- New Orleans, United States
Jennifer E. Miller
Notre Dame Seminary, Moral Theology, Faculty Member
Attempts to implement the Second Vatican Council's call for a Scriptural renewal of moral theology have proven to be rare, due to its challenging nature and the shortage of viable models. The goal of this article is to propose such a... more
Attempts to implement the Second Vatican Council's call for a Scriptural renewal of moral theology have proven to be rare, due to its challenging nature and the shortage of viable models. The goal of this article is to propose such a model. We will begin by examining the Second Vatican Council's vision of a renewal. We will then draw out a model from John Paul II's moral theology by analyzing his work in Veritatis splendor and the theology of the body catecheses. In the light of these basic hermeneutical and exegetical guidelines, we will finally sketch out how moral theologians can use his model as a kind of flexible "renewal recipe," to direct and guide their own development of a Scripturally nourished moral theology.
Research Interests:
This article, in order to better understand Pope Francis’s newly coined term, “integral ecology,” and its implications for a virtue-based moral theology, has relied upon its insertion in the social encyclical tradition, and specifically... more
This article, in order to better understand Pope Francis’s newly coined
term, “integral ecology,” and its implications for a virtue-based moral theology, has relied upon its insertion in the social encyclical tradition, and
specifically within the context of integral human development, which
originates in Populorum Progressio, so as to better understand its implications.
Seeing integral ecology in the light of the natural law tradition
that highlights its theological origin in Genesis, such as is done in Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, allows us to realize that Creation is a gift from God and that man, made in his image and likeness, is called to be provident in his use of Creation for others, especially the poor, the weak, and future generations.
The specific virtue in which Pope Francis sees the natural moral law flourish is sobriety, a social expression of temperance, which is informed by
the virtue of solidarity. In line with Caritas in Veritate, this virtue is best
learned within civil society, from which it is meant to permeate and
transform the society as a whole. It is in this way that integral human
development, as social, economic, cultural, and spiritual, embraces the
Creation given to man and finds its evolution in integral ecology, and
in the full flourishing of the virtue of sobriety.
term, “integral ecology,” and its implications for a virtue-based moral theology, has relied upon its insertion in the social encyclical tradition, and
specifically within the context of integral human development, which
originates in Populorum Progressio, so as to better understand its implications.
Seeing integral ecology in the light of the natural law tradition
that highlights its theological origin in Genesis, such as is done in Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, allows us to realize that Creation is a gift from God and that man, made in his image and likeness, is called to be provident in his use of Creation for others, especially the poor, the weak, and future generations.
The specific virtue in which Pope Francis sees the natural moral law flourish is sobriety, a social expression of temperance, which is informed by
the virtue of solidarity. In line with Caritas in Veritate, this virtue is best
learned within civil society, from which it is meant to permeate and
transform the society as a whole. It is in this way that integral human
development, as social, economic, cultural, and spiritual, embraces the
Creation given to man and finds its evolution in integral ecology, and
in the full flourishing of the virtue of sobriety.