Moral Theology’s Isolation
I worry about moral theology, whether the discipline has enough of a foundation these days to keep it Christian. I worry about myself, if I decide to ‘do’ moral theology at the doctoral level–will I be automatically sequestered, kept from the kind of conversations I want to be a part of? So much contemporary moral theology has sequestered itself from the conversations that would keep it alive and faithful, by preferring the praise of modern liberalism to the imitation of the saints and of Christ. Could I manage to do moral theology, even political theology, without falling down the same path? Could I convince others concerned about the moralizing dilution of Christian theology that what I’m doing isn’t that?
Being at Notre Dame drives me to despair over the state of moral theology at the same time it fills me with hope. Moral theology as a discipline seems to stand alone here; the other disciplines don’t want to play, and it reciprocates the cold shoulder. (To be honest, biblical studies and liturgical studies seem similarly isolated. History and systematics are the only disciplines properly blended.) But through its history department, Notre Dame has access to the most profound moral theologies Christianity has ever seen: Chrysostom, Nyssa, Benedict, the mendicants, etc. I’m trying discern whether this is a fruitful tension, and whether I want to trust five more pivotal years of my intellectual formation–not to mention my spiritual formation–to this community and this faculty.
27 August 2007 |
Comments (4)
Tags: Ethics, Method
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Sounds like quite the dilemma! I admit I hardly know what you are writing about anymore, it’s so sophisticated. But I think we are diverging more and more theologically as I succumb to humanism and you maintain loyal ties to the Church and to history and saints and tradition. I wonder what you mean by the “moralizing dilution of Christian theology”? Ach, I can’t even understand anymore.
I should leave academic theology to experts like yourself and stick to lay theological conversation and lay political debate. I am feeling more at peace about studying international relations at the master’s level. But no higher. I want to be practical, not a professor teaching about the world but actually participating in the world. We’ll see.
Have a great day!
Not sophistication, I assure you, but unclarity. If you’re not following, then I’m just being a bad writer! By ‘moralizing dilution,’ I’m mostly thinking of the tendency of many to reduce all Christian teaching to bare ethics. For example, the answer to the question, ‘Who is Jesus?’, becomes ‘a moral teacher,’ or ‘a revolutionary,’ or ‘a nonviolent activist.’ These answers, while latching onto key aspects of Jesus’ character, are fundamentally atheological. Much moral theology no longer cries, with Peter, “You are the Messiah, Son of the living God!” I’m oversimplifying here, but I think what I’m getting at is recognizable on the lowest level of theological discussion.
I’m glad to hear you’re coming to some peace about future directions! I hope you’ll never leave theology to the ‘experts,’ though–especially if they’re like me. It gives me some hope to think of people like you, theologically informed, doing work at the level of international relations. I certainly don’t think study and teaching is ‘impractical,’ but I’m glad for people as broadly studied as you are to be working in other contexts than the academy.
Good luck starting the semester! Mine here’s looking good.
Ah, I figured as much on moralizing dilution. I think I’ve sufficiently diluted my morals to the point of being a humanist…who knows…maybe I’ll recover~
I think for me, the antidote to ‘moralizing dilution’ came when the insufficiency of morality became more apparent to me. That is, we can’t do it all ourselves and, according to the Christian tradition, we don’t have to.