Coffee Talk Redux is a reflection on things God is teaching me. In some cases the ideas for these topics come from the Coffee Talk group that I meet with weekly at the Vintage Coffee Bistro located in Lambertville, Michigan. At other times the Redux topic may arise from some conversation I may have had with someone, or a thought that crossed my mind, or perhaps something I read somewhere, or maybe a combination of all of these. In any case think of this as a discussion on what God is teaching us to help us grow in our understanding of His will.
Servais Pinckaers in the first part of his book The Sources of Christian Ethics addresses in a comprehensive manner the various definitions that have been proposed for Christian ethics or moral theology. After reviewing these definitions Pinckaers then offers his own definition which is that, Christian ethics is a branch of theology that studies human acts so as to direct them to a loving vision of God seen as our true, complete happiness and our final end. This vision is attained by means of grace, the virtues, and the gifts, in light of revelation and reason. Pinckaers is arguing that man’s sense of moral knowledge is only obtained through the finality and the happiness that is found in God. This is a rather complex definition of moral theology and requires that one first understand the foundational aspects of moral theology on which it is based. Before we can understand Pinckaers’ definitions of moral theology we need to first address some basic questions concerning man’s place in the world. Accordingly, in this redux we will explore moral theology in the broader context of God’s revelation and then use that as a basis to examine in greater detail Pinckaers’ definition of moral theology.
In a broad sense one could argue that moral theology is a faith activity that seeks to understand the manner in which we make sense of our lives. However, this rather general definition of moral theology provides no insight as to how we go about this or where we go in order to make sense of our lives. For example, is this ethical sense something that we discover on our own, is it something we learn from others, or being a faith activity is it found only in the light of God’s revelation?
In order to make sense of our lives we first need to understand the source of our lives. In other words we need to find out what man is and then we can address what man is to do. Our understanding of what man is may be found in God’s revelation to man as provided in the Sacred Scriptures. Only from Sacred Scriptures can man understand his origins and God’s plan for man’s salvation through the redemptive act of His Son Jesus Christ. Through the Genesis accounts of creation we find that mankind is the last and the highest of God’s creations. God created man ex nihilo and man’s existence is totally dependent on God’s will.
Man is also given a freedom that the heavenly bodies and all the other creatures do not have, the ability to change course. This freedom to change course is the highest form of gift that God can give and because of His love He bestowed this gift on man. This freedom given to man is also called free will. In this way man is said to be created in the image and likeness of God. God provided man with an intellect and free will and from this man receives his freedom to act as he so chooses. It is through man’s intellect and free will that man has the ability to understand the world in which he lives and more importantly man can decide how he wants to live. Man therefore has the inherent capacity to know right from wrong in any given situation. Man can do what is right but only if that is what he desires to do.
In order to do what is good man must understand that his ultimate happiness lies in God. Man’s challenge is therefore to use his intellect and free will and conform them to the highest standard of goodness, which is being in the image and likeness of God. Man has the choice to conform his way to the highest good which is God or man can choose the way of the world as his highest good, that is focusing on pleasure, power, and possessions and worshiping these in a prideful way that ultimately leads to sin and evil. In this way moral theology can be seen as man’s striving to make the best use of his free will, to seek God for his happiness and to do the good and avoid what is evil.
With this background on the origin of man and the freedom that God has given him it becomes apparent that moral theology can only make sense if it realizes that its roots are found in the creation accounts of Genesis. Moral theology therefore needs to be built on the foundation of man’s creation in the image and likeness of God since it is through this that man has acquired his intellect and free will. Pinckaers in his definition of Christian ethics sees this as well and also recognizes that the source of moral theology is Sacred Scripture. Any definition of moral theology must recognize as Pinckaers says that the object of Christian ethics is to lead us, by our actions, to the God of revelation who is our true happiness… It will recognize in Scripture the wellspring of such knowledge. For Pinckaers Christian ethics is an integral part of theology that is focused on directing man’s actions towards his true happiness in God.
Pinckaers in his definition of moral theology also points out that this true happiness is found in what may be called a loving vision of God. This is the beatific vision which is also expressed in the sixth beatitude in Matthew 5:8 which says, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. The essence of moral theology is therefore this biblical call of man to make the right choices and to seek the highest good, which is God. This leads a moral man to the Kingdom of God and eternal life. Pinckaers calls this in his definition of moral theology a loving vision of God by which he means a vision that gives rise to love, and a love that seeks to know and to see.
This loving vision of God is then seen by Pinckaers to be the answer to where man will find his true and complete happiness. Pinckaers says that, We move away from just any kind of happiness and fix our attention on true, rightful happiness, which deserves our choice and the pursuit of an entire lifetime. In other words Christian ethics is about changing one’s life and making the right choices in order to find our complete happiness in the loving vision of God. This loving vision of God is our finality or our final end, that supreme goal toward which our whole life and all our actions are oriented, the goal we envisage through all our successive choices. This focus on our final end is the essence of the first commandment in Deuteronomy 6:5, that you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.
Pinckaers also emphasizes in his definition of moral theology the important role that is played by grace, the virtues, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Pinckaers recognizes that we cannot achieve our final end in the true happiness of God without God’s help. Pinckaers says, human powers are totally inadequate. Only God himself, through the sheer gift of grace, can reveal himself to us and bring us to possess him. God’s grace is seen as the crowning glory of Christian ethics and this grace is a result of the action of the gifts obtained from the Holy Spirit. On the virtues he says that these are qualities of the heart and soul that are the interior, lasting principles of action… The theological and moral virtues will be seen as the principle means for attaining to the loving vision of God. It is through the exercise of the virtues and not simply adherence to external laws and commandments that one can make the right choices that lead to the loving vision of God.
The last few words of Pinckaers’ definition of moral theology points out that all of our understanding of Christian morality should be seen in the light of reason and God’s revelation. Pinckaers sees morality as being threatened by rationalism with the result that revelation is no longer seen to be an essential part. A secular form of ethical behavior would be based on rational norms for behavior that can change with the times. But Pinckaers through his definition rightly sees that God’s revelation is the principal and direct source of our understanding of Christian ethics. Faith and reason along with Sacred Scripture work together to inform man how to live his life in conformity with God’s eternal plan so that his final end may be the true happiness that is only found in God.
As shown here moral theology has its foundations in God’s creation of mankind. Man is made in the image and likeness of God meaning that man has the ability to think and to make choices. This aspect of man must be understood in order to develop a rational basis for understanding what is meant by moral theology. Building on this scriptural basis Pinckaers developed a comprehensive definition of Christian ethics that recognizes that man’s choices need to be conformed to those acts that direct man to a loving vision of God. In this way man will find his finality and the complete happiness that lies only in God. All of this is a grace from God that is given to man through faith and an understanding of God’s revelation as revealed in Sacred Scriptures and the Gospel message of His Son Jesus Christ.
© Ronald L. Fournier – 2008
