Rather than framing moral philosophy as just another form of epistemology (how can we know what to do?), Iris Murdoch was asking a more classical question: “How can we make ourselves morally better?” she asks. “These are the questions the philosopher should try to answer.”
Theology
Posted inFaith, The Good Word
How can we trust others in our fallen world?
The question of trust, of giving ourselves to something outside ourselves, is quite fundamental. It goes to the nature of who we are as human beings. One might pose the question this way: Are we clams or clovers?
Posted inFaith, News
Father Gustavo Gutierrez supports declaring St. Romero ‘doctor of the church’
One of the founders of liberation theology in Latin America said he supports an effort to declare St. Oscar Romero a doctor of the Catholic Church.
Posted inFaith, Faith and Reason
Do St. Ignatius’ “Rules for Thinking with the Church” call for blind orthodoxy?
The founder of the Jesuits writes, “What seems to me white, I will believe black if the hierarchical Church so defines.” Let’s unpack that.
Posted inBooks, Faith
Christian belief requires transformation, not facile compromise.
Our shared faith in Christ is a precious inheritance that can by no means be taken for granted but must be re-appropriated ever anew.
Posted inArts & Culture, Jesuitical
What in the hell? How Vinson Cunningham imagines the afterlife
A discussion on our first memories of hell, how it still impacts our lives and our culture, and why it might be easier to describe hell than heaven.
Posted inFaith, Short Take
The dignity of human beings must not be measured in ‘usefulness’
People with Down syndrome can accomplish amazing things, but the dignity of the human person is not contingent on measurable achievements.
Posted inFaith, Faith and Reason
Why the Catholic Church needs a Eucharistic response to the sex abuse scandals
Does the Church, as the Body of Christ, offer a response to the sex abuse scandals?
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
St. Francis de Sales’s solution for our toxic public discourse
In times like these, the “virtuous speech” counseled by St. Francis de Sales in his The Devout Life is downright countercultural
Posted inFaith, Interviews
Why Catholic moral theology is a sign of hope in today’s church
The engagement with intersectionality by moral theologians continues the historical process by which the tradition has always learned from ways of knowing outside of itself.