Transcript ethics – christianity – yr 11 2015

Year 11 Studies of Religion
Religious Tradition Studies :
CHRISTIANITY
1
Core Ethical Teachings
Students learn about:
The Ten Commandments
New Testament Ethics : The
Beatitudes; Jesus’ commandment of
love
2
Core Ethical Teachings
Students learn to:
Outline the principal ethical teachings
in:
-The Ten Commandments
-The Beatitudes
-Jesus’ Commandment of love
Describe the importance of ethical
teachings in the life of adherents
3
What is ethics?

The systematic, rational reflection
on what we are to do and who we
are to become.
4
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ethic of happiness

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The Church’s moral teaching is about
much more than ‘right and wrong’
It is a about making choices that are
truly good for us – that fulfill us and
make us happy.
…an ethic of happiness, not an ethic of
obligation.
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The human person
Made in the image and likeness of God
Rational
Free
Relational
Embodied
Spiritual
We aspire for truth and goodness.
8
Christian ethics is founded in
 Reason
and faith
 Philosophy and theology
 Natural law and revealed law.
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Natural law
10
Philosophy and Reason
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Natural law



‘Given’ (by God)
Discovered by
human reason
Concerns what
makes us good at
being human.
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Natural law
1.
When you think about your own happiness/ how to live/ what
to do, your mind encounters the basic principle:
– That the good is to be done and evil avoided
2. There are some things that you cannot help being inclined
towards (natural inclinations).
3. To work out what good is to be done you need to identify the
objects of these inclinations (= basic human goods)
4. You then need to work out principles for pursuing these
human goods in reasonable ways (=ethics)
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Basic human goods/ values

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What are the things that we can’t help
be inclined towards?
What are the ultimate goals of human
action?
What are the basic ingredients of a
good life?
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Basic human goods/values

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life & health
knowledge
experience of beauty
work
play
friendship/ love
integrity
experience of the transcendent
family
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Which Basic Human Good is the most important?
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Basic human goods correspond to aspects of our being

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Life & health
Knowledge
Experience of beauty
Play
Work
Friendship
Family
Integrity
Experience of the
transcendent

Goods appropriate to all
living bodily beings

Goods appropriate to us as
thinking and feeling beings

Goods appropriate to us as
social beings.

Goods appropriate to us as
spiritual beings
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The effect of basic human ‘goods’…

When we protect or pursue these goods we
fulfill our human nature: we promote the
flourishing of other persons

When we attack or completely exclude one of
these goods: we cause damage to ourselves
or other persons
18
Do good
Avoid evil
Life & health
Protect life/promote
health
Don’t kill/ injure/ torture
Friendship
Love and care for others
Build community
Don’t harm/use others
Don’t destroy community
Knowledge
Speak the truth
Educate yourself & others
Don’t lie/ deceive
Don’t keep yourself or
others in ignorance
Work
Contribute to the
common good/ be
creative/ use talents
Don’t rely solely upon
others/ don’t be lazy/
don’t bury your gifts
Play
Take time for leisure
Play fairly
Don’t overwork
Don’t cheat
Experience of the
transcendent
Contemplate and worship
God
Don’t worship false gods
or live superficially
Experience of
beauty
Contemplate & cultivate
nature or the arts
Don’t desecrate/ destroy
nature or the arts
Integrity
Act in accord with your
convictions
Don’t be inauthentic
Family
Be faithful in marriage
Care for family members
Don’t commit adultery
Don’t ignore duties to kin
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Not all ways & means of participation in
a human good are reasonable and
therefore ethical.

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Don’t directly attack/ destroy a BHG in
order to pursue another.
As Paul explains in the Letter to the
Romans, (Rom 3:7-8), we cannot do
evil so that good may come of it.
20
Not all ways & means of participation in
a human good are reasonable and
therefore ethical.

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Remember that
instances of a human
good are equally
valuable whether they
are mine, yours or
someone else’s.
Do unto others as you
would have them do
unto you.
Tobit 4:15, Mt 7:12,
Lk 6:31
21
Natural law ethics is the
foundation of human rights
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What are human rights?


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People have certain entitlements as
human beings
‘Human rights’ come with having a
‘human nature’
Founded upon the dignity of the
human person and the natural moral
law
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The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
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Natural Law & Human Rights
positive norms (orient us towards BHGs)
+
negative norms (protect BHGs)
=
basic common morality
Which can be expressed in the language
of ‘rights’
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Natural Law & Human Rights
The natural law, present in the heart of
every person and established by
reason, is universal in its precepts and
its authority extends to all persons. It
expresses the dignity of the person
and determines the basis for the
person’s fundamental rights and
duties. CCC 1956.
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life/ health

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Everyone has the right to life, liberty
and security of person
Everyone has the right to a standard
of living adequate for the health and
well-being of himself and of his family
No one shall be subjected to torture or
to cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment
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knowledge

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Everyone has the right to education
Everyone is entitled in full equality to a
fair and public hearing
Everyone has the right to freedom of
opinion and expression…and to seek,
receive and impart information and
ideas through any media…
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friendship
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No one shall be held in slavery or servitude
All are equal before the law/ entitled to
protection against unjust discrimination
No one shall be subject to arbitrary arrest,
detention or exile
Everyone has duties to the community
Everyone has the right to freedom of
peaceful assembly and association
Everyone has the right to own property
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family
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Men and women of full age, without
limitation due to race, nationality or religion,
have the right to marry and found a family
The family is the natural and fundamental
unit of society and is entitled to protection
by society and the State
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work

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Everyone has the right to work, to free
choice of employment, to just and
favourable conditions or work…
…to form and to join trade unions for the
protection of his interests.
…to the protection of any moral and
material interests resulting from any
scientific, literary or artistic production of
which he is the author.
31
integrity
Everyone has the right to freedom of
thought, conscience and religion
32
experience of the
transcendent

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Everyone has the right to freedom of
thought, conscience and religion (and)
…to manifest their religion or belief in
teaching, practice, worship and
observance.
33
experience of beauty
Everyone has the right
to freely participate in
the cultural life of the
community, to enjoy
the arts and to share in
scientific achievement
and its benefits
34
play
Everyone has the right to rest and
leisure, including reasonable limitation
of working hours and periodic holidays
with pay.
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Revealed law
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The Commandments
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Commandments and the Natural Law
The commandments of which Jesus
reminds the young man are meant to
safeguard the good of the person, the
image of God, by protecting his or her
goods.
VS 13
38

Have no other Gods beside me
Do not take the name of the
God in vain
Keep holy the Lord’s day
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Do not kill
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Do not commit adultery
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Do not steal
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Do not bear false witness
against your neighbour
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Knowledge/truth; Friendship
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Do not covet your neighbour’s
wife
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Family
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Do not covet your neighbour’s
goods
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Friendship
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Experience of the transcendent
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Life; Friendship
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Family
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Friendship
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Commandments & human rights
…the Ten Commandments are part of
God’s Revelation. At the same time,
they teach us the person’s true
humanity. They shed light on the
essential duties, and so indirectly on
the fundamental rights, inherent in the
nature of the human person.
CCC 2070
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The natural law is not
dependent upon faith
…but it has been
confirmed by faith.
There is no
contradiction
between reason
and revelation
41
But…
…if the Law (the 10 Commandments)
is essentially the same as the natural
law which every human person is
capable of knowing and accepting
does REVELATION/ FAITH really make
a difference?
42
Does faith make a difference?
While it is true that reason could lead to the
knowledge of what leads to human
flourishing, for most of us this is extremely
difficult.
The principles of natural law are not perceived
by everyone clearly and immediately. In the
present situation sinful man needs grace and
revelation so moral and religious truths may be
known ‘by everyone with facility, with firm
certainty and with no admixture of error.’
(CCC 1960)
43
Does faith make a difference?
Christian ethics
– acknowledges the existence and value of a
common morality discovered by reason
+ a distinctively Christian contribution.
– is grounded in OPTIMISM and REALISM about
the human person
– recognizes the importance of both reason and
faith; the natural law and the revealed law.
44
The sources of Christian Ethics
– Scripture
– Tradition
– Natural Law

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Different Christian traditions give different weight to
these sources.
For Catholics, faith and reason help each other to
shed light on the human good.
…and all sources are integrated within or under the
authoritative teaching of the Church.
45
Christian ethics is distinctive
1.
Christian faith confirms, clarifies and
purifies our understanding of the
natural law.
– Man is able to recognize good and evil thanks
to that discernment of good and evil which he
himself carries out by his reason, in particular
by his reason enlightened by Divine Revelation
and by faith, through the law which God gave
the Chosen People, beginning with the
commandments on Sinai.
(VS 44)
46
Christian ethics is distinctive
2. Adds a dimension of revealed moral truths
not otherwise evident
Adds a few extra norms
poverty & riches/ mercy & forgiveness/
power & violence
Enriches and elevates our understanding of the
law by placing it in relation to the person and
life of Jesus.
47
The Beatitudes
Jesus’
Commandment
of Love
48
A love which knows
no measure:
Having loved those
who were in the
world, he loved
them to the end.’
Jn 13:1
49
Christian ethics is distinctive
3. And faith radically affects our ability
to live a moral life
Christian morality “…is not a matter only of
disposing oneself to hear a teaching and
obediently accepting a commandment. More
radically, it involves holding fast to the very
person of Jesus, partaking of his life and his
destiny, sharing in his free and loving
obedience to the will of the Father.”
VS 19
50
Christian ethics is distinctive
According to Christian
tradition, the Law is holy,
spiritual and good, yet still
imperfect. Like a tutor it
shows what must be done,
but does not of itself give the
strength, the grace of the
Spirit, to fulfill it.
CCC 1963
51
Christian ethics is distinctive
This is an "interior" law (Jer
31:31-33) "written not with
ink but with the Spirit of the
living God, not on tablets of
stone but on tablets of
human hearts" (2 Cor 3:3);
a law of perfection and of
freedom (2 Cor 3:17); "the
law of the Spirit of life in
Christ Jesus" (Rom 8:2).
Veritatis Splendour VS 45
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