Christian ethics has addressed moral agency and culture from the start, and Christian social ethics increasingly acknowledges the power of social structures. However, neither has made sufficient use of the discipline that specializes in understanding structures and culture: sociology. In Moral Agency within Social Structures and Culture, editor and contributor Daniel K. Finn proposes a field-changing critical realist sociology that puts Christian ethics into conversation with modern discourses on human agency and social transformation. Catholic social teaching mischaracterizes social evil as being little more than the sum of individual choices, remedied through individual conversion. Liberation theology points to the power of social structures but without specifying how structures affect moral agency. Critical realist sociology provides a solution to both shortcomings. This collection shows how sociological insights can deepen and extend Catholic social thought by enabling ethicists to analyze more precisely how structures and culture impact human decisions. The book demonstrates how this sociological framework has applications for the study of the ecological crisis, economic life, and virtue ethics. Moral Agency within Social Structures and Culture is a valuable tool for Christian ethicists who seek systemic change in accord with the Gospel.
A new ethics for understanding the social forces that shape moral character. It is easy to be vicious and difficult to be virtuous in today’s world, especially given that many of the social structures that connect and sustain us enable exploitation and disincentivize justice. There are others, though, that encourage virtue. In his book Daniel J. Daly uses the lens of virtue and vice to reimagine from the ground up a Catholic ethics that can better scrutinize the social forces that both affect our moral character and contribute to human well-being or human suffering. Daly’s approach uses both traditional and contemporary sources, drawing on the works of Thomas Aquinas as well as incorporating theories such as critical realist social theory, to illustrate the nature and function of social structures and the factors that transform them. Daly’s ethics focus on the relationship between structure and agency and the different structures that enable and constrain an individual’s pursuit of the virtuous life. His approach defines with unique clarity the virtuous structures that facilitate a love of God, self, neighbor, and creation, and the vicious structures that cultivate hatred, intemperance, and indifference to suffering. In doing so, Daly creates a Catholic ethical framework for responding virtuously to the problems caused by global social systems, from poverty to climate change.
The Anthropocene presents theology, and especially theological anthropology, with unprecedented challenges. There are no immediately available resources in the theological tradition that reflect directly on such experiences. Accordingly, the situation calls for contextually based theological reflection of what it means to be human under such circumstances. This book discusses the main elements in theological anthropology in light of the fundamental points: a) that theological anthropology needs to be articulated with reference to, and informed by, the concrete historical circumstances in which humanity presently finds itself, and b) that the notion of the Anthropocene can be used as a heuristic tool to describe important traits and conditions that call for a response by humanity, and which entail the need for a renewal of what a Christian self-understanding means. Jan-Olav Henriksen explores what such a response entails from the point of view of contemporary theological anthropology and discusses selected topics that can contribute to a contextually based position.
This volume addresses the social-relational nature of moral formation, emotions, and moral agency. Drawing on Barth's theological anthropology and his relational conception of the self, Cahill argues that Barth envisions moral progress as rooted in the growth of the community. Cahill also explores Barth's view of emotion in conversation with the study of emotions in psychology, sociology, neuroscience, and philosophy. Building on Barth and these other disciplines Cahill argues for a relational and cognitive conception of emotions while highlighting emotions' critical role in regulating group and social relations. Emotions are fundamental to interpersonal interactions, to group relations, and for the reinforcement and disruption of social structures. This account of moral formation and emotion is illustrated through the example of climate change. A community shaped by love for God, solidarity with other creatures, and a concern for all of creation leads to an awareness of hegemonic forces and fosters emotions shaped by the kingdom of God that enables the struggle for climate justice.
The Evolution of Human Dignity in Catholic Morality Bernard Brady Gregory of Nyssa’s “Reverse Contagion” and Roberto Esposito’s “Immunity”: Which Way Forward in the Aftermath of the Pan-demic? Carlo Calleja An Augustinian Correction to a Faulty Option: The Politics of Salt and Light Anthony Crescio “The Perspective of the Acting Person” and Moral Action: Reading Veritatis Splendor no. 78 with Servais Pinckaers, OP Matthew Kuhnar Round Table Discussion: On the Work of Paul J. Wadell Thanks Be to God for Paul J. Wadell: Essays in Honor of a Friend and His Work Tobias Winright Stories of Friendship: The Generous Contributions of Paul Wadell Charles R. Pinches A Consideration of Teaching: Friendship, and Boundaries in Catholic Higher Education Bridget Burke Ravizza and Mara Brecht Spiritual Rescue Darin Davis Jesus Is Not Just My Homeboy: A Friendship Christology Justin Bronson Barringer Reciprocity within Community: Ancient and Contemporary Challenges to and Opportunities for Civic Friendship Anne-Marie Ellithorpe The Place of Friendship in Christian Ethics – A Response Written in Gratitude Paul J. Wadell BOOK REVIEWS Thomas C. Behr, Social Justice and Subsidiarity: Luigi Taparelli and the Origins of Modern Catholic Social Thought Michael Krom Charles C. Camosy, Resisting Throwaway Culture: How a Con-sistent Life Ethic Can Unite a Fractured People Alessandro Rovati Daniel P. Castillo, An Ecological Theology of Liberation: Salvation and Political Ecology Xavier M. Montecel Dennis M. Doyle, The Catholic Church in a Changing World: A Vat-ican II-Inspired Approach Martin Madar Joshua Dubler and Vincent W. Lloyd, Break Every Yoke: Religion, Justice, and the Abolition of Prisons Joshua R. Snyder Daniel K. Finn, ed. Moral Agency within Social Structures and Cul-ture Kevin Ahern Reinhard Huetter, Bound for Beatitude: A Thomistic Study in Escha-tology and Ethics William Mattison James Davison Hunter and Paul Nedelisky, Science and the Good: The Tragic Quest for the Foundations of Morality Frederiek Depoortere Maureen Junker-Kenny, Approaches to Theological Ethics: Sources, Traditions, Visions Mariele Courtois Nicholas Kahm, Aquinas on Emotion’s Participation in Reason Andrew Kim Jason King and Julie Hanlon Rubio, eds., Catholic Perspectives on Sex, Love, and Families Conor M. Kelly Rebecca Langlands, Exemplary Ethics in Ancient Rome Anthony Crescio Jerry L. Martin, ed., Theology Without Walls: The Transreligious Im-perative Daniele Clausnitzer Eli S. McCarthy, ed., A Just Peace Ethic Primer: Building Sustaina-ble Peace and Breaking Cycles of Violence Wesley Sutermeister Mary E. McGann, RSCJ, The Meal That Reconnects: Eucharistic Eating and the Global Food Crisis Lucas Briola Marcus Mescher, The Ethics of Encounter: Christian Neighbor Love as a Practice of Solidarity Vincent Miller Joseph Ogbonnaya and Lucas Briola, eds., Everything Is Intercon-nected: Towards a Globalization with a Human Face and an In-tegral Ecology Randall S. Rosenberg Matthew Petrusek and Jonathan Rothchild, eds., Value and Vulnera-bility: An Interfaith Dialogue on Human Dignity Peter Feldmeier D. C. Schindler, Freedom from Reality: The Diabolical Character of Modern Liberty Jerome C. Foss
An ecological model through which we can imagine Aquinas' vision of moral character The images we use to think about moral character are powerful. They inform our understanding of the moral virtues and the ways in which moral character develops. However, this aspect of virtue ethics is rarely discussed. In Ecological Moral Character, Nancy M. Rourke creates an ecological model through which we can form images of moral character. She integrates concepts of ecology with Aquinas' vision and describes the dynamics of a moral character in terms of the processes and functions that take place in an ecosystem. The virtues, the passions, the will, and the intellect, are also described in terms of this model. Ecological Moral Character asks readers to choose deliberately the models we use to imagine moral character and offers this ecological virtue model as a vital framework for a period of environmental crisis.
Professor Margaret Archer is a leading critical realist and major contemporary social theorist. This edited collection seeks to celebrate the scope and accomplishments of her work, distilling her theoretical and empirical contributions into four sections which capture the essence and trajectory of her research over almost four decades. Long fascinated with the problem of structure and agency, Archer’s work has constituted a decade-long engagement with this perennial issue of social thought. However, in spite of the deep interconnections that unify her body of work, it is rarely treated as a coherent whole. This is doubtless in part due to the unforgiving rigour of her arguments and prose, but also a byproduct of sociology’s ongoing compartmentalisation. This edited collection seeks to address this relative neglect by collating a selection of papers, spanning Archer’s career, which collectively elucidate both the development of her thought and the value that can be found in it as a systematic whole. This book illustrates the empirical origins of her social ontology in her early work on the sociology of education, as well as foregrounding the diverse range of influences that have conditioned her intellectual trajectory: the systems theory of Walter Buckley, the neo-Weberian analysis of Lockwood, the critical realist philosophy of Roy Bhaskar and, more recently, her engagement with American pragmatism and the Italian school of relational sociology. What emerges is a series of important contributions to our understanding of the relationship between structure, culture and agency. Acting to introduce and guide readers through these contributions, this book carries the potential to inform exciting and innovative sociological research.
The Global Theological Ethics book series focuses on works that feature authors from around the world, draw on resources from the traditions of Catholic Theological Ethics, and attend to concrete issues facing the world today.
Suffering is an unavoidable reality in health care. Not only are patients and families suffering but also the clinicians who care for them. Commonly the suffering experienced by clinicians is moral in nature, in part a reflection of the increasing complexity of health care, their roles within it, and the expanding range of available interventions. Moral suffering is the anguish that occurs when the burdens of treatment appear to outweigh the benefits; scarce human and material resources must be allocated; informed consent is incomplete or inadequate; or there are disagreements about goals of treatment among patients, families or clinicians. Each is a source of moral adversity that challenges clinicians' integrity: the inner harmony that arises when their essential values and commitments are aligned with their choices and actions. If moral suffering is unrelieved it can lead to disengagement, burnout, and undermine the quality of clinical care. The most studied response to moral adversity is moral distress. The sources and sequelae of moral distress, one type of moral suffering, have been documented among clinicians across specialties. It is vital to shift the focus to solutions and to expanded individual and system strategies that mitigate the detrimental effects of moral suffering. Moral resilience, the capacity of an individual to restore or sustain integrity in response to moral adversity, offers a path forward. It encompasses capacities aimed at developing self-regulation and self-awareness, buoyancy, moral efficacy, self-stewardship and ultimately personal and relational integrity. Clinicians and healthcare organizations must work together to transform moral suffering by cultivating the individual capacities for moral resilience and designing a new architecture to support ethical practice. Used worldwide for scalable and sustainable change, the Conscious Full Spectrum approach, offers a method to solve problems to support integrity, shift patterns that undermine moral resilience and ethical practice, and source the inner potential of clinicians and leaders to produce meaningful and sustainable results that benefit all.
