Historical Development of Christian Ethics

1. Early Christianity- christians in Holy Land and Second Temple Judaism includes
discussions on Roman Authority and the entire empire. Church Fathers had little time
to treat moral questions from philosophical standpoint and independently of divine
revelation that lead to philosophical investigations. These early Christian
philosophers, authors and theologians used ethical principles to lay down their
thoughts by combining Greek and Jewish beliefs.

Under emperor Constantine, Christianity became legal and thus the power of
the church broadened including the role of the state that led to the
establishment of Christian morality (temporal laws, natural law, conscience,
cardinal virtues, sin, marriages) were treated in a clearer manner.

IRENAEUS- apologist and doctor of the church. His book entitled Against Heresy
refutes gnosticism in the advance development of the authority of Scriptures, creed
and the episcopal office.
Heresy- belief or opinion contrary to religion
Gnosticism-a belief that taught that the world was created and ruled by a lesser
divinity (demiurge) and that Christ was only an emissary of the remote supreme
divine Being esoteric (knowledge or gnostic) of whom enabled the redemption of the
human spirit.
TERTULLIAN- an apologist and a trinitarian who go against the gnostics. Father of
Latin Christiannity and Western Theology.
JUSTIN MARTYR- apologist, defends in writing the Christian religion against the
attacks and misunderstandings of the pagan.
CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA-an apologist, believed that philosophy is for Greek
and Law of Moses was for Jews. According to him, he also believed that men lived
first as citizens of heaven and second as citizen on the earth.
ORIGEN- believed that before creation of the material universe, God had created the
souls of all the intelligent beings. The souls fully devoted to God, fell away from
Him and were given physical bodies.

AMBROSE-doctor of the church, gave away possession and study Scripture and
Theology. Refute the arians on the belief of Jesus was not equal to God. But the
Triune God is all equal.

JEROME-translated the Bible to Latin from Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek.

AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO- doctor of the church, defined history having a distinct

beginning and end in which God worked to provide salvation to humanity. “City of
God” (his written book) defines a city that prioritizes love of God and is predsetined
for salvation.

2 Cities
City of Man- consists of people living according to their own desires and
prioritize earthly goods.
City of God-those who live according to God’s laws and aim for eternal peace.
I. Reformation/Modern Christian Ethics-16th c.
FRANCISCO DE VITORIA- dropped the idea God’s powerful rule and asserted
instead the rulers’ power came wholly from the people. “Law of Nations”-set of
principles.

LUIS DE MOLINA-spanish, thesis on God has middle knowledge (scientia media)

the knowledge of counter factuals regarding human actions.

FRANCIS SUAREZ-emminent doctor, scholasticism doctrine that he rethought from

Thomaism that earlier problems and their historical solutions.
Thomaism-the best way to understand the world is through reason

LEONARDUS LESSIUS- aimed to extend the scope of human freedom and limit the
field of obligations arising from natural law.

JUAN DE LUGO-price theory, rational valuation of good and its utility, matters on
scarcity good in question and the volume of demand. He concluded that just price
was the market price

JUAN CARAMUEL LOBKOWITZ-sought solutions to Theological problems

through applying mathematical rules.

ALPHUNSUS LIQUORI- prince of moral theologians, doctor of the church. He

follow example of Jesus Christ by preaching the Word of God to the poor and the
most abandoned, to those who live on the margins.

Doctrine of Probabilism- L. “probare”- test approve. When there is a

question of lawlessness and unlawlessness of an action, it is permissible to follow
solid opinion in favor of liberty even if the opposing view is more probable.

Papal Infallibility- dogma of RC in virtue of the promise of jesus to peter that

the Cathedra is preserved on the possibility of error on doctrine, given from the
apostolic church handed down to Scripture and tradition.

Roman Magisterium- teaching authority of the RC church, one of the three sources of
authority alongside Scripture and tradition.

*Reformers- held on Sola Scriptura with ethical system directly from the Scriptures.

PHILIP MELANCHTON- (elementa philosophiae) cling to aristotlelean philosophy.

Used Paul’s letter to the Romans and lead to new doctrine of Christianity wherein he
finds that faith was more important than good deeds. He followed Martin Luther’s
free realization of the divine law by a personality blessed in faith and filled with the
spirit of God.

20th century
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER- questions the value of ethical reasoning in moral
philosophy. Rather than ethical reasoning, they stress the importance of meditation
and relationship with God. The question was a reminder of their belief in a moral
imperative to act in a manner that would demonstrate the love of Jesus through the
actions of the devotees.

ETHICAL SYSTEM/APPROACHES TO DECISION-MAKING

Classified as Action-oriented or Virtue-based systems:

1. Deontological System-the word “deon” means what is due which is based on the
principles in which actions, or character, or even intentions are inherently right
or wrong.

“ To do only the acts which are intrinsically right. It’s an act due to everyone-
a duty comes first principle.”
Example: telling the truth- its ones duty and not to tell lie.
FORMS:
1. Divine Command Theory
2. Natural Law
3. Ethical Rationalism
IMPORTANT: The christians tend to be deontological because of the emphasis of
Christian Ethics on the commands of God as absolute and guiding principle for them
to follow. Christian Ethics have a substantial place in an Ethic of Virtue, since the
major part of the Christian Moral life involves emulating the character traits of Christ
and exemplifying the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5: 13-24.)

2. Teleological System- from the word “telos” meaning, end, goal, purpose. This is
based on the end result produced by the action. It also maintains the consequences
rather than the principles that determines the right actions.
Consequently, no action is inherently right or wrong. The “rightness” or “wrongness”
of an action depends on the consequences of the action. Actions that bear more
beneficial consequence than harm is moral. If not, it is immoral.
STANCE: To do the act that will bring about the greatest good and least evil.
FORMS:
1. Utilitarianism- holds the action which produces the greatest good for the greater
number is the moral choice. It defines the good generally as the greatest pleasure and
preference satisfaction, and seeks the same for the choice. This general understanding
of the good is also known as the “Greatest happiness Principle”. S. Mill
2. Ethical Egoism-maintains that the right thing to do is anything which advances the
person’s self-interest.
EXAMPLE: one believes or accepts Jesus because of His promised gift of
salvation.
3. Relativism- refers to Ethical system which understand right and wrong are not
absolute and unchanging but relative to one’s culture (cultural relativism) or one’s
personal preferences (moral subjectivism).
a.Cultural Relativism- is the principle regarding the beliefs, values, and
practices of a culture from the viewpoint of that culture itself. Franz Boaz
Specifically, C. R. pertains to the “idea that a persons’s beliefs, values and
practices should be undestood based on the person’s own culture, rather than
be judged against the criteria of another.
It is inclusive of the ability of the ability to understand a culture on its own
terms and not to make judgment using the standard of one’s own culture.
 Finally, C.R. puts emphasis on the appreciation of cultural diversity as well as
the importance of a cultures values and presses toward accepting all cultures’
values as equally valid.
b. Moral Subjectivism- based on the maxim “Whatever is right for you is okay,
but what is right for me is also okay.”
-theory that the norms of moral conduct are ultimately determined by
each person for himself/herself.
- it is also a view associated with the post-modern view of the world
where objective truth and objective morality is being questioned.
EXAMPLE: forcing ones belief on sexual orientation
- another definition could be that it refers to the branch of Moral
Theology, which defines virtues, behavior and wrong behavior from
Christian perspective.
According to Karl H. Peschke defines Christian Ethics or Moral Theology, as
that it studies in the light of Christian Faith and of reason the guidelines we
must follow to attain our final goal.
PHILOSOPHY: Does God command things because they are good, or, are
things good because they are commanded by God.
Christian Ethics- morality that is ultimately grounded on the character of God
and further clarified by the characters of Christ. The understanding makes it
clear that the ultimate foundation of Christian Morality.
EXAMPLE: God commands that we love our neighbour not simply because
“LOVE MAKES THE WORLD GO ROUND” but because He is that kind of God
(meaning God Himself is love), both virtue and principle in this example are derived
from God’s character and that we learn that the heart of christian ethics is a blend of
both virtues and principles. Love being a Christian virtue (a theological virtue) and
God’s command for His children to love one another is a moral principle( God
Himself is Love).

Other Examples of Divine Commands:

1. The mandate of forgiveness
2. The call to become a holy people
3. The call to perfection
Ten Commandments: Moral Principles
1. I am the Lord your God, who brought you from the land of Egypt, out of the
bondage. You shall have no other gods before me.
2. You shall not make for yourself any graven image, or any likeness of anything that
is in heaven above.
3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
5. Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land
which the Lord your God is giving you.
6. You shall not kill (commit murder).
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house.

FOUR ASPECTS OF ETHICS

1. Descriptive Ethics (Empirical Ethics)- a sociological discipline that attempts to
describe the morals of a particular society, often by studying other cultures. As a
sociological discipline, descriptive ethics involves the observation of the moral
decision-making process with a goal of describing/explaining the phenomina.
-Factual scientific investigation
-This also to describe the moral distinctiveness of other cultures.
2. Normative Ethics(Prescriptive Ethics)- “norm” meaning “standard” or “principle”.
It is concerned with the formulation of principles of living. By definition, it refers to
the discipline that produces moral norms or rules as its end product.. this is designed
to define what is normative for individual and social behavior; what is right or wrong
both generally and in specific circumstances. It is concerned various types of
judgment that reflect the norms or standard of human conduct.
* Ethics is a philosophical study that attempts to critically and systematically assess
or evaluate the morality of human conduct as to whether the conform to certain
ethical rules or guidelines. This specific task of evaluating the rightness or
wrongness of human actions is a very important area of ethical reasoning in
particular and in moral philosophy as a whole.
When ethics does evaluate human conduct with the aid of certain ethical theories and
philosophies (moral perspective), it judges whether the act is good or bad and
prescribes what is proper and what is not. Key terms and concepts such as should,
should not, must, must not, just and unjust, duty and obligation are always associated
when we discuss.
As a perspective discipline, ethics therefore tells us what we ought to do and not to
do; what actions we are supposed to perform and avoid. It tells us to pursue the
things that are good and refrains us to perform those that are evil.
The nature of ethical inquiry does not just tell us what are the things that we have to
do because they are right but more importantly and significantly, it tells us WHY
certain actions are good and on what ground those actions are said to be moral or
immoral. It is the very ground foundation of morality.
3. Metaethics (Analytical Ethics)- investigates the meannig of moral language or the
epistimology of ethics and also considers the justification of ethical theories and
judgments.

Metaethics-the theoritical study that deals with the semantics as well as logical
epistemological issues concerning morality. It requires into the nature and
meaning of ethical terms and pronouncements. It is term like “right”,
“wrong”, just whether they are today an expression of personal preferences or
they are truly right or wrong.
EXAMPLE: The judgment that homosexual is wrong, is it really so or its just
personal distaste against homosexuals?

4. Aretaic Ethics (Ethics of virtue or virtue theory)-a theory of Ethics that focuses on
the virtues (aerte) produced in individuals, not the morality of the acts. Many people
believe that matters of virtue and character are euqually, if not more important than
the way in which we resolve moral dilemmas. A moral action involves 4 specific
considerations such as the action, motive, consequences, character.

FOUR TYPES OF JUDGMENT

1. Judgment of Moral Obligation- state what standard someone is obliged to
do or be. It is applied to both to individual’s specific choice under a specific
situation
EXAMPLE:choice between duty and personal standard or
Honesty in general is still the best policy

2. Judgment of Moral Value- this does not declare what someone ought to do
but express what people (specifically or general) value in life.
EXAMPLE: a father is a good man-is a clear expression of one’s conviction
that this father is morally upright.
* The dictum “ Cleanliness is next to Godliness” expresses the general
conviction that people ought to be concerned with hygiene and that they are
morally responsible if they are not.

3. Judgment of Non-moral Obligation- set forth what people consider as the

standard (personal/general) though in fact such standard does not specifically
express moral sensitivities.

*We tend to tell others about what movies they should or should not see; or,
try to convince them of the clothes h they should or should not buy, etc. But
as a matter of fact, “violating” this norm does not actually entail moral failure,
obedience of which does not earn us merit either.

4. Judgment of Non-moral Value-the person values a thing regardless of the

opinion of others. It is a type of judgment that is rendered with non- moral
type. The person values a thing regardless of the opinion of another.
Interesting to us because they too, are connected with our concept of good life,
something that is crucial in making ethical decision.
EXAMPLE: when we say our phone is very good, we are actually expressing
how valuable the phone is to us regardless of the opinion of others.