jesus -using Christianity as a means to mobilize a revolution-perverting the consciousness and hopes for the poor.
Carter
The Culture of Disbelief, 3-22 (ER), -religious people have been pushed out of the public square even though majority of country is religious -"we are one of the most religious nations on earth, in the sense that we have a deeply religious citizenry; but we are also perhaps the most zealous in guarding our public institutions against explicit religious influences. One result is that we often ask our citizens to split their public an private selves, telling them in effect that it is fine to be religious in private, but there is something askew when those private beliefs become the basis for public action." inherent contradiction in the US -weak religions - like native Americans - are not protected enough -laws around religious garb - like Jewish hat or ash Wednesday or go to school on religious holiday- law expects citizens to ignore religious demands -supposed contrast between acting religiously and acting rationally - "religions are treated as passing fads rather than fundamentals ppl build their lives on" - need to stop trivializing faith and treat religion with respect - "what religiously devout people should do when they confront state policies that require them to act counter to what they believe is the will of God, or to acquiesce in conduct by others that they believe God forbids. - legal culture" law prof., interested in the way contemporary law and politics is rightly concerned with protection of minority groups but liberalism has gone too far in policing religion and the way in which it encourages or shames citizens into not allowing them to be their whole person or have their Christianity be a way they think about politics. ""In our sensible zeal to keep religion from dominating our politics, we have created a political and legal culture that presses the religiously faithful to be other than themselves, to act publicly, and sometimes privately as well, as though their faith does not matter to them."
Hauerwas
The Democratic Policing of Christianity" (ER), -Christianity falling apart bc: "salvation cannot come through the community or congregation; rather, it is a knowledge that leads to freedom" -self-inflicted killing in the name of supporting democracy -assumption that democratic structures echo Christian convictions -but read pluralism as everyone getting to participate in democracy besides Christians themselves -Niebhur=interest group liberalism -critiques niebhur and Christian justification of democracy: -in the past have praised democracy bc it allowed us to rule, but now, we police all our own convictions so that they don't get in the way of democracy. -approach democracy as peasants not as masters, bad bc dem tells ppl just to pursue their own interests Haeurwas- accents why religious separation is bad for Christians more so than why it is bad for democracy (in last essay) -""If this is genuinely a pluralist society, why should Christians not be able to express their most cherished convictions in public? If we are in an age of identity-politics, why does the identity of Christians need to be suppressed?"
Stout
The Folly of Secularism" (ER) -secularists, theocrats, focus on Rorty's democratic secularism, "theists," -" I am trying to show that sincerely democratic secularists face a dilemma. Either (a) they are merely warning us about the dangers of allowing religion into politics, in which case, by their own account, their arguments are likely to fall on deaf ears and therefore fail to achieve the desired objective; or (b) they are proposing some more aggressive strategy for curtailing the influence of religion on politics, in which case they owe us a concrete explanation of what that might be and how it is to be made consistent with democracy." -" So far I have been arguing that democratic secularists are unlikely to achieve their objectives by democratic means." -secularists make religious moderates more extreme: "Theocracy will triumph in places like the U.S., where the population is both religiously diverse and for the most part committed to theism, only if the religious moderates are forced to move rightward to find allies." -focus on religion as dangerous has allowed plutocracy and militarism to pervade our society -" democratic reform may indeed be achievable by democratic means in places where the majority of the citizens are religiously active if citizens are prepared to build coalitions of the right sort."
T.S. Eliot
The Idea of a Christian Society, 285-291 (CP) -"democracy becoming no longer neutral but non Christian -countries need a common political philosophy and culture in order to work -industrialism is destroying nature and humanity's values - "I mean only that a wrong attitude towards nature implies, somewhere, a wrong attitude towards God, and that the consequence is an inevitable doom." -religion implies a life in conformity with nature - "The term democracy...does not contain enough positive content to stand along against the forces you dislike—it can easily be transformed by them. If you will not have God (and He is a jealous God) you should pay your respects to Hitler or Stalin."
Hauerwas
The Peaceable Kingdom Contrary to critics who accuse me of tempting Christians to withdraw from the world, my concern has always been to help Christians understand we cannot and should not avoid engagement with the world. I, of course, have tried to remind Christians that there is no reason to privilege the terms the world tries to set for such an engagement." (Hauerwas) Narrative "The nature of Christian ethics is determined by the fact that Christian convictions take the form of a story, or perhaps better, a set of stories that constitute a tradition, which in turn creates and forms a community. Christian ethics does not begin by emphasizing rules or principles, but by calling our attention to a narrative that tells of God's dealing with creation. To be sure, it is a complex story with many different subplots and digressions, but it is crucial...to see that is not accidentally a narrative." (Hauerwas) "The Decalogue is part of the covenant of God with Israel. Divorced from that covenant it makes no sense. God does indeed command obedience, but God is the God who "brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." (Hauerwas) a) events precedes ideas b) stories precede propositions. a) Deontological ethics, utilitarian ethics, and virtue ethics b) Protestant concerns and motivations "The overriding conflict of our time is the same as that from the beginning for it is the conflict between those that would remain loyal to God's kingdom and those that would side with the world. And the world is exactly those people and institutions claiming that Christians too must be willing to choose sides and kill in order to preserve the social orders in which they find themselves. As Christians when we accept that alternative it surely means that we are no longer the church that witnesses to God's sovereignty over all nations, but instead we have become part of the world" (Hauerwas) The moral life is not "a program to be achieved" but a "mode of being to be lived" (Hauerwas)
Niebuhr, Christ of Culture
The commonality here is a lack of tension between the church and the world, since Jesus is the fulfiller of society's hopes and aspirations. He is "the great enlightener, the great teacher, the one who directs all men in culture to the attainment of wisdom, moral perfection, and peace" (92). Despite the appeal of this position the elite and powerful groups within a civilization, Niebuhr sees it as inadequate for allowing loyalty to culture trump loyalty to Christ, to the point the New Testament Jesus gets replaced with an idol that shares his name (110). - problem of the trinity "in every culture to which the Gospel comes there are men who hail Jesus as the Messiah of their society, the fulfiller of its hopes and aspirations, the perfecter of its truth faith, the source of its holiest spirit" (83) "the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man...It is the idea that the human situation is fundamentally characterized by man's conflict with nature [rather than God]" (101)
The Principle of Double Effect
a principle that tries to take consequences seriously and put them into a moral evaluation but at the same time avoiding consequentialism. It is a rule of conduct when two effects follow an action: one good, one bad. What would be wrong if you did it directly may be morally permissible and tolerated as a nonmoral evil. Traditionally, to be morally justified an act must fulfill four conditions: 1) an act must itself not be "intrinsically evil" (it must be good or indifferent, not malum in se) 2) evil effects can be tolerated, permitted, or accepted, but not directly intended ("indirectly voluntary"); an unintended and secondary "double" effect not willed as an end 3) good results must not be a direct effect of evil ones (the good is produced directly by the action, not by the bad effect) and (not using the bad means to bring about the good end). 4) and the good achieved must be equal or greater than the evil that is proportionate to it ("morally worth its compensation," proportionately grave reason)
Galatians 3
all are one in Christ, traditional divisions of gender and sexuality are obsolete in the new testament, about laws, curse, faith
Niebuhr, PostScript
encouraging readers to not settle on one of these views to the exclusion of the others. No "Christian answer" exists that applies definitively for all time, since faith is "fragmentary," and we do not have "the same fragments of faith" individual freedom to make our own decisions
Niebuhr, Christ Against culture:
loyalty to Christ and the church entails a rejection of culture and society. The lines between the church and the world are sharp because the church is a community whose existence judges the world. Niebuhr credits the impressive sincerity of adherents to this position, but he rejects it as inadequate for its inability to extricate itself from the culture it condemns." - "Tertullian" "Tolstoy" - inherent evil relies in culture, not man "uncompromisingly affirms the sole authority of Christ over the Christian and resolutely rejects culture's claims to loyalty" (45)
