MA in Spirituality

Final Practicum 4.21.09

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 00:30:03 GMT

And I'm done!

Our final "Valuation" was writing a letter of recommendation for ourselves as a spiritual companion. Afterwards here were some of the "Valuation" comments I was given...

Rick: I'm passionate; I am challenging to others and myself.

Greg: growth; when he first met me he saw me as "frazzled" (though he wasn't sure what that meant) and unsettled, but now the energy is healthy; he hopes for me to see my strengths, not just my weaknesses

Sandy: sees me as more centered, congruent, settled

Peggy: sees me as a searcher

Laura: sees me as reliable, Present, says I have the wonderful ability to introduce laughter into a room; says I oxygenate a room

Ron (teacher): my honesty was refreshing and invaluable

Sebasianna: I have so much energy but it is gentle and lifegiving, not overwhelming and in your face

Anne (teacher): I have a unique holy irreverence; I have special gifts when it comes to being Present to others

Lois: I have a charisma that is inviting

So...yeah, awesome stuff, I like the person they described to me. My feedback in general in the class has been about me as a person, not as a spiritual companion, and that's wonderful because the skills I have learned make me a better person and that is what is most beneficial to myself and others. I probably won't do a whole lot of freelance spiritual direction; what I will do is be able to offer it to those who desire it and to have not only the capacity but the habit of truly listening to others, of being Present and available. I am very pleased with the education I have received over the past 2 1/2 years at Loyola. Good thing, since I'll be paying it off for quite a while :)

Practicum II 2.10.09

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 19:16:45 GMT

possible triggers for me:
people who manipulate others
people who have a lack of empathy
people who behave with sexual immaturity

Our exercise was to "get in the skin" of a person with one of these qualities. I chose "lack of empathy." It was a good exercise and I got some insight as to what it might be like to not have empathy.

Practicum 2.3.09

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 19:14:41 GMT

Boundaries DO NOT EQUAL Exclusion
Boundaries are guidelines which we expand as we grow

Be able to express things in a whole variety of ways...some people are allergic to certain words...usually it's not better to settle on one word, have alternatives.

For the following exercise, we were to observe a spiritual direction session and pay attention to our own inner movements: thoughts, feelings, senses, reactions.

Anne was the companion, Ron was "Spiff" the directee. Here is what I observed in myself during the session:
feel blister on my right heel
hear projector noise
head itches
physically exhausted--eyes feel tired
anxious (when Spiff said "fell in love")...felt scared for him, also hopeful for him, a bit excited
smiled at "I feel cared for"
felt bruise on my chin from Faelyn's headbutt, did some Reiki on it
wondered if Spiff would hurt this woman, thought of Kelly
wondered if the love was just physical comfort
found his awkwardness about talking about sex amusing, funny
felt he was acting dangerously
felt some tightness in chest, heart chakra
"there's one person in the world who just wants to hug me" made me think how vulnerable and lonely this man is, this is not love, he is not IN love
thought he's a child, acting impulsively, selfishly, without intention, without giving
he is so desperate for loving connection, to feel wanted, loved
felt weary of Spiff, wished it was over, done
stomach and heart sank, started to feel sad
did deep breathing to calm insides
thought: he can't do commitment, he doesn't know what it means
feeling down, tireder and tireder
felt slight shaking, especially in right hand and arm
got chill at end, tried to shake it off
couldn't get warm
felt anxious in stomach during processing, wanted a break
thought "I can't work with priests in spiritual direction"

The triggers set off in me lasted for several hours. Quite unenjoyable.

"You're as healthy as your last secret."

Practicum II 1.27.09

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 19:08:10 GMT

Spiritual directors help facilitate the directee's deeper listening so they can do that when they're not with us.

It's the director's attitude of receiving what is being shared--not whether s/he agrees or disagrees.

Be honest if something crosses the line for you--refer them.

Don't jump to conclusions: their words aren't necessarily the same as yours.

Could you give me some room and space to express myself, to explore what I believe? You can't discern what you can't talk about and sort out.

*We are helping people form adult conscience/consciousness, how to discern conscience.

When asked an awkward question, ask: "what moves you to ask this question?"

Where is God revealing God's Self to this person?

"What are you listening to?" (Where are you going?)

Peer Supervision Exercise:
Anne comes for supervision. It is the same dynamic as spiritual direction. It is NOT consultation. She feels some impatience with her directee and doesn't like feeling that (she wants to "bop him over the head"). She says it seems like he is going over the same stuff over and over in a victim posture, like he's "standing on a dime" and not getting off. She said "it's not WHAT they're sharing, it's the WAY": there's something wrong with everything ("I'm so bad, I'm so awful"). She finds impatience more than uncomfortable, she finds herself judging herself. She felt manipulated during the last session and there was also an inappropriate hug at the end. The hug made her ticked off and she wondered how conscious he is about this behavior.
During the peer supervision, Anne experienced a shift, "something tight was loosened."

Usually peer supervision groups have 6 people max.

Practicum II 1.13.09

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 19:02:31 GMT

Today we had a little pizza party to celebrate the end of last semester and beginning of this semester.

Climate check (what happened over break):
started learning to sew
entire world shattered

Practicum I 11.25.08

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 20:09:38 GMT

The final two classes of the semester are "Mid Year Reflections" or "Value-ations." We completed a "working document" of our strengths, weaknesses and discernments and then the class gives feedback, comments, etc.

Here is what was said about me...
In response to what I call "radical honesty" (one of my strengths), someone said she would call it "painful" honesty and that I might want to refine when and how and how much I disclose.

I was told I am very resourceful. So resourceful it exhausts this person to think about my many activities.

I was told I have a vibrant energy which the particular classmate finds attractive and magnetic.

Also told I have a youthful exuberance and an old soul and that I should treasure that youthful exuberance.

I was told a growth opportunity would be compassion for self.

Someone said I am not ashamed of any part of myself.

Several said that I am fun to be around.

Also told I was "refreshing."

My teacher said if she had a prayer for me it would be to "Love being Ordinary." (Still working on what that means.)

My teacher also said she was impressed with my capacity to sort and play with feedback.

One classmate, in response to some insecurities I had expressed, said for me not to try to fit a mold as a spiritual director, that what I have to offer is good.

Yeah, so...there's that.

Here's a few quotes from class that struck me:
"There is nothing as strong as pure gentleness; there is nothing as gentle as pure strength."
"Humility is Truth."

also, the concept of a Salvation Plan intrigued me.

Practicum 11.18.08

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 17:12:20 GMT

We did another fishbowl with "Spif," his second session 4 weeks after the first.

For feedback, repeat back (don't interpret).

"I was listening and cheering what this person is doing." Something in me is happening as I witness. We're not there because of our skills to make things happen, we are there to witness.

Practicum I 10.28.08

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 17:08:42 GMT

There is natural resistance in us to stay with what is in us.

Supervision is about what you are experiencing.
Consultation is about what your directee is experiencing.

Spiritual direction is experiential. So is Supervision.

We did a fishbowl spiritual direction exercise in which Ron came in as "Spif" and Carol sat with him. Afterwards we did a Peer Group Supervision exercise.

"Why" questions take us away from the experience and into our heads.

See where the directee is at and just hang around there for awhile. Extend an invitation to walk around their experience for awhile.

Practicum I 10.28.08

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 14:09:31 GMT

There is natural resistance in us to stay with what is in us.

Supervision is about what you are experiencing. Consultation is about what your directee is experiencing.

Spiritual direction is experiential. So is Supervision.

We met Ron's directee character: "Spif Stua." Carol sat with him. Then we did a Peer Group Supervision Exercise with Carol.

"Why" questions take us away from the experience and into our heads.

See where the directee is at and just hang around there for awhile. Extend an invitation to walk around their experience for awhile.

Practicum I 10.21.08

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 14:30:15 GMT

We did another exercise with "Maggie" who we "sat with" one month ago. Laura played the director and Anne played Maggie.

I particularly liked this exchange:
Maggie: What do you think?
Laura: I think you smile when you talk about Mystery.

We then enacted a supervision session for Laura. We needed to be clear about what was "supervision" and what was "consultation." Supervision is about what's going on in you (the director), any triggers you are experiencing and how you are responding to your directees. Consultation helps with a particular directee's issues and is opportunity to get advice, feedback, insights, referrals, etc.

We did a Supervision Group exercises using the Laura-Maggie session as a starting point. The dynamics of this group are much the same as spiritual direction: we stay with Laura the way she stayed with Maggie. The director offers her responses, feelings, etc and then her peers and/or supervisors will engage her. Usually supervision/peer groups are pretty small. You are not coming with a problem, you are coming with something you want to sit more deeply with.

Our Presence is always something. (We never do nothing.)

Practicum I 10.14.08

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 14:20:51 GMT

We are helping people live integrated lives.

Talking about something can take you deeper into the experience.

Stay with someone in their joy. People resist joy.

Directee: "And that's it."
Director: "Let's sit with it, there just might be more there. You have time and space just to Be."

Invite them back to their own desire.

Practicum I 9.30.08

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 13:43:41 GMT

no presumptions, no assumptions

flexibility is key

sometimes we don't want to talk, we want to be silent

savor the experience

stay in the experience

if they seem to be ending early, say "you still have ten minutes if you want it"...if they don't want it, no problem

stealing words = interrupting, not listening
stealing experiences = getting in the way

We then did triads (one person is the director, one person is the directee and one person is the observer) and I played the directee. Usually we just play ourselves, but this time we did some role-playing. I was "Mary": "Mary's good friend is dying of cancer. Mary finds herself extremely angry at God for taking her friend and allowing this all to happen. Mary finds she is also very angry at her 'church' where she sought help only to find little, if any, assistance. Mary originally stated her desire to attend to 'God in her life' and has been going to direction for one year." Great exercise.

"can you speak to God now?"
"have you brought this to God?"

Q: "What should I do?"
A: "Be present."

"I don't know what you need to do with your anger. Let's just pay attention to it."

"What's the desire behind your (tears, anger, etc.)?"

What's the revelation?
What's the lesson?
What's the gift?

Me: "I don't think it's broken. I think it's always been like this."

Practicum I 9.23.08

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 14:25:44 GMT

If the directee arrives flustered or anxious, give the directee time to relax and regroup and then let them start when they're ready.

Don't take notes during the session; do make notes/reflections after the session. Reflect on what it was like for you and what you noticed in both yourself and the directee.

During moments of great emotion during a session, ask: can we take a moment and honor the experience is happening?

I have my two directees scheduled for their first sessions!!

Practicum I 9.16.08

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 14:23:40 GMT

At the beginning of class we did a "climate check" for each of us. Mine was that I felt like the winds were coming in (like in Mary Poppins), that there was a change of direction. The wind was sweeping me clear and shaking me up in an elemental way.

We did some administrative business regarding our personal directees. Then we "fishbowled" a session between our two teachers. Ron was the director, Anne was the directee "Maggie."

It's all the directee's decisions...they lead the dance...

Practicum I 9.9.08

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 18:08:02 GMT

What do you do when you really identify with what the directee is speaking about?

Sit a little off-center from the directee--not head on or "square." The focus is not on you.

Welcome...be hospitable...be present...

Good things happen very slowly; this is a slow unfolding process.

ask "What does that mean for you?"

Be slow, silent, and stupid.

Feedback: not analytical, interpretive or judging; just observe what you see; be concrete, brief, concise

The holy is revealing itself in the depth of our experience of being together.

ask "What is your prayer life like?"

Practicum I 9.2.08

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 18:05:37 GMT

We are looking at first visits naturally, since we'll be doing those in just a few weeks!

But first, a teensy bit offtopic: In group spiritual direction, create big space where we can share our stories on a gut-level. We want to be known in the fullness of who we are.

How to begin in a spiritual direction relationship...it's all about being hospitable (internally and externally).
offer something to drink
ask if the temperature is okay
be welcoming
have a spirit of hospitality
introduce yourself
call directee by name
have comfortable seating
have uncluttered space
pray before each meeting
be on time
meet the directee where they are (internally)
let the directee know this is confidential
ask the directee why they are there
let the directee ask questions

Remember, people have all kinds of expectations, biases, judgments, etc.

Agreement/Covenant: why are you there, how often, where, stipend, what do you hope to do

It may take us awhile to see if this is a fit and let's agree to be honest about whether it is a fit.

Don't make too much or too little of yourself, your skills, your ability.

What you are about is spiritual direction--is that why the directee is there?

How are we to be with them as they bring their whole life?

Breaking off a spiritual direction relationship: "I don't know that I can be with you in the way that you deserve. This is my issue."

Practicum I 8.26.08

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 18:00:26 GMT

Alrighty, back at school. I'm not sure how much posting I will be doing on my practicum since much of the content is confidential. So I'll try to post a few nuggets of wisdom from classes and supervision, but there certainly won't be as much as previous semesters.

Also, if you want FREE SPIRITUAL DIRECTION and are willing to see one of my classmates (interns), please email me at kgovier @ luc.edu with your name, phone number and age and I will hook you up! Once or twice a month you will meet to talk about your relationship with the Divine in a safe, confidential environment. Good deal, peeps, if you're in Chicago!

So...the first class. This was mostly about reconnecting with each other and sharing our summer adventures. Here is what I commented on from my summer:

started doula certification training and found the communication skills module to be nearly identical to spiritual direction

went to Priest Lake for a week and saw stars, relaxed, didn't read or study

drank a lot of beer

loved nannying and being outside at the playground

my husband went through the male transition to adulthood (and now we're both adults!)

I officiated my first wedding

I took an online ethics class

I am living my heart's desire out loud

I spent leisurely time with loved ones

I performed in Abbie Hoffman doing sacred theatre and put my friend back together

Good stuff, huh? I had a spectacular summer.

For next week we are to pay attention to what we noticed within ourselves as we listened to our classmates tell about their summers. How was it hearing emotional things as a companion? Did I feel responded to? Did I respond non-verbally? When did I feel engaged and when did I pull away?

Also, we have to look through last year's reflection papers.

Done done done done.

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 18:59:24 GMT

And I'm all finished with my online ethics class...which I got a 100% in, by the way. Turns out I'm brilliant! But you all knew that :) So that ends my actual class load for my degree and, as I've said a bazillion times in the last month, now I just have a year of Practicum/Internship.

But for the summer, I'm done with school! Except for my doula certification course...

Christian Moral Theology and Ethics: 5th Week of Class 6/9/08-6/15/08

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 22:16:08 GMT

Week Five, Lesson One: Feminist Perspective: Gender and Ethics

Philosophy of the Human Person
“The philosophy of the person is important because human beings live in accordance with their understanding of themselves.” --Images of the Human Person, ed. By Hunter Brown et al, Chicago, IL: Loyola Press. 1995, xvii

Contemporary Issues:
In this lesson, we continue considering:
– Increased knowledge of all aspects of the human person (e.g., biology, psychology)
– Definitions of “good” and “evil”
– Understandings of the “common good”

Definitions: Hierarchy
 Greek origins of hierarchy
 Aristotle (384-322 B.C.E.)
– philosopher
– Labeled “male” superior, “female” inferior

Definitions: Feminism
 What is it?
– 1. A Critical Awareness that resulted in
 A theory
 A social vision
 An ideology
– 2. A Method of Analysis with 3 steps
 Naming
 Choosing
 Acting
– 3. A Plan of Action with several different areas of focus:
 Cultural
 Liberal
 Social
 Radical

 1. A Critical Awareness
– “of cultural attitudes and values”
– “rooted in women’s experience of sexually-based discrimination and oppression”
– “a culture controlled in meaning and action by men, for their own advantage, oppresses women and dehumanizes men” – Joann Wolski Conn
– Clifford, Anne M. Introducing Feminist Theology, 16 -17

 Out of this Critical Awareness:
– A theory: “of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes”
 political – right to vote and hold office;
 economic – equal pay and access to goods and services;
 social – right to education; freedom from violence;
 cultural – right to choose a marriage partner; make decisions about pregnancy;
 legal – right to own property; obtain a divorce
 (Webster’s)

– A social vision: “….all three waves [of feminism] emphasized equality and mutuality in relationships as the basis of the world as it ought to be”
– – Clifford, Anne M. Introducing Feminist Theology, , 16, 5
– An ideology = a set of “feminist” principles
 2. A Method of Analysis
– A. Naming: “Attending to experiences”
– B. Choosing: “Bringing these experiences into dialogue” with other resources; sorting out alternative options
– C. Acting: “Developing strategies for transformative action”
– Clifford, Anne M. Introducing Feminist Theology, 35
 3. Plans of Action:
– Cultural
 seeks understanding of and behavior based upon the social complementarity of woman and men;
 emphasis on women as “more able” to be nurturing, compassionate, peacemaking, and morally superior to men
– Liberal – seeks social equality of women and men in the present structure
Definitions: Feminism
 3. Plans of Action:
– Social – seeks a new economic system for society that ends the economic dependence of women and children on men and ends class divisions.
– Radical
 seeks new social order eradicating male domination (patriarchy) as the root of all societal problems;
 focus goes beyond social structure to all forms of life, e.g., parenting, relationships, war, ecology; some propose a women-centered culture (separatism).

 Feminism is a Movement committed to the elimination of sexism (male-gender power and privilege)
 in all:
Institutions Positions
Practices Actions
Roles Expectations
Offices Ways of thinking

 GENDER (Feminine/Masculine)
– “the behavioral, cultural, or psychological traits typically associated with one sex”
– Biological distinctions:
 Male = “produces gametes/sperm”
 Female = “produces gametes/eggs; and bears young”
– “Feminine” = “characteristic of or appropriate or unique to women”
– “Masculine” = “characteristic of or appropriate or unique to men”
– Webster’s
 GENDER (Feminine/Masculine)
– distinct from the biological fact of sex
– “analysis of the social construction of gender…has been a foundational feature of feminism in general and Christian feminism in particular”
– one of a variety of socially constructed realities, e.g., race, class, economic location
– Pruvis Dictionary of Feminist Theologies,124-125

 Patriarchy – The institutional, systematic domination of men over women. It is about sexism, by which is meant male-gender power and privilege.

 Conceptual Framework – a socially constructed set of basic beliefs, values, attitudes and assumptions (ways of thinking) which shape and reflect how one views oneself and one’s world
– Karen Warren, Ecofeminist Philosophy: A Western Perspective on What It Is and Why It Matters, 64

 Patriarchy as a Conceptual Framework- A conceptual framework is patriarchal when it functions to explain, justify and maintain the subordination of women by men.
– Karen Warren, Ecofeminist Philosophy: A Western Perspective on What It Is and Why It Matters, 64

 Three levels or types of Feminism:
➢ Seeks full inclusion of women in political and economic spheres
➢ Seeks transformation of the patriarchal socioecononmic systems
➢ Seeks analysis of culture and consciousness for connections of domination of women and male monopolization of resources and power

FEMINISM – US History
 1840’s “First Wave”
➢ Equal Rights for Women
➢ 1919 Women’s Suffrage Achieved
 1940’s-50’s “Second Wave”
➢ Simone de Bevoir, author “The Second Sex”
➢ Betty Friedan, author “The Feminine Mystique”
 1960’s”
➢ NOW formed
➢ “Rap group” format led to “consciousness-raising”
 1980’s “Third Wave”
– Multi-cultural (diversity of approach depends on social location – i.e., economic status, race, ethnicity)
– Eco-Feminism (claims abuse of Earth and abuse of women are both historically linked in patriarchal conceptual framework)

Feminist Critique: Patriarchy and the Hierarchy of Dualismsr
MALE/FEMALE
SPIRIT/MATTER
TRANSCENDENT/IMMANENT
LIGHT/DARKNESS
HEAVEN/EARTH
SACRED/PROFANE
HUMAN/NON-HUMAN
MIND/BODY
RATIONAL/INTUITIVE
REASON/EMOTION
THEOLOGY/SPIRITUALITY
INDEPENDENCE/INTERDEPENDENCE

Principles of Feminism
 Feminist Principles:
– Woman is fully human, not derivatively nor partially so
– Equality – a woman’s full humanity is equal to that of a man, not complementary to man
– Mutuality – relationships of equal status, power, vulnerability, agency
– M. Farley, in Boulton, 53-54

Principles of Feminism
 Reality is conflictual
 Both/And solutions are preferred to Either/Or
 Cyclical nature of life
 Experience is central to who we are
 To be human is to be in relationship
 Storytelling (sharing our experiences) helps define us and our reality
 Good process takes time
– Synthesis of feminist writings

Feminism – Values
Integration rather than Dualism
Cooperation Competition
Incorporation Exclusion
Organic Mechanical
Differentiation Sameness
Solidarity Dominance
Community Individualism

Third-Wave Feminism:
Eco-Feminist Movement

Eco-Feminism - Definitions
 1974
➢ Year term said to have been first coined by the writer, Francoise d’Eaubonne
➢ Others say it arose simultaneously among many feminists
• 1980’s
➢ First Eco-Feminist Conference held
➢ Rosemary Ruether, first eco-feminist textbook
 Movement that recognizes historical, conceptual, symbolic, etc. links in the domination of women and nature
 Shares many views with Ecology Movement, but recognizes that EM is not necessarily feminist (e.g., critique of Western philosophy as androcentric as well as anthropocentric)
Eco-Feminism - Principles
 Based in belief that life on Earth is an interconnected web, not a hierarchy
 Understands cosmogenesis as unfolding, rather than objectifying cosmos as static
 Celebrates human connectedness with all creation; and diversity as healthy
 Works to transform a social order that sanctions human oppression and environmental abuse

Feminism at Work:
Revising Biblical Interpretation
 FEMINIST HERMENEUTICS
– “Hermeneutics”
 technical term from the Greek word hermeneuein/hermenia meaning the practice and theory of interpretation;
 derived from the mythological Greek messenger Hermes;
 refers to the interaction between the text and the interpreter who hopes to understand the meaning of the text
 Clifford and others.
Feminism and the Bible
– “FEMINIST”
 when the interpretation is done in the interest of women’s full humanity
 criterion: “the Word of God” both liberates and empowers people with freeing truth”
 “…if a biblical text fails to liberate women (and subjugated men) from patriarchy to the fullness of life, then it must not be true or has been misinterpreted” (cf. John 8:32)
 Clifford, 61, glossary
People
 Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza
– author of In Memory of Her, a feminist reconstruction of early church history
– “stresses that the biblical canon must be distinguished from the living inspiration of the Spirit who gives life…and resides in communities of faithful persons”
 Clifford, 61

Feminism and Philosophy
Insights on Contemporary Issues:
– Increased knowledge of all aspects of the human person (e.g., biology, psychology)
 Human person as “beings whose value lies not only in their freedom but also in their capacity to know and be known, to love and be loved; as beings whose destiny is communion.”
- Farley, in Boulton, 54
 “Women…must reach for a continually expanding definition of the inclusive humanity….They must also criticize humanocentrism: making humans the norm and crown of creation…”
- Ruether, in Boulton, 91
– Definitions of “good” and “evil”
 “…our very understandings of ‘good’ are called into question when we discover how intertwined they are with assumptions, especially about gender.
- Farley, Just Love, 136
 “…morality emerges as a problem of care and responsibility, and identity the achievement of relationship.”
- Gilligan, in Boulton, 173
– Understandings of the “common good”
 “…in our age of nuclear weapons, international interdependence has become a reality of life.”
 “As we listen more carefully to the moral voice that speaks about interdependence…different ways of thinking about power emerge as well as different ways of understanding violence to others and to self.”
- Gilligan, in Boulton, 176

Maslow- Stages of Human Development
Example: Feminist Movement
 First stage: “Second Sex” (women) dependent on male for food/shelter (Physical needs)
 Second stage: Dependent on male for protection from wild animals and human raiders (Safety needs)
 Third stage: “Tending and Befriending” – women create their own circles of support as they care for children(Belonging needs)
Example: Feminist Movement
 Fourth stage: Women create their own specialized roles and excel at them (Esteem needs)
 Fifth stage: Individual women reach self-actualization and begin to “go public”; eventually they coalesce into the emergence of the feminist movements (Self-Actualization needs)

Ken Wilber’s Four Quadrants:
(I) (IT)
Upper Left (UL) Upper Right (UR)
Individual Interior Individual Exterior
Transformation = New Mode of Self Transformation = New Behaviors

(WE) (IT)
Lower Left (LL) Lower Right (LR)
Collective Interior Collective Exterior
Transformation = New Culture and Transformation = New Social
New View of the World Institutions And Techno-
Economic Base

Example: Feminist Movement
 In each “wave” of the feminist movement, individual women (UL) ceased to view themselves as dependent on men for their survival and identity
 They began to speak with other women about their life experiences (UR), were affirmed, and began to speak and act publicly
Example: Feminist Movement
 1982 - Carol Gilligan publishes landmark study, In a Different Voice, on women’s moral development and decision-making; public sentiment begins to change (LL)
 1980’s – “Eco-feminist Movement” begins when women realize through reclaiming their “embodiedness” their oneness with, and connection to, nature and subsequently name the twin domination of women and nature by patriarchy (LL)
Example: Feminist Movement
 2004 - Wangari Maathai is given the Nobel Peace Prize for her work restoring forests in Kenya through the Green Belt Movement (LR)

THE END – OR IS IT JUST THE BEGINNING????

ISSUES:
Environmental Ethics
ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS
• Readings for the Week
– Winona LaDuke:
• Author, two-time Green Party
Vice Presidential Candidate
• We Westerners are “energy junkies”
– In McCormick & Connors:
• Issues: Population, Global Warming, Consumerism
• Biblical Sources:
– Genesis 1:26-31: “Let us make humankind…[to] fill the earth and subdue it; and let them have dominion…”

Week Five, Part Two: ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS
• St. Francis of Assisi
• 1181-1226
• Patron Saint of Ecologists
• “Brother Sun, Sister Moon
• Hildegarde of Bingen
• 1098-1179
• Abbess, Mystic
• Musician, Poet
• Scientist

Ethics for the New Millennium
“Some people are really showing excitement about the new millennium, that the new millennium itself will bring new happy days. I think that’s wrong. Unless there is a new millennium inside, then the new millennium will not change much – same days and nights, same sun and moon. The important thing is transformation, or new ways of thinking.”
-His Holiness the Dalai Lama
Ethics for a New Millennium, Mystic Fire Video, New York, NY. 1999.

The Earth Charter: Global Ethics
➢ a declaration of fundamental principles for building a just, sustainable, and peaceful global society for the 21st century.
➢ seeks to inspire in all peoples a sense of global interdependence and shared responsibility for the well-being of the human family and the larger living world.
➢ an expression of hope and a call to help create a global partnership at a critical juncture in history.
➢ www.earthcharter.org

Spirituality & The Earth Charter
• “We stand at a critical moment in Earth’s history, a time when humanity must choose its future.”
• “As never before in history, common destiny beckons us to seek a new beginning.”
• “This will require a change of mind and heart.”
- Preamble and The Way Forward

• “Recognize the importance of moral and spiritual education for sustainable living.”
- Principle 14d

• “Recognize that peace is the wholeness created by right relationships with oneself, other persons, other cultures, other life, Earth, and the larger whole of which all are a part.”
– Principle 16f
• “In the Earth Charter, we propose a new paradigm for development, a people-led development, a development which is pro-poor, pro-nature, and pro-woman”
• “If the general principles of the Earth Charter are to be achieved and transferred into action, the action must be religious, spiritual, and political as Gandhi’s was.”
– Kamla Chowdry
The Earth Charter in Action

• “In everything Gandhi’s did, he introduced the spirit of religion in his politics.”
• “Asked whether he was a saint or politician he replied, ‘I could not be leading a religious life unless I identified with the whole of [hu]mankind, and that I could not do unless I took part in politics.’ ”
– Kamla Chowdry
The Earth Charter in Action

Earth Charter: Who is God?
• All life is strengthened when we live with reverence for the mystery of being, gratitude for the gift of life, and humility regarding the human place in nature.
– Preamble

Earth Charter: Who Are We?
• “Humanity is part of a vast evolving Universe”
• “We are one human family and one Earth community with a common destiny.”
• “We are at once citizens of different nations and of one world in which the local and global are linked.”
– Preamble

Earth Charter: Why Are We Here?
“Let ours be a time remembered for the awakening of:
– a new reverence for life,
– the firm resolve to achieve sustainability,
– the quickening of the struggle for peace and justice,
– and the joyful celebration life.”
– Preamble

Earth Charter: How Are We To Be Here With Others?
• “We must join together to bring forth a sustainable global society…” - Preamble
• “Every form of life has value regardless of its worth to human beings.” – Principle 1a
• “…it is imperative that we, the peoples of Earth, declare our responsibility to one another, to the greater community of life, and to future generations.”
– Preamble

Spirituality & The Earth Charter
• “We know from Gandhi, if the voice of the Earth Charter is to become a living reality, then the starting point of change is with oneself.”
• “If we cannot change ourselves, we cannot change the world.”
• “We need the inner strength to be able to say to ourselves and the world, “My life is my message.”
– Kamla Chowdry
The Earth Charter in Action

Reverence for Life
“The spirit of human solidarity and kinship with all life is strengthened when we live with
reverence for the mystery of being,
gratitude for the gift of life, and
humility regarding the human place in nature.”
- Earth Charter Preamble

quotes from readings:

“So how we are taught about God and treated in the name of God are important for recognizing the divine presence in our experience.” (Gula 111)

“…God comes to us in and through our everyday experience where God is calling us to life, growth, and wholeness.” (Gula 115)

“[Centering prayer] is a deeper seeing into things and a resulting reverence.” (Gula 118)

“In the last two centuries the human population has grown from less than one to over six billion, and threatens to pass eight billion within three decades.” (McCormick & Conners 215)

Christian Moral Theology and Ethics: 4th Week of Class 6/2/08-6/8/08

Sun, 08 Jun 2008 00:51:13 GMT

Week Four, Lesson One: Religious Perspectives

“Christian ethics is not just about deciding but about deciding how to decide.”
– Boulton, et al, ix

• Perspectives emerge from our experience and influence our values (what is “right” and “wrong”), which in turn influence our choices
Review – Perspectives
• Perspectives considered in this course:
– Spirituality
– Cosmology/Evolution
– Multicultural
– Multi-Faith
– Religious
• Scripture
• Tradition
– Philosophy
– Science
– Feminism

Religion, Spirituality and Ethics
• Who Am I?
• How Did I Get Here?
• Why Am I Here?
• How Am I To Be Here With Others?

PERSPECTIVE: NEW COSMOLOGY
• How do religion, spirituality and ethics fit into the history of human evolution?
• What are the ways in which religion is beneficial to the human condition (guiding behavior, i.e., ethics)?
• What is the role of religion and spirituality in the development of a person? A society?
• How can we overcome the dualities in our past understandings, e.g., “sacred” vs. “profane”, “heaven” vs. “earth”, “experience” vs. “belief”, “religion” vs. “spirituality”
• What happens to traditional beliefs, e.g., “Where is heaven?” “Who is Jesus?” “Who are we?”
Who Am I?
“I am a child of God,
an inheritor of a fragment
of the Mind
that created worlds.”
- Helen Keller

Who Are We?
“The universe is a unity,
an interacting and
genetically-related
community of beings.”
-Thomas Berry
[Thomas Berry and the New Cosmology. Mystic, CT. Twentythird. 1987. 107]

“There is one body and one Spirit.” - St. Paul (Ephesians 4:4)

Spirituality vs. Religion
• What is the relationship between the two?
Four Elements of RELIGION
• Institutional
• Intellectual
• Social
• Mystical
– Raymond Bailey, Thomas Merton on Mysticism, p.16
• In recent centuries, these elements became separated, with more emphasis on the first two.
• As Gula suggests, we are now trying to bring them together, especially as it concerns morality

Implications
• Intellectual Aspects of Religion
– Ways of thinking about the Divine
– Worldview and Self-Understanding
• Institutional Aspects of Religion
– Leadership and Authority
– Teachings
– Sacraments
• Social
– Ethical Values
– Ethical Decisions and Behaviors
• Mystical Aspects of Religion
– Spiritual Practices
– Rituals/Liturgies

HUMAN EVOLUTION & RELIGION
• Barbara King, professor of anthropology, William and Mary College
• Researched the prehistory of human religion
• book Evolving God (Doubleday, 2007) explores the deepest roots of the human religious imagination
– http://people.wm.edu/~bjking/
• King uses the behaviors of African apes (including empathy and compassion) as clues to the behaviors of early human ancestors
• http://people.wm.edu/~bjking/
• King traces the development of religious ritual through the Neanderthals and through the cave artists of our own species.
– http://people.wm.edu/~bjking/
• "We humans crave emotional connection with others. This deep desire... can be explained by the long evolutionary history we shared with other primates....
– Barbara J. King, Evolving God
• At the same time, it explains why humans evolved to become the spiritual ape--the ape that grew a large brain, the ape that stood up, the ape that first created art, but, above all, the ape that evolved God."
– Barbara J. King, Evolving God
• Emotion and the social milieu are an essential part of the human environment and thus co-evolve with the gene pool.
– Dr. Fred Bortz
– http://www.fredbortz.com/review/EvolvingGod.htm
• King suggests the origins of religion are to be found in Primate capacity for “belongingness” expressed in
– empathy (emotional connection)
– meaning-making
– rule-following
– imagination
• “Belongingness is mattering to someone who matters to you.”
– Barbara J. King, Evolving God, 4
• Stones, bones, and “big” behaviors like tool-making and cave-painting do change over time as our ancestors evolve….
• But the most profound, indeed the most stirring transformations in the evolutionary history of Homo Sapiens involve what does not fossilize and what is sometimes made intangible: belongingness.
– Barbara J. King, Evolving God, 2
New Cosmology Means A New Vision of “Belonging” to the Planet
“Belongingness” in Other Species
• ATLANTA—Elephants have joined a small, elite group of species—including humans, great apes and dolphins—that have the ability to recognize themselves in the mirror, according to a new finding by researchers at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in New York.
• This newly found presence of mirror self-recognition in elephants… is thought to relate to empathetic tendencies and the ability to distinguish oneself from others, a characteristic that evolved independently in several branches of animals, including primates such as humans.
– http://www.yerkes.emory.edu/index/yerkes-app/story.67, October 30, 2006

“Belongingness” in Other Species
• If you have time, read the extraordinary story of the elephant friends Shirley and Jenny featured on the PBS television series, Nature.
• http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/bestofnature/update.html
“Belonging” and Human Ethics
• Gula: “Spirituality and the moral life are about living in this world with a sense of belonging to God, of being loved by God without condition, and of being invaded by the presence of God everywhere.” – 211
• Willems: “A person-centered morality focuses on communication and learning, relationship and community.” - 75
As Christians New Cosmology Means “Belonging” to the One…

“…In Whom We Live
and Move and
Have Our Being”

Acts 17:28
Tradition and Images of God
Spirituality and Image of the Divine
A New Look at an Old Definition:
Spirituality =
“Life in the Spirit”
- St. Paul

- Philip Sheldrake, Spirituality & History. NY: Orbis. 1998, 42

Spirit = God present and active
in the world
• Gives Life
• Renews Life
• “Moves” - Makes All Things New
• Creates Community
– Elizabeth A. Johnson, Ph.D.
[Women, Earth and Creator Spirit. NY: Paulist. 1002. 41-44]

Spirituality and Origins of Religion
• “Each great religion has a similar origin: the spiritual awakening of its founders to God, the divine, the absolute, the spirit, Tao, boundless awareness.”
• Spirituality and religion derive from mysticism (or direct experience of the Divine)
– Wayne Teasdale, The Mystic Heart, 11
• “For thousands of years before the dawn of the world religions as social organisms working their way through history, the mystical life thrived.
• The mystical tradition, which underpins all genuine faith, is the living source of religion itself.”
– Wayne Teasdale, The Mystic Heart, 10-11

Spirituality & Religion–Definitions
Spirituality
• “In contrast [to religion], spirituality refers only to the sense of the transcendent, which organized religions carry and are supposed to foster.
– Daniel Helminiak,The Human Core of Spirituality, 33

Religion
• “In the West, religion means theism, it entails belief in God…
• it involves a particular set of beliefs and appropriate commitments, a creed and a code of ethics…
• it implies a social and political organization with structures, rules, officials, dues….”
– Daniel Helminiak,The Human Core of Spirituality, 12, 33

Spirituality
• Many people today would like to get the spirituality without having to deal with the religion – which is but wishful thinking, for human nature is inherently social, so no human activity, and therefore no spirituality, proceeds apart from some kind of community.”
– Daniel Helminiak,The Human Core of Spirituality, 33

Religion
• But another part of religion is its understanding of the human being, spiritual wisdom built into traditions over long centuries.
– Daniel Helmeniak, Religion and the Human Sciences, 211

Spirituality
• “The whole inner movement of the heart to seek the Divine.”
• “It is the commitment to the process of inner change, and a personal attachment to this way of life and the transformation it brings.”
– Wayne Teasdale, The Mystic Heart, 272

Religion
• “[O]ne way people are spiritual.”
• “Being religious connotes belonging to and practicing a religious tradition….not every religious person is spiritual…and not every spiritual person is religious.”
– Wayne Teasdale, The Mystic Heart, 17

Role of RELIGION in Human Development
• “…the essential purpose of religion is to accelerate growth in consciousness. People do not need religion to develop laws or ethical approaches to problems. Legislatures, courts, and ethical experts…can do that. Nor do they need religion to operate hospitals, soup kitchens, schools, and social welfare programs. Government and private charities can do that.”
• – Jim Marion, Putting on the Mind of Christ, Charlottesville,VA: Hampton Roads.2000,23
• “People do not even need religion to grow in spiritual awareness. They can and do grow in spiritual consciousness by learning from the wealth of experiences (often difficult and challenging ones) that life brings them.
• “What people need religion for is to accelerate growth in consciousness, to speed up our normal snail’s pace growth in spiritual awareness.”
• – Jim Marion, Putting on the Mind of Christ, Charlottesville,VA: Hampton Roads.2000,23
• “All the ‘technologies’ of the Christian religion, the New Testament, prayer, Bible study, preaching, fasting, music, Holy communion or Mass, healing services, chanting, rituals, almsgiving, monasteries, convents, pilgrimages, meditation, icons, and sacraments, have only one purpose – to accelerate people’s growth in consciousness…into the nondual vision of Jesus’ kingdom.”
– – Jim Marion, Putting on the Mind of Christ, Charlottesville, VA: Hampton Roads. 2000, 23

Spirituality & Human Development
Fruits of the Spirit – St. Paul
Love
Joy
Patience
Kindness
Serenity
Gentleness
Self-Control

Scripture and Ethics: Issues
 What authority does Scripture (a sacred text) hold? If it has authority, how should it function?
 What is the Bible (or other sacred text)?
 What authority do individual texts have in relation to the broader message?
 What is the relationship of Scripture to other sources?
 How is Scripture political?
 What is the relationship of Scripture to current realities?

What authority does Scripture hold?
“All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,…so that everyone…may be…equipped for every good work.” Timothy 3:16-17 (probably written by St. Paul)
 Boulton, 16

What is the Bible?
 Many books, written in a specific cultural and social context, to address a particular community facing concrete questions of moral conduct and character
 Torah, Prophets, Wisdom, New Testament
 Not “law” given all at once
 Not meant to be a timeless code
 Verhey in Boulton, 17

What is the Bible?
 Stanley Hauerwas’ Three possibilities:
 A revealed or inspired “word” of God → “revealed morality”
 A “revealed reality” – H.R. Niebuhr
 A narrative or a story with a beginning and progression – Hauerwas’ choice
 Boulton, 34

What is the Bible?
 Hauerwas uses James Barr to support his choice:
– “Barr rightly points out that the dealings of God with [humanity] in the Bible are indeed describable as a cumulative process ‘in which later elements do build upon what was said and done at an earlier time’.”
– “The formation of texts as well as the canon required the courage of a community to constantly remember and reinterpret its past.”
– “The authority of Scripture derives its intelligibility from the existence of a community that knows its life depends on faithful remembering of God’s care….”
 Boulton, 34

How might the Bible function?
 If it has authority, how should it function i.e., to form character and guide conduct?
 Possibilities:
– A source of laws
– A description of ideals
– A collection of analogies
– An accurate source of knowledge about God’s desires
– Boulton – 15

What is the relationship of Scripture to current realities?
 Eric Law
– Example of an Ethical Issue: Inclusion
– Scriptural text: “…even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table” (Matt: 15:27)
– Law: This story is “about the abundant grace of God.” “Jesus commended [her] faith that dared to challenge the existing established rules, which limited the sharing of the abundance of God’s healing power.”
– Example of an Ethical Issue: Scarcity vs. Abundance
– Scriptural Text: “And all of them ate and were filled; and they took up the broken pieces left over; seven baskets full.” (Matt.15:37)
– Law: “Society keeps telling us there is not enough for everyone. This attitude can cause us to feel insecure….Jesus challenges us not to think of our God-given resources as limited.”
 Law, 29-34
– If, as Hauerwas suggests, biblical ethics depends on the community’s understanding of itself, then we need to know today the process required to extend the community’s boundary
– This course is an opportunity to create a “grace margin.”
 Law, 39-47
– Grace margin – process and implications
 Create the community first (Jesus/page 98)
 Let others in and focus together “on the needs, interests and experiences of one another.”
 Everyone’s stories are put into relationship with the stories of Scripture; creates the “progression” that Hauerwas and Barr spoke about
 Some may not stay, but the community is still enriched.
 Law, 45
How might the Bible function?
 How to view Scripture?
– Is it “revealed morality” - a record of a moral “code”; i.e., laws, precepts, commands, that can be universally applied to any situation
– Is it an historical revelation of “what God is doing” (and desires) at a given point in time in history – therefore prompting the question, “What is God doing today in this situation?”
– Gustafson in Boulton, 21
 Gustafson
– Problems with “Revealed Morality” approach:
 Actions of persons and groups which violate the moral law revealed in Scripture are to be judged morally wrong. Problem: What/which code of moral law? Torah? NT (“new law of love)?
 Actions of persons and groups which violate the moral ideal revealed in Scripture are to be judged morally wrong. Problem: When have we ever met the ideal, e.g., peace, love, justice, harmony?
 Actions of persons and groups are to be judge morally wrong if they are similar to ones revealed in Scripture to be judged morally wrong.
Problem: Which analogy is in control?
 Actions of persons and groups are to be judged morally on the basis of reflective discourse in light of appeals to the variety of material contained in Scripture.
Problem: Too loose
– Boulton, 21-23
– Suggests another approach: “Scripture…as a revelation of theological principles that are used to interpret what ‘God is doing’”
– From this perspective (God’s own), humans can be given “clues” regarding what to do in particular historical circumstances.
– Boulton,21
– “Theology” - origin in Greek language:
 “theo” = god;
 logia = study
 = “study of God”
– A “theological” use of Scripture in approaching ethical issues looks first to what biblical narratives suggest God does/desires, rather than merely looking at the content (e.g., laws)
– Boulton,24
– Who is this God? What kind of things has God done in the past (in Scripture)?
– Examples of theological themes:
 Liberation [James Cone]
 Crucifixion and Resurrection (death → new life) [Richard Shaull]
 Hope [Jurgen Moltmann]
 God’s creative, governing, judging and redeeming work [H. R. Niebuhr]
 Boulton, 25
 problem with this approach: How is a particular event to be judged?
 Suggests dealing with this problem through further reflection on the method used in light of methods common to theology and philosophy
– “How the various biblical theologies of ethics use the morality or ethical teachings found in Scripture is contingent upon methodological choices that can be given both theological and philosophical justification.”
– In the end, choices must be “coherent with the revelation of God in Scriptures.”
– Boulton, 25
– St. Augustine
 The sum of Scripture is “double love of God and of our neighbor.”
 “the end of the commandments” is charity, hope, faith.
– Boulton, 26-27
 Hauerwas
– Scripture is “not meant to describe our world…but to change the world.”
– His perspective: “claims about the authority of Scripture make sense only in that the world and the community it creates are in fact true to the character of God.”
– Boulton, 35

How is the Bible political?
 Hauerwas
– “claims for the authority of Scripture are political”
– “…a biblical ethic requires the existence of a community capable of remembering in the present, no less than it did in the past.”
 Boulton, 34, 39
– Two-fold issue:
 Without a tradition, there is no community
 Collective remembering is what “bonds” the community
 Tradition (in this case “Scripture”) requires a corresponding community to do the remembering, and that relies on its content to indicate what is “normative” for decision-making
 Boulton, 34

What is the relationship of Scripture to current realities?
 Hauerwas
– “Conservative and liberal alike…appeal to different parts of Scripture in support of ethical positions that they have ironically come to hold on grounds prior to looking at Scripture.”
 Boulton, 37

What is the relationship of Scripture to current realities?
 Hauerwas
– Ethical Issue: War/NonViolence
– Scriptural text: “Do not resist one who is evil” (Matt. 5:39).
– “…the prohibition against resisting evil [does not] derive from an assumption about violence as inherently evil, but rather from the community’s understanding of how God rules…creation.”
– “The nonviolence of the church derives from the character of the story of God that makes us what we are – namely a community capable of witnessing to others the kind of life made possible when trust rather than fear rules our relation with one another.”
 Boulton, 49
 Eric Law
– Example of an Ethical Issue: Inclusion
– Scriptural text: “…even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table” (Matt: 15:27)
– Law: This story is “about the abundant grace of God.” “Jesus commended [her] faith that dared to challenge the existing established rules, which limited the sharing of the abundance of God’s healing power.”
 Law, 29-30

TRADITION & ETHICS
Definition: What is “Tradition?”
 “[Tradition] is a dimension of life itself. It is the whole way of life of a people as it is transmitted from generation to generation.” - James Mackey, quoted in Stanley Hauerwas, “The Moral Authority of Scripture,” in Boulton, 40
 Term “tradition” can refer to:
– “something handed down”
– “the mode of transmission itself”
 J. Stout, in Boulton, 61
 “Traditions by their nature require change, since there can be no tradition without interpretation. And interpretation is the constant adjustment that is required if the community is to stay in continuity with tradition. Stanley Hauerwas, “The Moral Authority of Scripture,” in Boulton, 40
 “Every living tradition…involves both continuity and change.” - Boulton, 40
 “I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.” – Psalm 116: 9

Contemporary Issues
 These next slides look at comments from several ethicists on issues currently being raised in regard to traditional approaches to morality and ethics.

Issues: “Tradition” from an evolutionary perspective:
 “Evolution is a wildly self-transcending process: it has the utterly amazing capacity to go beyond what went before.
 “So Evolution is in part a process of transcendence, which incorporates what went before and then adds incredibly novel components. The drive to self-transcendence is built into the very fabric of the Kosmos itself.”
 Ken Wilber, A Brief History of Everything, 23
 When are we required to “transcend” past moral understandings and ethical practices?
 What is the process of discernment for this?

Issues: Politics and Tradition
 “…politics depends on tradition, for politics is nothing else but a community’s internal conversation with itself concerning the various possibilities of understanding and extending its life….”
 “Without the authority of the tradition to guide such a discussion there would be no possibility of the community drawing nearer to the truth about itself or the world.”
 Stanley Hauerwas, “The Moral Authority of Scripture,” in Boulton, 41

Issues: Continuity & Change
 “To what must traditions – in continuity and change – be faithful (fidelity)?”
 “How will fidelity be tested?”
 “Who will test it?” (“Who is in control?”)
– “Magisterium” – teaching office of the church?
– Scholars?
– Leaders (e.g. Catholicism: Cardinals, Bishops; Secular: Elected Officials?)
– The Community as a whole?
 Boulton, 59-60

Issues: Consensus
 “There is no consensus among students of morality concerning the nature and significance of tradition in ethics.”
 J. Stout, in Boulton, 61
 E.g., differences between Protestant and Catholic approaches (Scripture alone as guide or taken with Tradition?)
 J.H. Yoder, 92

Issues: God or human source?
 Jesus: “You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.” (Mark 7:8)
 Boulton, 60
 St. Paul: “…hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us.” (2 Thess. 2:15)
 Boulton, 61
 Roman Catholic Bishops: “…both sacred tradition and sacred Scripture are to be accepted and venerated with the same sense of devotion and reverence.”
 “The task of authentically interpreting the word of God…has been entrusted exclusively to the living teaching office of the church….”
 “It is clear, therefore, that sacred tradition, sacred Scripture, and the teaching authority of the church, in accord with God’s most wise design, are so linked and joined together that one cannot stand without the others….” – Vatican II
 Boulton, 63-64.
 J.T. Burtchaell: “A primary wellspring of Christian ethical wisdom is the believing community’s reflection on human experience and on the personal aftermath of that experience.”
 “The church is a community of moral wisdom accumulated, passed on, challenged, and revised. The primary font of that savvy is our own experience and observation.”
 Boulton, 64-65
 J.T. Burtchaell: “Experience..does not consist in merely being there.. ..Experience consists in figuring out what is going on.”
 “How does a community evaluate any kind of act as good or evil? By seeing what that action does to us.”
 Boulton, 65-66
 J.T. Burtchaell: “Our primary moral concern must be: How do certain courses of behavior tend to make us thrive or induce us to wither…personally, spiritually, in our character, our self?”
 Boulton, 66
 J.T. Burtchaell: “[Jesus] consummates our understanding of the character of…the God of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, and Jacob and Leah and Rachael.
 Boulton, 65
 J.T. Burtchaell: “That God, we finally can see, has no wrath, no curse, no doom. It is not we who control God’s stance toward us, for that is fixed and fast in love beyond all telling.” [Image of God]
 Boulton, 66
 Scripture:
– “Law of love” - “For the whole law can be summed up in a single commandment: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” [St. Paul, Gal. 5:14 NEB]
 Boulton, 22
– Jesus: “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” [John 10:10 NRSV]

Process: Making A Decision
 J.T. Burtchaell: “Revealed moral wisdom is uncommon insight into common events. It is cumulative, in that we are always starting from what our predecessors saw and said. It is also current, for we have never appropriated the wisdom tradition until we have tried it out ourselves.”
 Boulton, 67
 J.T. Burtchaell:
– People & Perspectives involved in the process:
 Pastors and Church Officials (pastoral experience)
 Scholars (skill and method)
 Laity (experience in what is real now)
– Examples
 Recognizing Saints (“in the eye of the beholder”)
 Knights of Labor (tradition transformed)
 Birth Control (changing realities/perspectives)
 Boulton, 67-79
 Douglas Ottati: A “Living” Tradition
– Example of “Christology in Crisis” today
– “No mere repetition of past phrases and formulas will adequately address their perplexity.”
– “The vitality of a community depends upon the continuing vitality of its tradition.”
 Boulton, 81
– Cutting short the process:
 “Occasionalists”
 Individualists
 Utopianists
– The Challenge: “To stand in a living tradition” requires that the community be engaged in thinking about past, present and future.
 Boulton, 84-86
– The Challenge: The community must
 Be consciously informed by its common memory
 Be actively engaged in the realities of the present
 Be vitally concerned about its future direction
 Be genuinely responsive to personally creative acts of appropriation.
 Boulton, 86

PHILOSOPHICAL & SCIENTIFIC PERSPECTIVES
Wisdom, Knowledge and Morality

Contemporary Issues:
 “…the turn toward a dynamic, rather than a static view of history enabled the [Vatican] council to include various disciplines of study such as science, history, psychology, and other in formulating moral statements.”
 “Because of vast developments in knowledge, change was acknowledged and expected, and church leaders largely avoided making definitive statements.”
– Willems, 169

“Yet, this is the situation in which we must think and act, strive to build a personal philosophy and formulate a life view, world view, and a scale of values.”
- Harold A. Titus, Living Issues in Philosophy. Fifth Edition. 1970.,2.

Contemporary Issues impacting morality:
– The dramatic changes in worldview arising from science in the 20th century
– Increased knowledge of all aspects of the human person (e.g., biology, psychology)
– Effect on
 Definitions of “good” and “evil”
 Understandings of the “common good”
 The role and formation of “conscience”
 Understandings of “natural” vs. “God’s” law

Contemporary Issues to be explored:
– The dramatic changes in worldview arising from science in the 20th century
– Increased knowledge of all aspects of the human person (e.g., biology, psychology)
– Effect on
 Definitions of “good” and “evil”
 Understandings of the “common good”
 The role and formation of “conscience”
 Understandings of “natural” vs. “God’s” law

 “The faith community, like its individual members, experiences times of conversion. At certain times in history, the community hears anew the call to discipleship and to commit its ways to Jesus Christ in more life-giving ways.”
– Willems, 170
 “Vatican II.…documents displayed a new approach to moral theology….”
 “Importance was given to the individual person, to responsibility and freedom. Individual conscience, where moral freedom resides, was given due importance.”
 “Church members were treated as adults who are themselves primarily responsible for their moral life….”
– Willems, 166

Definitions: Philosophy & Science
 Philosophy:
– Pursuit of wisdom
– A search for a general understanding of values and reality by chiefly speculative rather than observational means
– The most general beliefs, concepts and attitudes of an individual or group
 Science:
– A system of knowledge obtained and tested through scientific method
– Knowledge concerned with the physical world and its phenomena
- Webster’s Universal Encyclopedic Dictionary

Part I: Philosophical Perspective
 “In addition to the shift in approach to theology, there was also a shift in philosophy and literature known as the “turn to the subject,”…that recognized the importance of the person.”
 “Criteria for what is morally right or wrong must square with an anthropology of the person and with psychological and sociological data about humanity.”
– Willems, 166-167

Taking Into Account the Data
 “Along with the moral act, one’s culture, age, education, life experiences, and psychological state become relevant factors when one tries to make a moral decision.” - Willems, 167
 “We live and move and have our being not in ourselves but in one another.” – John Macmurray
– In Willems, 168

Importance of Philosophy
 Is Philosophy “only for high-flying intellectuals who spend hours
thinking?”
 “Philosophy is not just about
how to think, but how to
live….[it] takes a closer look
at the ideas behind how we
live our lives.”
- A Brief Guide to Ideas, Ed. William Raeper and Linda Edwards.
Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. 1997. 11
Wisdom
“But where shall wisdom be found?
And where is the place of understanding?

“Truly, the fear of the Lord, this is wisdom;
And to depart from evil is understanding.”

Job 28:12, 28
St. Paul on Philosophy
“See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition,…and not according to Christ.” - Colossians 2:8

The Greeks and Western Philosophy
 “Western philosophy began 2,500 years ago in Ancient Greece at the beginning of the sixth century B.C.E. The Ancient Greeks have had an incalculable influence on Western civilization and how we think about the world.”
 - A Brief Guide to Ideas. Ed. William Raeper and Linda Edwards.
Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. 1997.15, 11
 “If you live in the West, the ideas embedded in society have grown out of a “Western” way of thinking.”
- A Brief Guide to Ideas. Ed. William Raeper and Linda Edwards.
Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. 1997.15, 11

Contemporary Issues: In the next slides we will more closely examine the relationship between two of these:
– The dramatic changes in worldview arising from science in the 20th century
– Increased knowledge of all aspects of the human person (e.g., biology, psychology)

Philosophy of the Human Person
“The philosophy of the person is important because human beings live in accordance with their understanding of themselves.”

– Images of the Human Person, ed. By Hunter Brown et al, Chicago, IL: Loyola Press. 1995, xvii
Philosophy of the Human Person

Sample Range of Approaches:
– Plato: The Human Person as Spirit
– Aristotle: The Human Person as a Besouled Body
– St. Augustine: The Human Personal as Relational and Volitional
– St. Thomas Aquinas: The Human Person as Embodied Spirit

– Images of the Human Person, ed. By Hunter Brown et al, Chicago, IL: Loyola Press. 1995, Contents
Philosophy of the Human Person

Sample Range of Approaches:
– Karl Marx: The Human Person as Worker
– Sigmund Freud: The Human Person as Sexual
– Edith Stein: The Human Personal as Male and Female
– Jean-Paul Sartre: The Human Person as Freedom

– Images of the Human Person, ed. By Hunter Brown et al, Chicago, IL: Loyola Press. 1995, Contents
Great Chain of Being:
God
angels
humans
birds
fish
mammals
plants
rocks

Contemporary Issues:
– The dramatic changes in worldview arising from science in the 20th century
– Increased knowledge of all aspects of the human person (e.g., biology, psychology)
– Definitions of “good” and “evil”
– Understandings of the “common good”
– The role and formation of “conscience”
– Understandings of “natural” vs. “God’s” law

IT’S ALL EVOLVING
 “The universe has emerged into being through an irreversible sequence of transformations…
 …passing from a lesser to a greater complexity in its structure and functioning as well as a greater variety and intensity in its modes of conscious expression
- Thomas Berry and Brian Swimme, The Universe Story, HarperSanFrancisco. 1992. 223
The Philosophy of Ken Wilber
 Ken Wilber is considered by many to be the most outstanding of today’s philosophers
 From his extensive studies of “stage” or “developmental” theories in all the major disciplines, he developed what is known as an “integral” view of reality (shown on the next slide).
The Philosophy of Ken Wilber
 Wilber’s integral view arranges all of “reality” into four interrelated and evolving quadrants (shown on the next slide).
 Two of these quadrants (the upper left and right) hold grids on which Wilber illustrates evolution in terms of the individual
 The left side = interior (consciousness)
 The right = exterior (e.g., growth of human body)
 A correspondence exists between the evolution of consciousness (inner) and such things as brain structure and individual behavior (outer)

Ken Wilber’s Four Quadrants:
(I) (IT)
Upper Left (UL) Upper Right (UR)
Individual Interior Individual Exterior
Transformation = New Mode of Self Transformation = New Behaviors

(WE) (IT)
Lower Left (LL) Lower Right (LR)
Collective Interior Collective Exterior
Transformation = New Culture and Transformation = New Social
New View of the World Institutions And Techno-
Economic Base
The Philosophy of Ken Wilber
 The lower two quadrants (left and right) hold grids on which Wilber illustrates evolution in terms of the collective (e.g., the tribe, the state)
 The left side = the collective interior (myths, knowledge, beliefs)
 The right = exterior (collective practices, rituals, technologies, etc.)
 It is important to note that as individual consciousness, knowledge and behavior evolves and changes, there often eventually comes a corresponding change in collective understandings and behavior
 Let’s look briefly at a couple of examples to help us understand the evolution of morality and ethics using Wilber’s framework
 We will look at how the individual growth and transformation of Rosa Parks, civil rights activist, and Reverend Martin Luther King impacted the collective change in attitude and behaviors regarding race relations and civil rights in the USA.
Rosa Parks, Dr. King & Civil Rights
 Individual: Internal Transformation (UL)
– Rosa Parks decides she is “equal” to whites
– Dr. King has a “dream”
 Individual: New Behavior (UR)
– Rosa sits at the front of the bus
– Dr. King marches on Selma
 Collective: Awareness of Prejudice (LL)
 Collective: Civil Rights Act/Affirmative Action Laws (LR)
 To learn more about Wilber’s philosophy, try these resources:
 http://www.wie.org/bios/ken-wilber.asp
 http://www.integralworld.net/quadrants.html

Part II: Scientific Perspectives
 In this lecture segment, we will look briefly at some of the recent theories in developmental psychology and a stage theory consciousness development known as “Spiral Dynamics”, to consider how these emerging insights might impact our understanding of morality and ethics.
Wisdom, Knowledge & Morality
Contemporary Issues:
– The dramatic changes in worldview arising from science in the 20th century
– Increased knowledge of all aspects of the human person (e.g., biology, psychology)
– Definitions of “good” and “evil”
– Understandings of the “common good”
– The role and formation of “conscience”
– Understandings of “natural” vs. “God’s” law
Spiral Dynamics & Morality
Spiral Dynamics & Morality
Maslow- Stages of Human Development
• Abraham Maslow suggested that humans develop in response to certain “needs.”
• Once a particular need is met, the path is open to movement to the next stage of development, which has its own needs.
• We will use Maslow’s schema to consider moral development

Maslow- Stages of Human Development
Example: Slavery to Civil Rights
 African men and women brought from homeland to America (Physical needs a Priority)

 Forced to live under oppression of “owners”; beaten/killed if disobeyed (Safety & Security Needs a Priority)

 Formed secret communities (song, dance, prayer) (Love, Affection, Belonging Needs Are Met)
Example: Slavery to Civil Rights
 Learned to read the Bible (Esteem Needs Met: “Jesus died for us, too!”)

 Joined Abolitionist Movement and Struggle for Self-determination (Self-actualization Needs Met)
Wisdom, Knowledge & Morality
Contemporary Issues:
– Increased knowledge of all aspects of the human person (e.g., biology, psychology)
– The dramatic changes in worldview arising from science in the 20th century
– Effect on
 Definitions of “good” and “evil”
 Understandings of the “common good”
 The role and formation of “conscience”
 Understandings of “natural” vs. “God’s” law
Great Chain of Being
God
angels
White men
women & children
people of “color”
birds
fish
mammals
plants
rocks
Great Chain of Being
God
angels
White men
women & children
people of “color”
birds
fish
mammals
plants
rocks
Great Chain of Being
God
angels
White men
women & children
people of “color”
birds
fish
mammals
plants
rocks
Examples of the Evolution Of Ethics
The Expanding Concept of Rights
The Evolution of Ethics
Social Morality
 “The true response each of us can make to God’s gift is the promotion of community for all persons and their development as God’s people.”
 “Whatever the ‘community’ it provides a place for a person to be and to establish identity and relationships.”
– Willems, 169
Wisdom, Knowledge & Morality
Contemporary Issues:
– Increased knowledge of all aspects of the human person (e.g., biology, psychology)
– The dramatic changes in worldview arising from science in the 20th century
– Definitions of “good” and “evil”
– Understandings of the “common good”
– The role and formation of “conscience”
– Understandings of “natural” vs. “God’s” law
Natural Law and Morality
 “Natural law is a philosophical approach to reasoning that was used by ancient philosophers.” – Willems, 173

 “The goal of life is living in agreement with nature.”
—Zeno, Greek Philosopher
(335 BC - 264 BC)
Natural Law and Morality
 “There are different expressions of moral law, all of them interrelated: eternal law – the source, in God, of all law; natural law; revealed law, comprising the Old Law and the New Law, or Law of the Gospels; finally, civil and ecclesiastical laws.”

– Catechism of the Catholic Church,1952
Natural Law and Morality
 “This law is called ‘natural’…because reason which decrees it properly belongs to human nature….”
 “It hinges on the desire for God….Its principal precepts are expressed in the Decalogue.”

– Catechism of the Catholic Church,1955
Natural Law and Morality
 “St. Augustine and later St. Thomas used natural law theory.” – Willems, 173

 “Natural law is simply the light of intelligence placed within us by God: by it we know what we should do and what we should avoid. God bestowed this light, or this law, with the creation.”
– Thomas Aquinas , in Willems, 173
Natural Law and Morality
“Ever since the creation of the world God’s eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things God has made.”
– Romans 1:20

Natural Law and Morality
“What the law requires is written on their hearts, to which their own conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts will accuse or perhaps excuse them….”
– Romans 2:15

Natural Law and Morality
 “Vatican II’s mandate to renew moral theology required a revisioning of natural law.”
 More than a philosophical system, Vatican II’s understanding of natural law began to incorporate the mysteries of revelation and focused on Christ as the fullness of the Law.”

– Willems, 173.
Natural Law and Morality
 “The moral law finds its fullness and its unity in Christ. Jesus Christ is in person the way of perfection. He is the end of the law, for only he teaches and bestows the justice of God….”

– Catechism of the Catholic Church,1953
Reverence for Life
Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965)
German Theologian and Philosopher

- Developed his own philosophy
- His Question:

“What is the most valid basis for ethics?”

- Answer: “Reverence for life”

Reverence for Life
“People are ethical only when life, as such, is sacred to them, that of plants and animals as that of our fellow humans, and when they devote themselves hopefully to all of life that is in need of help.”

- A. Schweitzer, Out of My Life and Thought
Reverence for Life
“Love cannot be put into a system of rules and regulations... We all must decide for ourselves how far we can go toward carrying out the boundless commandment of love without surrendering our own existence.”

- A. Schweitzer, Memoirs

As you do not know how the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.

Ecclesiastes 11:5

Quotes from readings:
“In studies involving thousands of people, what Graves found were not so much discrete stages of consciousness but ‘a spiral process marked by progressive subordination of older, lower-order behavior to newer, high-order systems as man’s existential problems change.’” (Kiesling)

“People at different levels are reacting to very different realities.” (Kiesling)

“Many prophets castigated the chosen people when the Law became merely a code of behavior and not a means to total conversion.” (Willems 15)

“Life is dynamic, and the institutional church is a dynamic institution.” (Willems 165)

“In moral theology, emphasis on the person gives a different hue to moral decisions.” (Willems 167)

“Certain moral wrongs have been named as absolute moral prohibitions. That means these actions are serious moral wrongs under all circumstances. No explanations for these actions can constitute a morally right excuse for them. Examples of absolute moral wrongs include masturbation, artificial means of birth control, and homosexual acts.” (Willems 177)

“Marriage and family life are under attack because of divorce, economic pressures, artificial means of birth control, and societal patterns that do not support the raising of children or fidelity in marriage.” (Willems 182)

“No single image or concept in a passage [of Scripture] presents the whole picture of God.” (Law 79)

“A community that consistently presents and affirms the variety of images and concepts of God is more likely to act inclusively when its boundary is being challenged.” (Law 81)

“…our moral life embodies our spirituality.” (Gula 185)

“Conversion does not forget the past by erasing it, but it reworks the past with a fresh understanding.” (Gula 188-189)

“Conversion is the willed process of reforming the imagination with fresh images of who we are, of what is happening to us, and of what is yet possible for us and our world.” (Gula 189)

“…conversion is a matter of reimagining so as to see dimensions of reality that were not available to us before.” (Gula 190)

Christian Moral Theology and Ethics: 3rd Week of Class 5/26/08-6/1/08

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 18:55:26 GMT

Week Three, Lesson One: Anthropology I: Human Meaning, Purpose, Freedom & Accountability

Willems and Gula suggest that to live morally requires that we fully understand what it means to be human. Recent learnings in theology and the social sciences, particularly psychology, have begun to shift our view of what it means to be human from views held in past centuries. This has dramatic impact on our moral theology and ethical choices.
Introduction
 Willems also suggests that to live morally requires that a person be “oriented to ultimate values” (what is deemed most “good, true and beautiful”)
 For Christians, this orientation comes with being oriented to Jesus, who is our role model.
 The Christian community now carries for us the stories and teachings which shape and inform our ability to be moral persons
 Willems, 78; Gula, 96
 The Christian community periodically undergoes a “shift” in its thinking about ultimate values. This shift impacts what we consider to be of ultimate value (as imaged in God) and how we view ourselves and others
 Presently, we are in a period of “shift” as we learn more through science about what it means to be human, and we are challenged to become a “global village.”
Introduction
 Willems states that a person must be capable of maintaining a balance of “all aspects of the self: personality, intellect, physical drives, will, and emotions.” Willems, 78
 Willems concedes that “Such a balance is difficult to achieve.” Willems, 78
 The Implication: the more we can learn about ourselves, grow in our maturity, and assist others in such growth, the more “moral” we and our societies will become.
 Gula says that moral judgments are “made in response to what we ultimately love, to what deeply motivates us, to what gives us meaning and identity.”
 If we disagree on moral matters, it is because we differ at the level of what Gula calls “soul” – we differ in our spirituality – or, in how we understand “Who We Are.”

Who Are We?
Using insights from our authors, we will look at several themes that help us answer this question in contemporary terms. These themes include looking at humans as:
 “Creature” and “Image of God”
 “Relational” and “Empathic”
 Possessing “reason and will”
 Embodied

 Creatureliness
 This is the first fundamental aspect of our moral orientation
 As Christians we believe we are creatures of God
 We are born completely dependent upon the forces and resources that impact our survival and growth toward our potential as free, responsible, interdependent creatures

 An “Image of God”
 Willems notes that as Christians, we believe we are created “in the image of God”, which, she says, “is the true source of our worth.”
 She goes on to say that this means “human beings share a spiritual nature that penetrates all levels of their being”
 This sharing means humans “have a bond of closeness to the Creator unlike bonds between creatures; yet it also “weds” us at our core “to each other”
 Willems, 67

 Relational
 Gula states that “Personal identity is a social identity” – Gula,103
 Human identity is first and foremost relational
 Some Africans articulate this as “ubuntu,” which translates: “I am because we are; and we are because I am.”
 Implication: Morality is learned through participation in the community (family, school, friendships, work, church, society)

 The Community’s values are found in its stories – its myths, its sacred scriptures, its cosmology – all of which are time and place sensitive
 Gula notes that today’s “marketplace media” tells a very destructive “story” about what it means to be human and what humans ought to need and desire
 Gula, 94-99

 Jesus saw a person’s acts in his or her communal context and life story -Willems,76

 “Jesus showed the importance of reason that discriminates between various factors affecting a decision.” -Willems,78

 Empathic
 Gula discusses the human capacity for empathy and its importance in the context of morality
 “To be moral and to be loving imply one another.”
 “Empathy first requires sensitivity to what is different from us in another and what is the same.”
 Gula, 86

 Reason and Will
 Also significant to moral judgment are the human capacities of “reason” and “will”
 Reason = “judgment based on cognitive or intuitive perception” – Willems, 77, emphasis added
 The “intuitive” involves knowing through emotion and imagination (Gula)
 To be “right reason” our discernment must be shaped and informed by our union with God (key here is how we image God)
 Will = “motivation, desire, and the energy to bring about desired results” – Willems, 78
 Our society measures guilt and punishment based on the degree of “pre-meditation” (i.e., degree of involvement of will) behind an act
Who We Are
 Embodied
 Both Gula and Willems refer the “shift” in recent decades that has taken place in Christian theology in general and moral theology in particular that reclaims our human “embodiedness”
 Previous Western human and world views separated the human aspects of “body, spirit and soul” and the “sacred” and “profane”

 Embodied
 The corrected view now sees our experience of existence as an integration of these aspects
 The needs of the body are seen as a moral issue:
 Good nutrition
 Shelter
 Rest
 Exercise
 A supportive, growthful environment
 Education
 Humans have a right to reach their full potential

Conclusion
 Gula suggests that morality and “the good life” are not about “self-purification and personal “sanctification”
 They are about “establishing rightly ordered relationships with God, the wider human community, and the environment”
 Gula, 104
 As humans, we find our meaning, our purpose, our freedom and our accountability in our definition of what it means to be human
 Gula suggests that this definition for Christians is “a God-related being.”
- Gula, 105
 We are always, each one of us, in relationship with God and all of creation.
Conclusion
 Each and every creature of God has the right “to be” – not to be perfect, pure or what WE would prefer them to be
 Each and every creature has an influence on who we are able to become, on our ability to reach our full potential as a human being. In some cases, that influence is good, in some it is not.
 This brings us to the next lesson on “Evil and Sin.”

Week Three, Lesson Two: Anthropology II: Evil & Sin
HUMAN ANTHROPOLOGY
 Who We are: Traditional Views
 Creatures
 Humble – Humility – “humus” (Fr.)= earth
 “Made in the image of God”
 Self-reflective
 Reason and Will
 “Fallen”/Sinful
 “Redeemed”
St. Augustine – View of Human
 A major influence on Christian understandings of human sin and evil
 Soul vs. Body
 Soul = Irrational (Appetites) and Rational
 Body = “Flesh”; Pleasures
 Adam = “Earthy” = Bad
 Jesus = “Heavenly” = Good
 “The whole duty…is to scorn all bodily delights…”
 Boulton- 234-236

St. Augustine – His Views of Humans, World and God
 “so long as he is in this mortal body, he is a pilgrim in a foreign land, away from God: therefore he walks by faith, not by sight.”
 “…it is not something derived from the physical body itself that gives life to that body, but something above it, so it is not something that comes from man, but something above man, that makes his life blessed”
 “mortal man and immortal God”
 “For what kind of a mistress over the body and the vices can a mind be that is ignorant of the true God….”
 “God then alone is to be loved; and all this world, that is, all sensible things, are to be despised – while, however, they are to be used as this life requires.”
 Boulton, 234-235

Nature of the Human Person – Differing Historical Approaches
 Male is human, female is derivative
 “Normative” for humans are Males and Females who are heterosexual and complement each other; all other forms are pathological
 Sex and gender appear in a variety of configurations
Human Anthropology
 Who We Are: Contemporary Views
 Spirit, Soul, Body - Gula
 Relational: “God-related Beings” - Gula
 Self-Aware and Self-Transcendent – Wilber
 “People of the Lie” – Peck
 Vulnerable to abuse and suffering; As victim, capable of inflicting abuse and suffering on others

Personal and Social Sins
 What can we say today about “evil” and about “sin”?
 “The power of evil is present in the acts of individual persons and in systemic ways through structures of evil.”
 “…at root, sin is spiritual in nature and reflects the lack of personal relationship of love with God, self, and others.”
 “Sin is real when
 love is absent,
 power and domination are motives for action
 pride rules decisions of conscience
 relationships are reduced to sexual attraction
 persons are devalued.
 Willems, 81

Personal and Social Sins
 Examples of Social Sins:
 Individualism
 Materialism
 Consumerism
 Prison-Industrial complex
 Militarism
 McCormick & Connors, 24
 Willems tells us that “patterns of evil produce a way of life…a person who lives this way finally makes a decision or fundamental option for evil rather than good.” (83)
 What might this mean for the person born into a “pattern” of familial or social evil?
Personal and Social Sins
 Willems suggests that “moral decisions or actions that lack freedom or knowledge of the evil are not culpable moral evils” (85).

 How would you explain this?

Personal and Social Sin
 Finally, Beatrice Bruteau places the source of evil in the presence in each one of us of a basic, fundamental need “to stay alive, to maintain one’s being.”
 In moral evil, the individual completely identifies with this need, and will act to prevent loss of self (77)
 Bruteau describes this experience of loss: when we are deprived, oppressed, rejected, ignored, despised, scorned, ridiculed. (77)
 These experiences, says Bruteau, begin a cycle of “evil” as injury seeks compensation.
 Does this description resonate with your experiences?

 What would it take to break the cycle?

Quotes from readings:
“Our hunger for God gets disguised in these human longings.” (Gula 71)

“To strengthen our orientation toward God is a function of spiritual practices as well as the moral practice of virtue.” (Gula 73)

“From the heart we respond to God’s initiative or refuse to do so.” (Gula 75)

“The soul’s ‘reasoning heart’…integrates head and heart.” (Gula 77)

“Ethical reasoning is bound up with feelings, intuitions, the imagination, as well as a sense of the fitting.” (Gula 78)

“Contemporary spirituality has partnered with psychology in appreciating the role of feelings in spiritual growth.” (Gula 80)

“We feel as well as know what is right and wrong.” (Gula 82)

“We disagree because our hearts are not in the same place.” (Gula 84)

“[Empathy] is an affective and imaginative capacity to cross over into another’s experience…” (Gula 86)

“Spiritual renewal kindles our longing for God and our desire to be our best selves in gracious response to God’s loving us.” (Gula 90)

“[The imagination] involves the whole person dealing with life as a whole.” (Gula 90)

“Sin is real when love is absent…” (Willems 81)

“Conscience employs all resources within a person to arrive at a decision.” (Willems 118)

“[Creative freedom] means that you act from yourself as author, as from a first origin or source.” (Bruteau 81)

“Creative love is self-initiated, expansive, and in a word, creative.” (Bruteau 81)

“That is why I think the bottom line is a flaw in knowledge—a belief in a falsehood—rather than a flaw in the will.” (Bruteau 82)

“People do believe the falsehood—that no one cares enough about them to preserve them in being—because they feel so insecure and inadequate.” (Bruteau 83)

“I propose instead that sin originates in lack of sufficient believable unconditional love.” (Bruteau 83)

It is at the moment when you perceive this truth and really accept it, believe yourself to be loved—permit, agree, allow, consent to be loved and sustained by another—it is at this moment that salvation takes place. It is when this deep metaphysical need to be loved and sustained is met and satisfied that one’s life is really saved, preserved, kept from destruction.” (Bruteau 84)

“Only the self that has realized itself as transcendent of any particular descriptions, so that it can afford to lose them, is able to love the enemies of those descriptions, or to love one’s enemies in spite of their descriptions.” (Bruteau 86)

“Loved themselves, they will love others.” (Bruteau 87)

“And even it works only if it is believed and accepted. But preaching against sin, meditating on how bad it is, remorse, and punishment—none of these gets at the root of it, the lack of love; on the contrary, they increase the stress, the tension, the sense of danger and injury.” (Bruteau 88)

Christian Moral Theology and Ethics: 2nd Week of Class 5/19/08-5/24/08

Mon, 26 May 2008 18:08:33 GMT

Week Two, Lesson One: “History of Ethics in the Christian Tradition”

The Historical Human Questions:
 “What is the good life?”
 “What should I do with my life?”
 “What sort of person do I want to be?”
 These are questions about
 Our “character”
 Our behavior toward ourselves and others
 Boulton et al, From Christ to the World, 2

SOCRATES – Greek Philosopher, b. 427 b.c.e
 “What sort of life is worth living? If I want to be fulfilled and happy, what sort of person should I be?”

 “What would a life worth living look like?”
- Boulton et al, From Christ to the World, 1

Definitions
 Moral = relating to a principle of right or wrong (Webster’s)
 Morality = a system or doctrine of moral conduct (Webster’s)
 Character = the complex of mental and ethical traits marking and often individualizing a person, group or nation (Webster’s)
 Ethics = the examination and study of morality in relation to behavior
 Normative ethics – attempts to create norms or standards of right or good behavior
 Christian ethics – “norm” is the “person and work” of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ
 “What life is worthy of one who recognizes the authority of Jesus?”
 Boulton et al, From Christ to the World, 2-5

History, Culture and Morality
“The history of Christian morality is bound up with society’s mores, social conditions, and historic events.” (Willems 161)

 Spiritual perspective – B.Haring:
“…morality as the response to the movement of the Spirit in our lives (throughout history)”
 Spirit is always doing something “new” (E. Johnson)
 Gula, The Call to Holiness, 61

Willem’s provides a framework to explore historic cultural developments, examining:
 Individualism
 Materialism
 Secularism

 Sees these as 3 things that impact the Christian communitarian search for the “common good for all people” (Willems 141)

 The framework may be said to mirror the “Evangelical counsels” (Gospel values):

 Individualism (Obedience)

 Materialism (Poverty)

 Secularism (Chastity)

 Each period of history is shaped by the social, political, and economic conditions of the world at that time.” (Willems 142)

 Willems and Gula introduce us to several cultural eras in human history that have shaped moral theology and ethics

 Historic Periods:
 Jesus Era (Living Example – “Norm”)
 Apostolic Era (Living Witness & Interpretation on Life and Actions of Jesus
 Patristic Era (Pluralistic Christianity becomes aligned with the Empire – Constantine)
 Monastic Era (Withdrawal from society; spiritual direction; “penitentials” developed)
 High Middle Ages (Aquinas – “natural law”)
 Renaissance (Counter Reformation)
 Modern Era (Manuals and Canon Law)
 Post-modern Renewal (Vatican II; Scripture reclaimed; “Movements” – Labor, Liberation, Feminism, Ecology, Spirituality, Multi-culturalism)

 REFLECTION: Gula describes the historical procession as a “divorce” of
 Thought from feeling
 Thinking from experience
 In essence: Mind from Heart
 The present renewal attempts to correct this
“The goal, to put on the mind and heart of Christ” (Willems, Understanding Catholic Morality, 8)

 REFLECTIONS on Willem’s framework:
 Individualism
 How has this evolved?
 How has it affected the development of Christian morality?
 How does it get “challenged” and not “crushed”?
 Materialism
 What has contributed to this?
 How does it get addressed?
 What does Willems - what do WE – mean by a “secular” world?
 Is this label helpful today to our understanding of the role of morality and ethics in human and planetary affairs?
 How do we overcome the “dualism” implied in this term?

 We are living in the “Renewal” Era
 Contrast of past eras with our own
 Examples:
 View of Earth from Space – One human community means, among other things:
 Incorporating others perspectives
 Changing our understandings of “power” and “authority”
 Multi-culturalism – different cultures accept different ethical norms based on different experiences
 Feminism – placing value on experience and working toward “mutuality” in authority affects our approach to ethics

Norms of Christian Ethics
SOCRATES – Greek Philosopher, b. 427 B.C.E
 “What sort of life is worth living? If I want to be fulfilled and happy, what sort of person should I be?”
- Boulton et al, From Christ to the World, 1

 Answer: For Guidance Look to Ethical Norms and the Virtues that derive from them.

 This is the central task of Ethics: What norms; What do they require and how will they be applied? (Boulton 231)

St. Augustine
 Basic Norm = God’s law: love of God and love of neighbor
 Two rules are derived from this:
 Do no harm
 Help whenever possible
 Peace begins in the home (though rankings understood by him) - behaviors:
 Concern not domination
 Compassion, not pride
• Boulton, 234-235
• Virtue = “perfect love of God”
• There are four virtues related to this love:
• Temperance = not seeking earthly things
• Fortitude = bearing loss of persons/things
• Prudence = discernment of good and bad
• Justice = whatever serves God
• Known as the “cardinal” virtues (drawn from Plato and Aristotle)
• Boulton, 235-238

Elizabeth Willems: Jesus as Norm
 Jesus as the norm for moral living
 Method for moral learning given us by Jesus is centered on in individuals with
 Dreams, Needs, Frustrations
 Pains, Worries, Joys and Hopes
 Person-centered morality requires communication and dialogue
• Willems, 24

Kenneth E. Kirk: A New Context
 “The Christian ideal of character…is the person of Christ.”
 “But this pattern requires…that its demands (be) brought into relation with circumstances of a more elaborate civilization than that of Galilee and Judea.”
• Boulton, 238

Willems: Image of God & Morality
 Jesus “mission” = “revealing the Father”
 “a renewed image of God”
 “a compassionate, loving and forgiving God”
 the apostles, in contrast had a more distant, transcendental image of God and legalism had become the norm of morality
 Followers of Jesus were to accept all as brothers and sisters.
 Inclusivity was to be practiced
 Jesus established compassion rather than purity as core value
 Examples of Jesus’ inclusivity, especially with regard to the poor, the sick and outcasts
 Willems, 26-29

Willems: Vocation and Morality
 Vocation = unique calling to a state of life that will lead to wholeness and holiness
 Specific vocations can provide a moral setting (Parable of sower & seed)
 All share a general vocation to follow Christ = Christian discipleship = a lifelong enterprise, not just Christian education
 Willems, 31-33

Willems – Conversion
 Jesus saw the spiritual illness that destroyed the spirit of the people he met.
 Illustrating the relationship between spiritual and physical, psyche and entire person
 Willems, 27

Willems – Conversion & Freedom
 Conversion = spiritual, sociological, psychological, intellectual, and physical
 As Christians, we are invited into a relationship with Jesus
 To live freely and with integrity, like Jesus
 Types of freedom = “full humanity”
 Willems, 27, 42-60

Willems – Basic Norms
 Love is the basic measure of the moral life
 Based on two commandments:
 Deut. 6:4 and Lev. 19:18, Mark 12:29-31
 Love of God and Love of Neighbor
 Type of love: forgiving, generous, inclusive, active, and radical
 Mature and Responsible; not the same degree for everyone
 Willems, 33-34

McCormick & Connors: Virtues
 Virtues = habits, attitudes, loyalties, affections
 “Put on Christ” = those virtues we have come to identify with Christ
 Means not just WWJD, but “Who is Christ calling us to be?”
 “Classical Western [Cardinal] Virtues”:
 Temperance
 Fortitude
 Prudence
 Justice
 Three theological virtues:
 Faith, Hope and Charity
 McCormick & Connors, 16

McCormick & Connors: Resources
 Four “Fonts of Wisdom”:
 Experience
 Scripture
 Tradition
 Reason
 Impacted by historical settings, conversational partners, philosophies and scientific assumptions
 McCormick & Connors, 16, 18-22

McCormick & Connors: Virtues
 Catholics (and all Christians) are in a “new place” as moral agents
 Three things have contributed to this
 Education
 Ecumenism
 Engagement with the world (Vatican II)
 McCormick & Connors, 16

Kenneth E. Kirk – Cardinal Virtues
Expanding definition of virtues for today:
 Temperance = self control allows for development to full potential
 Fortitude = triumph over trials; moral courage
 Prudence = referring all questions to the criterion of God’s will
 Justice = giving to God and other their due
• Boulton, 238

Margaret A. Farley – Four Virtues and Just Love
 Contemporary naming of the four virtues:
 Wisdom (Temperance)
 Integrity (Fortitude)
 Freedom (Prudence)
 Great love (Justice)
 Stems from her framework for “justice in loving”; justice = “render each his or her due”
• Just Love, 210-215

Margaret A. Farley – Just Love
 Understanding of the human:
 Two basic features of human personhood:
 Autonomy – “persons are ends in themselves”
 Relationality – “persons cannot survive without some form of fundamental relatedness to others”
 Persons both “transcend” themselves (in relationship) and yet belong to themselves
 Persons have a “concrete reality”
• Just Love, 210-215

Margaret A. Farley – Just Love
 Justice will depend on our interpretation of the realities of persons:
 Needs
 Capacities
 Relational claims
 Vulnerabilities
 Possibilities
 “There are differences…in the experienced concrete realities”
• Just Love, 209

Margaret A. Farley – Sexual Ethics
 Norms for Just Sex
 Do No Unjust Harm
 Free Consent
 Mutuality
 Equality
 Commitment
 Fruitfulness
 A framework for sexual ethics based on norms of justice - norms that “govern all human relationships”
• Just Love, 216-230

McCormick & Connors – “isms”
 Social Sins:
 Individualism
 Materialism
 Consumerism
 Prison-Industrial complex
 Militarism
• McCormick & Connors, 24

McCormick & Connors – Conscience and the Magisterium
 The bishops of Vatican II stressed the importance, even sanctity, of the consciences of ordinary Christians
 Catholics believe that the Holy Spirit guides the Magisterium in a special manner
 McCormick & Connors, 11 & 21
REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
 What is your current understanding of the relationship between individual conscience and the teachings of the Church?

 What role do virtues and values play in shaping an individual’s conscience?

Quotes from readings:
“Words, pictures, diagrams, and maps all indicate something, but they have to be matched with external reality to make us feel secure.” (Willems 23)

“Jesus’ mission was to reveal the Father.” (Willems 26)

“Upright moral behavior that is only for show can be used for devious purposes. Upright moral behavior that reflects the intention of the heart and mind of Christ is true moral behavior.” (Willems 31)

“A vocation is a calling to a state of life that emerges from one’s inclinations and preferences for a way of life that will lead to wholeness and holiness.” (Willems 31)

“Morality by its nature must be freely chosen; coercion and manipulation have no part in freedom.” (Willems 43)

“As he grew to maturity, Jesus developed his own moral vision that emerged from union with his Father and that was augmented by those societal and religious expectations he had learned.” (Willems 44)

“However, Jesus’ freedom was not marred by sin and evil inclinations, so his freedom transcended that of human beings.” (Willems 44-45)

“The boundary function that Jesus used seemed to require more time, energy, and reflection than a simple comparison of the outsiders and the prototype.” (Law 25)

“…Jesus pushed his followers and the church out of their safe zone into an area that required constant reflection and reconnection with God as a living, compassionate being.” (Law 26)

“The catalog of sins that characterized the penitentials…contributed to moral theology’s paying more attention to external deeds (what one did wrong) over the interiority of one’s heart and the development of one’s character (who one is becoming).” (Gula 47)

“The fruits of one’s spirituality are in the moral life, and the roots of one’s moral life are in one’s spirituality. Spirituality gives rise to moral living, and one’s moral life then tests the authenticity of one’s experiences of God and one’s convictions about the way life ought to be.” (Gula 62)

“…we…need to be concerned not just with what we do, but with who we are becoming, with our choices and our character.” (McCormick and Conners 7)

Christian Moral Theology and Ethics: 1st Week of Class 5/12/08-5/18/08

Wed, 21 May 2008 14:27:26 GMT

First, a quick disclaimer: this is an online class and that fact coupled with my having taken this topic in high school AND college, I'm less interested...so the notes are not as nice as my previous class notes. In the interest of consistency, though, I am posting them. And...this is my last official class! After this, it's just a year of Spiritual Direction Practicum!

taught by Patricia M. Bombard, BVM, D.Min.
six week summer intensive: May 12-June 19, 2008

The Anatomy of a Choice
Experiences
Perspective
Values
Choice

In Professor Bombard’s work facilitating decision-making among large and small groups, she began to reflect on what I call the “Anatomy” or “Deep Structure” of Choice-making. She realized that whether in a group or individually, when we face a decision—when we stand in that moment of choice—we bring with us all of our experiences up to that moment. These experiences have helped to shape one or more perspectives that we bring to the choice. These life experiences and perspectives, in turn, influence the values that we want to uphold as we make this choice. So, before we actually make a choice, we need to consider these questions: What life experiences have I had that have a bearing on or relationship to this choice?
Have I been in similar circumstances before?
What unique perspective on this question do those experiences give to me?
How might my perspective be different from how others relate to this question?
What values are important to me in relation to this question?

This course is built upon a method of reflection and analysis developed by Evelyn and James Whitehead. In this course, we will use a variety of lenses, or perspectives, to consider the development of Christian moral theology and ethics. These perspectives come from our religious and spiritual traditions, are found within our various cultural arenas such as science and philosophy, and are formed by our own experiences.
Reflection → Insight → Choice

Importance of Perspective
“The meaning we give things comes from the context in which we see them” (Elizabeth Sahtouris). This quote from Elizabeth Sahtouris emphasizes the importance of knowing the perspective from which we approach ethical concerns. Our own life experiences shape the perspective from which we view a decision. That perspective becomes the “lens” through which we give meaning to the issues involved in the ethical choice.

“There is no place left on earth where one can plan one’s destiny without taking into account what happens in the rest of the world” (Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi). Mihaly emphasizes the importance for the 21st Century of a global perspective.

Spiritual Perspective
Spirituality has been defined by some scholars as the human capacity for “Meaning – Making”
The oldest Christian definition of Spirituality comes from the writings of St. Paul: Spirituality = “life in the Spirit”

Key Spiritual Questions
 Who Am I?
 How Did I Get Here?
 Why Am I Here?
 How Am I To Be Here With Others?
 Who Are We?
 How Did We Get Here?
 Why Are We Here?
 How Are We To Be Here With Others?

Foundational Question
Our answers to these personal questions are shaped and influenced by how we answer the foundational question: WHO IS GOD?

Spirituality in Catholic Social Teaching
from Kenneth R. Himes, O.F.M., Responses to 101 Questions on Catholic Social Teaching, 109-110:
 “There is certainly an assumption about the importance of spirituality for justice and peace in CST”
 “At Vatican II the bishops understood CST to be a response to “the impulses of the Spirit”
 “the People of God believes that it is led by the Spirit of the Lord who fills the earth” (Gaudium et Spes, #11)
 “One can understand the entire enterprise of developing a tradition of social teaching, therefore, as a process of faith-filled discernment, a reading of the signs of the times in mode of prayerful contemplation.”

Global Perspective: 21ST CENTURY CHALLENGE
“The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything except our way of thinking…we shall require a substantially new way of thinking if the human is to survive.” (Albert Einstein)

Implications of the 21st Century Cosmology
IT’S ALL ONE
• “The universe is a unity, an interacting and genetically-related community of beings.” (Thomas Berry)
• “The Creator Spirit’s dynamic activity issues in abundance, diversity, interrelatedness, and manifold possibilities.” (Elizabeth A. Johnson)
• There is one body and one Spirit” (St. Paul)
IT’S ALL CONSCIOUS
• “From its beginning the universe is a psychic as well as physical reality.” (Thomas Berry)
• “I am a child of God, an inheritor of a fragment of the Mind that created worlds.” (Helen Keller)
• “We love because God first loved us.” (St. Paul)
• “Consciousness can be regarded as the capacity for intimate presence of things to one another through knowledge and sensitivity.” (Thomas Berry)
• “Every living being has its own mode of consciousness.” (Thomas Berry)
• The consciousness of a plant and an animal are qualitatively different.” (Thomas Berry)
IT’S ALL EVOLVING
“The universe has emerged into being through an irreversible sequence of transformations…” (Thomas Berry and Brian Swimme)
Spiritual Growth Indicators
Wayne Teasdale:
 A mature self-knowledge
 Deep non-violence
 Capacity to live morally
 Simplicity of life
 Selfless service
 Solidarity with all life
 Prophetic action
Dana Zohar & Ian Marshall:
 A high degree of self-awareness
 Inspired by vision and values
 Reluctance to cause unnecessary harm
 Likely to be “servant leader”
 Being “holistic”

Human Inner Development
“Our real journey in life is interior; it is a matter of growth, deepening and an ever greater surrender to the creative action of love.” (Thomas Merton)

“Those who attempt to act and do things for others or for the world without deepening their own self-understanding, freedom and capacity to love, will have nothing to give others. They will communicate to others nothing but the contagion of their own obsessions, their aggressiveness, their ego-centered ambition, their delusions about ends and means, their doctrinaire prejudices and ideas.” (Thomas Merton)

It’s Becoming More Complex and Diverse
“…passing from a lesser to a greater complexity in its structure and functioning as well as a greater variety and intensity in its modes of conscious expression” (Thomas Berry & Brian Swimme)

We humans find it easy to marvel at the diversity of a bouquet of flowers – can we do the same in a room full of people of different cultures, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religious tradition?

Complexity of Christian Ethics
“…each Christian is called by God to faithfulness to Christ. However, how different Christians understand that faithfulness may well vary depending on how they understand the Bible, what their particular Christian traditions are, and upon their experiences as Christians and as human beings.” (Boulton et al, From Christ to the World, 6)
“…the questioning that goes on today is decidedly different from most of what has preceded it in the history of Western culture” (M.A. Farley, Just Love, 1)
 Why? Examples:
 New scientific and medical knowledge
 Cross-cultural studies
 Historical studies
 Women’s/Gay Rights movements
– M.A. Farley, Just Love, 3-7

Boulton et al, From Christ to the World
Three “S’s”: Sources, Strategies, Standards
 Sources: Subject matter may require knowledge from a number of fields (e.g., religion, biology, psychology, medicine)
 What Sources do we consider “authoritative”? Some more than others?
 The Bible?
 Christian Tradition?
 Philosophy?
 Science?
 Strategies:
 “We need to decide how to decide.”
 Decisionist ethics – focuses directly on conduct – what will help us do the right thing
 Rights and duties strategy – certain duties and rights flow from basic accepted principles, such as “love” and “justice”
 Outcome strategy – decisions flow from wanting to maximize good consequences and minimize bad consequences
 Virtue ethics – puts emphasis on character traits to be developed
 “What decision is in keeping with the image of a virtuous person?”
 Virtues to live well: truthfulness, honesty, humility, mercy, courage, compassion, etc.
 Debate among these three positions continues today
 Standards:
 Love: “…the meaning of love can vary according to the strategy adopted.”
 Rights and duties = respect for neighbor
 Outcomes = do good for the neighbor
 Virtue = person of Jesus
 Justice: … as difficult to sort out what justice requires as love

Context of Christian Ethics
 Who am I and what do I do in relationship to:
 Church
 Community, State, Nation
 Economic systems
 Other Institutions
 What kind of Church should we be? Is the Church called to a higher ideal than Community, State, Nation?

CULTURAL TRANSFORMATION
 EVOLUTION OF ETHICS
 EVOLUTION OF RIGHTS
Movements for Social Change Catholic Social Teaching
“the story of Catholic social tradition…is more than a collection of official statements…it includes the prophets and activists, thinkers and analysts who wrestled with the meaning of Christian faith amid turbulent social times.” (Marvin L. Krier Mich, Catholic Social Teaching and Movements, 1)

Marvin L. Krier Mich, Catholic Social Teaching and Movements, 2-3
 Stages of development/complexity:
 Biblical prophets – drew people’s attention to sinfulness
 Jesus – “the justice of God”
 Medieval church – hierarchical vision of society wherein church primacy over other institutions
 Discovery of New World – encounter with “other” peoples
 Reformation – questioning past practices
 18th century – social contract, democracy, individualism
 Modern era – responses to industrialization, poverty, racism, violence, economic, etc.

Multicultural Perspectives: Diversity and Ethics
SOCRATES – Greek Philosopher, b. 427 b.c.e: “What sort of life is worth living? If I want to be fulfilled and happy, what sort of person should I be?” “What would a life worth living look like?”

Questions about Morality (Boulton et al, From Christ to the World, 2)
• “What is the good life?”
• “What should I do with my life?”
• “What sort of person do I want to be?”
• These are questions about
• Our “character”
• Our behavior toward ourselves and others

Definitions (from Webster’s unless otherwise noted)
Moral = relating to a principle of right or wrong
Morality = a system or doctrine of moral conduct
Character = the complex of mental and ethical traits marking and often individualizing a person, group or nation
Ethics = the examination and study of morality (Boulton et al, From Christ to the World, 2-5)
• Normative ethics – attempts to create norms or standards of right or good behavior
• Christian ethics – “norm” is the “person and work” of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ
o “What life is worthy of one who recognizes the authority of Jesus?”

Significant theoretical and practical reasons to engage in study of ethics from a cross-cultural perspective (M.A. Farley, Just Love, 58):
• Gain a broader perspective
• Respect differences in cultural backgrounds
• End tendency to universalize Western experience and thinking
• Communication and transportation bring all cultures into contact

Farley’s questions (Just Love, 8):
• “Can we incorporate our new knowledge and many new options into the worldviews that have provided meaning for the whole of our lives?”

• “No longer able to count solely on the compass of traditional insights and norms, or at least not on our agreement of them, what will anchor us or provide promise of moral wisdom and guidance?”

Eric Law’s Method of Inclusion:
“…a discipline of extending our boundary to take into consideration another’s needs, interests, experience, perspective, which will lead to clearer understanding of ourselves and others, fuller description of the issue at hand, and possibly a newly negotiated boundary of the community to which we belong.” – Inclusion, xii

Appropriate response to “the Other”: “Isn’t that interesting? Let me learn more about you.” (E. Law, Inclusion, 4)

Inclusion: “to enable a community to be a gracious, inclusive body of Christ” (E. Law, Inclusion, xxii-xiii)

Ways We Exclude:
• Prejudice, Discrimination, Segregation
• Rejection, Isolation
• Racism
• Sexism
• Ageism
• Homophobia
• Law, 1, 5, 6
• “We project our need to exclude onto God through selective use of Bible.” – E. Law, Inclusion, 7
• Creating rules that exclude; lies that harm or ostracize – E. Law, Inclusion, 5

Image of God “functions” – E. Johnson, She Who Is, 4
• primary symbol of whole religious system
• ultimate reference for good, truth, beauty

Whose God is functioning? – E. Law, Inclusion, 2-4

“The world
as God has created it
is full of diversity.”
– E. Law, Inclusion, 5

“When we realize it is not God who makes judgments about what is good or bad in the diversity of creation, we confront the fact that it is we who make the assumption that one thing is better than another.” (E. Law, Inclusion, 68)

“If we love someone, God must love that person. If we hate someone, God must hate that person too. We confine God to our limited way of seeing and perceiving the world.” (Eric Law, Inclusion, 68)

“In the name of our limited, incomplete image of God, we have sinned greatly in the past.” (E. Law, Inclusion, 68)

“With the image of God as exclusively a white male figure, we jumped to the conclusion that people who were not white or male were inferior or less than the divine race or gender…we have implemented programs of genocide against them; we kept people in slavery because they did not fit our image of God.” (E. Law, Inclusion, 68)

Example:

Monarchical Model vs. Alternative Model
of “The World as God’s Body”
– Sallie McFague
in Boulton et al, From Christ to the World, 501-513

Monarchical Model
• God is king, lord, ruler, patriarch
• “Our God is really God, the almighty Lord and King of the universe whom none can defeat and by implication we also are undefeatable”
• “It is a powerful imaginative picture and a very dangerous one.”
• McFague - in Boulton et al, From Christ to the World, 503
• King gives orders and subjects obey, unquestioningly
• God sets the rules; demands strict obedience
• Affects understanding of Sources and Strategies for ethics
• McFague - in Boulton et al, From Christ to the World, 504-505
• Relationship of king to subjects is a distant
• God viewed as having some concern for humans, but none for the cosmos
• There is no place for creatures who cannot “hear and obey”
• Important to environmental ethics
• McFague - in Boulton et al, From Christ to the World, 504-505
• “God’s action is on the world, not in it…”
• “…and it is a kind of action that inhibits human growth and responsibility
• This view encourages human passivity and escapism.
 McFague - in Boulton et al, From Christ to the World, 506

Alternative model
• “What if we imagined God’s presence as in us and in all others, including the last and the least?” – McFague, 507
• What impact would this have on our approach to ethics?

Monarchical Model encourages attitudes of militarism, dualism, escapism
Alternative Model encourages holistic attitudes of responsibility and care of the vulnerable and oppressed, is nonhierarchical, acts through persuasion and attraction, honors the body and nature; is more like indigenous models
“We have to ask which [metaphor for God] is better in our time…” (McFague, 507, 511)

“Inclusion involves a great deal of thinking and listening when we take into consideration others’ experience, history, feelings, and so forth. Inclusion requires time and energy.…it requires change.” (E. Law, Inclusion, 7)

“Instead of confining God, and making God look and act like us, we attempt to gain a greater vision of who God is.” (E. Law, Inclusion, 69)

“We don’t ask, What do we want?, but, What does God want?” (E. Law, Inclusion, 79)

The Golden Rule
Christianity:
In everything, do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets. (Jesus, Matthew 7:12)

Declaration Toward a Global Ethic
Parliament of the
World’s Religions
September 1993, Chicago USA

Principle found in many religious and ethical traditions (Golden Rule):
“What you do not wish done to yourself, do not do to others”
“What you wish done to yourself, do to others!”

From this principle arise four broad, ancient guidelines:
1. Commitment to a culture of non-violence and respect for life
• “You shall not kill!”
• “Have respect for life”

2. Commitment to a culture of solidarity and a just economic order
• “Do not steal”
• “Deal honestly and fairly”

3. Commitment to a culture of tolerance and a life of truthfulness
• “You shall not lie”
• “Speak and act truthfully”
• Religious leaders: “We must courageously serve the truth…instead of spreading ideological or partisan half-truths”
•
4. Commitment to a culture of equal rights and partnership between men and women
• “You shall not commit sexual immorality”
• “Respect and love one another”

Basic diversity includes: ethnicity, racial identity, gender, age, physical ability, sexual orientation; other diversity includes: education, marital status, parental status, geographic location, work experience, military experience, religion, economic status, theological belief
(Law)

James Keenan’s 3 ways of being relational:
General (justice)
Specific (fidelity)
Unique (self-care)

Quotes from reading:
“…the moral life needs spirituality’s orientation, and spirituality needs morality’s application.” (Gula 4)

“Spirituality without morality is disembodied; morality without spirituality is rootless.” (Gula 5)

“…spirituality expresses a way of life animated by the longings of the restless human spirit….spirituality designates a way of living that strives to integrate our diverse experiences into a meaningful whole by connecting all of life to what we believe gives ultimate meaning and value to our lives.” (Gula 18)

“Spirituality is ultimately about how we connect with what counts most for us in living.” (Gula 18)

Spirituality = “The discipline that studies the experience of God and the various traditions, ways of life, and practices that have emerged to express our response to God…” (Gula 21)

“…the moral dimension…pertains to our effort to flourish as persons and communities in response to our ultimate value.” (Gula 24)

Morality = “…the person expressing one’s self in action.” (Gula 24)

Morality is a”about what we should do because of who we are.” (Gula 24)

Ethics = “…the disciplined way of thinking about who is a good person and what are right and wrong actions.” (Gula 24)

Morality = relationships, not law (Gula 27)

“Morality expresses our responsibility for the relationships that constitute our lives so that there is no split between the person and society.” (Gula 27)

Morality is “a dynamic expression of virtue responding to the experience of being loved by God.” (Gula 32)

“…morality arises from, rather than generates, spirituality.” (Gula 37)

“Morality is the public face of one’s spirituality…” (Gula 39)

“Powerful though sin is, it does not have the final word.” (Willems 7)

“Moral theology directs us to a right relationship with God, with others, and with ourselves.” (Willems 8)

Advanced Spiritual Direction: 13th Class 4/16/08

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 13:38:49 GMT

Sometimes you know where someone needs to go, in a general sense, but you don’t know when they are ready to go there; pay attention to your felt-experience, your knowing will guide you as you follow the person. You are guiding the person to their own desire.

Evaluation = where is the fruit?

Dark night of the senses = numbed out
Dark night of the soul = more pervasive

“May your life be filled with joy and only enough suffering to know the difference.”

We are spiritually resilient. We have inner resiliency.

“Tell me about the God you don’t believe in.”

Group Spiritual Process = the dynamics of spiritual direction in a group setting
start with a shared experience (a song, prayer, meditation, etc)
have a low altar in the center of the circle
for our exercise, the theme was “gratitude”
“remember the groundrules”
time to share your experience
time to respond to others’ experience

use your creativity
communion/solitude…communion in solitude

Human Person and Psychological Development: 13th Class 4/15/08

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 15:54:15 GMT

How I am this morning: grateful

We are called to be responsive even in times of darkness.

We don’t recover from trauma, we integrate it; there are redemptive aspects to trauma. We experience trauma within our life-cycle stage. How we process what happens to us is interfaced with how we have progressed through previous life stages.

We have to be able to tolerate ambiguity, to tolerate things that don’t have answers or don’t “make sense.”

Radical honesty = whatever we feel is what we feel…feelings are not moral

We do not forgive for someone else’s sake, we forgive for us, to clear our channels, to find freedom. Forgiving takes the sting out of remembering. Forgiveness is different from reconciliation.

Repentance = doing a 180 degree turn and going in a different direction, calls for a change in behavior

The Harvest of Forgiveness: ask God to bring to mind every instance that needs forgiveness; say “I love you” each time you see the person you are forgiving

Sometimes the parents we have as adults aren’t the parents we had as children.

Forgiveness is not a feeling, it is a decision to release anger, resentment, pain, bondage, accountability…it is a process.

Truths about darkness:
• NO ONE ESCAPES – If we participate in life, we participate in darkness. Life is about timeless themes of births, sufferings, change, and transformations.
• WE ARE NOT IN DARKNESS BECAUSE WE HAVE DONE SOMETHING WRONG. Sometimes suffering occurs because of choices we make and sometimes difficult things happen just because we live in an imperfect world.
• WE HAVE CHOICES IN THE DARKNESS. We can respond adaptively by being radically open and honest, choosing connections, doing what is hard, letting go, choosing faith, etc. We can respond maladaptively by being defensive, dishonest, isolating, seeking pleasure only, placing blame, etc.
• WE CAN FIND MEANING IN SUFFERING. . . . . .

“Times of human suffering become crucibles, within which tears and other affects of transformation, anoint us to become sacramental vessels of healing in a broken world.” (Charlotte Dillon, Ph.D. 2007)

Responses to darkness:
• Become conscious of darkness-wake up to the truth of our own lives
• Acknowledge our part in our darkness - radical honesty is always the best policy
• Have a mellow heart to receive truth about our darkness - do what is hard
• Connect, connect, connect in trustworthy and emotionally safe relationships - know you are not alone

Principles of Forgiving Others
which lead to
Forgive now; Start the process and don't wait until you feel like forgiving others.
Remember the offense - repression, denial, rationalization and avoidance make people psychologically and spiritually sick.
Enable yourself to deal with your feelings connected to the offense.
Endeavor to be honest with yourself and with God.
Decide you will acknowledge and deal with the consequences of the other person's wrong against you.
Open yourself to the Holy Spirit's help and healing.
Make a will-driven choice to forgive. This may entail surrendering an attitude of arrogance that we took the higher road, and definitely involves a decision not to seek revenge or hold the past against the other person. These may initially be acts of mind, not of heart.

FORGIVENESS TIPS . . .
You don't need the other person's involvement to forgive; forgiveness and reconciliation are two different life movements
•Forgiveness is often a process and sometimes occurs in stages
•Forgiveness is an act of the mind - heart and feelings follow
•Forgiveness leads to our freedom
•Come to God’s Spirit with an open heart and trust that areas or incidents which need forgiveness work will come to mind

Forgiveness Inventory:
What persons and related circumstances come to mind which need some forgiveness work?

Choose one person and the related circumstance that you are willing to commit to resolving.

What was the offense?

What feelings do you have as a result of that person's wrong toward you? What do you need to do to deal with these feelings?

What consequences must you bear in order to forgive him or her?

Are you willing to connect your authenticity with God's Spirit to help you deal with forgiving this person? If so, do so. Describe what has happened in your heart.

Remember — forgiveness is a conscious choice. Your mind directed decision means you will not hold resentments or seek revenge against the person you have forgiven.

Forgiveness and the Brain (from First Study to Watch Brain Patterns When Forgiving 2003:
www.innovations-report.de/html/berichte/gesellschaftswissenschaften/bericht-22282.html)

“Method:-12 healthy control subjects and 13 patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) underwent fMRI scanning, while they engaged in tasks: (i) that involve speculation on another’s intention, (ii) that invoke empathy and (iii) involve making judgments of actions’ forgivability; each versus ’baseline’ social reasoning judgments. A post-therapy fMRI scan followed a course of cognitive behavioral therapy with a forgiveness component. Results: Post-therapy, we found increased activation in brain regions predicted on the basis of foregoing work in healthy controls. These included significant left middle temporal gyrus activation in post-therapy response to empathy judgments and posterior cingulate gyrus activation in post-therapy response to forgivability judgments.

Conclusions: Empathic and forgivability judgments activate specific regions of the human brain, which we propose contribute to social cohesion. The activation in these regions changed with symptom resolution in PTSD.”

Quotes on Forgiveness from Richard Rohr’s Things Hidden: Scripture as Spirituality (2008), pp. 36-37
“The ark is an image of the People of God on the waves of time, carrying the contradictions, the opposites, the tensions and the paradoxes of humanity. . . . . “ The “gathering of contraries is, in fact, the school of salvation, and the school of love. That’s where it happens, in honest community and committed relationships. Love is learned in the encounter with ‘otherness.’ “

“Eventually we give this mutual deference a word: forgiveness. . . . Forgiveness becomes central to Jesus’ teaching, because to receive reality is always to ‘bear it,’ to bear reality for not meeting all, if any, of our needs. To accept reality is to forgive reality for being what it is.”

“. . . Forgiveness is the only event in which you simultaneously experience three great graces: God’s unmerited goodness, the deeper goodness of the one you have forgiven and then you experience your own gratuitous goodness too. That’s the payoff. This makes the mystery of forgiveness an incomparable tool of salvation. There is really nothing else quite like it for inner transformation, . . . . . .”