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Linguistic And Cultural Analysis Of Divine Command In 1 Samuel 15: Implications For Biblical Interpretation, Timothy Arnell Dunn

Masters Theses

This thesis argues that ḥērem in 1 Samuel 15 is not a relic of ancient warfare but a sacred act of covenantal devotion that reveals the tension between divine holiness, human obedience, and Israel’s identity as a people set apart for YHWH. Through historical, philological, narrative, and canonical analysis, the study demonstrates that ḥērem functions as a ritualized declaration of divine sovereignty in which destruction becomes consecration and obedience becomes worship. Saul’s partial compliance is therefore not strategic misjudgment but a rupture in covenant fidelity that exposes the costliness of holiness and the danger of selective obedience. Yet the canon …

“Tormented By Difficulties Of Every Kind”: Catholic Teaching On Contraception In Social Context, Kathleen Cavender-Mccoy, Conor M. Kelly

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

The Catholic Church notably condemns all forms of artificial birth control and advocates natural family planning as the only morally licit means of spacing births. This teaching is presented as the quintessential pathway to the fullness of human sexuality, but many Catholics struggle with it, and the magisterium itself recognizes that this path is not an easy one to follow. This article uses recent developments in Catholic moral theology around the notion of structural sin to examine the structural constraints complicating ordinary Catholics’ pursuit of their tradition’s vision for marital sexuality, demonstrating that larger structural forces can considerably affect the …

Everyday Solidarity: A Framework For Integrating Theological Ethics And Ordinary Life, Conor M. Kelly

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

As moral theology responds to the pastoral emphases of Pope Francis’s pontificate, more work must be done to facilitate the integration of theological ethics and ordinary life. In order to pursue this goal in a consistent fashion, this article proposes a new form of “everyday solidarity” as a framework for linking Catholic theological convictions with everyday moral choices. The article clarifies the often-ambiguous notion of solidarity found in Catholic social teaching and describes how the new species of everyday solidarity can function as both a principle and a virtue to transform discernment in ordinary life.

Virtue And Human Fragility, Kate Ward

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

New perspectives from virtue ethicists engaged with human fragility make concrete moral theology’s long understanding that humans are both free and constrained in our virtue pursuit. Theologians examine the possibilities of virtue under conditions of oppression as well as the virtue and vice of oppressors. Some adapt the term “moral luck” from philosophy to describe how persistent life circumstances shape the pursuit of virtue. Others focus on determinative individual acts through the lens of moral injury, a concept developed by psychologists caring for veterans. Finally, theologians engaged with disability describe flourishing, virtuous lives lived amid human mental and physical fragility.

Beyond Slavery: Christian Theology And Rehabilitation From Human Trafficking, Christopher Michael Gooding

Dissertations (1934 -)

Is there life beyond slavery? In the past 20 years, there has been a significant increase in research related to human trafficking. However, very little of it has examined the ethical issues that survivors face as they attempt to reintegrate back into society, or that aftercare workers face as they attempt to assist survivors in the reintegration process. And there has been almost nothing written on how the tools of moral and political theology might offer insight into these issues. This dissertation attempts to begin to address this gap in the literature.In order to assess what the nature of …

From Vatican Ii To Amoris Laetitia: The Catholic Social And Sexual Ethics Division And A Way Of Ecclesial Interconnection, Alexandre Andrade Martins

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

This paper navigates the development of ethical issues during Vatican II and the impulse to develop a new moral theology just after the Council. This paper argues, on one hand, that Gaudium et Spes develops a new moral theology based on the imperative of conscience mediated by faith in issues of social ethics. On the other hand, the old moral orientation was preserved on sexual ethics. After the council, these two moral faces have led magisterial teaching to two different paths that can be seen chronologically in approaches used for issues of social and sexual ethics. Vatican II encouraged a …

"There Is Another Kingdom": On The Politics Of Virtue, Tracey Rowland

Philosophy Papers and Journal Articles

No abstract available for this article.

The Role Of The Moral Theologian In The Church: A Proposal In Light Of Amoris Laetitia, Conor M. Kelly

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

Pope Francis’s apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia recast pastoral decisions in terms of conscience and discernment and asked moral theology to do the same. Such a request invites reforms for moral theology, requiring a shift from the traditional role of the moral theologian as an external judge to a more personalist role as a counselor for conscience. This change entails prioritizing the process of discernment ahead of the definition of rules, specifying the place of the ideal in Catholic morality, and attending to the ethics of ordinary life.

Learning With Digital Technologies: Privileging Persons Over Machines, Mary E. Hess

Faculty Publications

Learning with digital technologies, at least when framed by moral commitments, requires lifting up specific epistemological frames, beginning with a conviction that learning involves human persons in interdependent communities who are involved in a shared search for truth. Such a conviction necessitates moving from teaching-centered to learning-centered pedagogies, and from explicit content to shaping tacit forms of knowing. Digital technologies can prove highly beneficial when used within those constraints.

Catholic Social Thought And Human Rights, Zachary R. Calo

Scholarly Works

As the dominant moral vocabulary of modernity, the language of human rights establishes significant points of contact between the religious and the secular. Yet, the human rights movement increasingly finds itself in a contested relationship with religious ideas and communities. Even as it draws on the inherited moral resources of religion, the human rights movement, at least in its dominant institutional and intellectual expressions, presents itself as a totalizing moral theory that challenges countervailing theological accounts of human rights. This article considers the distinctive account of human rights that has emerged within Catholic social teaching. Particular attention is given to …

Interpreting Material Cooperation As A Function Of Moral Development To Guide Ministry Formation, Steven Squires

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

While not exactly back room political bargaining, the traditional use of cooperation has been by moral theologians attempting to define the level of cooperation for a particular situation. This chosen definition, in turn, may help focus the range of appropriate actions in response to the situation's circumstances. In this customary usage, an organization's associates (employees) may assist the implementation of relevant responses to a cooperation analysis, whether the issue is clinical or organizational in nature. They have not been integral to the decision-making process - until now. Cooperation has been the proverbial candle under the bushel (Matthew 5:15). This paper …

Ethics Brewed In An African Pot, Agbonkhianmeghe E. Orobator

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

Doing ethics in African Christianity raises the challenge of over-generalization in the midst of diversity and variety. This essay surveys the wide ethical landscape of Africa, explores key ethical issues on the continent within the context of the world church, and proposes priorities for action in view of a global ethical partnership.

Homosexuality And The Formation Of Conscience: An Examination Of Traditional Catholic Anthropological, Theological, And Ethical Evaluations In Light Of Contemporary Moral Markers, John Slovikovski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The question of homosexuality remains a daunting task to be addressed by the Church as well as theological ethicists. Lively, and often biased opinions have been presented in the last two centuries; however, use of traditional sources, such a Scripture, Natural Law, empirical data, and Tradition result in a doubt of fact, which, according to the established tradition of the Catholicism, requires the Church to follow the safest course of action, i.e., upholding the traditional heterosexual norm. Given that some individuals experience an irreversible homosexual orientation coupled by a lack of a vocation to a celibate lifestyle, which in turn …

Contemporary Issues In Liberation Ethics

Sacred Heart University Review

This talk was delivered at Sacred Heart University on March 25, 1993 as the sixth annual Bishop Walter W. Curtis Lecture.

A Faith-Based Program Evaluation: Moral Development Of Seminary Students At The Louisiana State Penitentiary, Bruce Sabin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to conduct an outcomes-based program evaluation for the Louisiana State Penitentiary (Angola) campus of the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. The study included one primary research question, with two subquestions. The primary research question asked to what extent students in the program developed moral judgment consistent with program goals of rehabilitating students and preparing them for effective ministry. The first subquestion asked whether statistically significant differences existed in the moral reasoning of students of different class years. The second subquestion asked whether statistically significant differences existed in the moral reasoning of students of different …

The Newport Institute With Salve Regina -- The Newport College Sponsor Conference On "The Great Nuclear Debate: Strategy And Morality"; Public Invited, Salve Regina University

Press Release Archive

No abstract provided.

A Bibliography On Christian Faith And The Law, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Church and State SCM Press, London, 1939

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Christian Ethics and Social Policy Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, N.Y., 1946

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The Destiny of Man Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, N.Y., 1937

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The Divine Imperative Lutterworth Press, London, 1937

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The Theology of Religious Vocation Herder, St. Louis, Mo., 1951.

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Moberly, Responsibility (Riddle Memorial Lectures at the University of Durham, 1951). Oxford University Press, New York, N.Y., 1951

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The Nature and Destiny of Man Charles Scribner's Sons, New York,N.Y., 1943

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Christian Philosophy in the Common Law Blackfriars, Oxford,1947.

The Christian Lawyer As A Churchman, William Stringfellow

Vanderbilt Law Review

Comparative studies of moral theology and legal philosophy are irrelevant if they are isolated from the concrete life of worship. Similarly, the question of the Christian vocation of the practicing lawyer must not be solely an attempt to articulate some ethics to guide a lawyer in his decisions in work. The Christian life is not so much about deciding and doing as it is about being that which Christians are called to be. Precisely, Christians are what they are called to be in worship. Worship is not an ancillary folk activity to which Christians resort out of sentiment or superstition, …