scholarly journals Catholic Social Teaching, Theology, and Sociology: Exploring the Common Ground

Religions ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 557
Author(s):  
Vivencio Ballano
Keyword(s):  
Social Order ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
Catholic Social Teaching ◽  
Moral Theology ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Academic Disciplines ◽  
Social Teaching ◽  
Moral Principles ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Common

Drawing on some secondary literature and using sociological perspectives, in this paper, I trace the fundamental conflict and differences between sociology and theology as academic disciplines and draw some implications on why the contributions of sociological inquiries and their empirical assessments of society and human behavior are seldom used in literature and learning materials on Catholic social teaching (CST)—a body of moral principles based on papal, conciliar, and other official Church documents on the Christian faith and social concerns. I argue that despite methodological and theoretical differences, sociology and CST’s moral theology can share a common ground in dealing with the social order: the moral theologizing of CST begins where sociologizing ends. Sociology is a necessary tool to reformulate CST’s Christian message to the constantly changing historical and social contexts and provide empirical illustrations to its moral teachings.

scholarly journals SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ETHICS ACCORDING TO THE POLISH PRIEST JÓZEF MAJKA

10.23856/3408 ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 68-73
Author(s):  
Jan Mazur ◽  
Władysław Majkowski ◽  
Hameni Blaise
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Social Ethics ◽  
Catholic Social Teaching ◽  
Social Teaching ◽  
Political Ethics ◽  
Moral Principles ◽  
The Social ◽  
Gospel Message

The presented text is an attempt to answer the question: how was understood the social and political ethics by the Priest Professor Józef Majka (1918-1993) - one of the leading minds of Catholic social teaching in Poland? It is, of course, about capturing the specificity of this understanding, comparing it with the perspectives of other outstanding authors. Views of Priest Majka on this subject were included mainly in His book: Social and Political Ethics (1993). In His opinion, this kind of ethics is not only a group of philosophical considerations, but a real attempt to show Catholic social and political ethics. He wrote: "We do not think that it would be possible at all to develop a sensible system of social ethics, especially political, without referring to Christian principles and focusing on the message of the ultimate goal of a man in the Gospel message" (Majka, 1993:12). It seems that this unambiguous reference to the values and principles of the Gospel, recognizing them as necessary in the construction of a sensible system of social and political ethics allows us to consider His concept as original, thoroughly Christian, marked by a testimony of faith and penetrated by intellectual depth. It can be stated  that the social ethics in the sense of Father Majka is not an ideology, but an integral part of Catholic social science, situating above all in the area of  philosophy and theology, where it finds the necessary premises for moral principles and norms.

scholarly journals The Common Good As A Social Debt and Patrimony of the Person

Lumen et Vita ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin Ilboudo SJ
Keyword(s):  
Social Order ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
Thomas Aquinas ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
The Common Good ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Individual

Aristotle’s statement that the individual human being is a social or a political animal can be misguiding if we understand it as meaning that relationships between the individual and the society are natural and obvious. Individual’s dream of autonomy and ruthless struggle to access to scarce resources on one hand and liberal and competitive societies where there is no room for “lame ducks” on the other hand, can make relationships between the person and the society conflicting and violent. The consequences can be marginalization from the social order or rebellion against it.How can we strive to make person-society relationships more integrative and fecund? In other words, what skills, social ethics as a field of Christian theology and Catholic tradition does provide for the social integration of the person and the awakening of his or her social responsibility?  This paper would like to suggest and defend that the concept of the common good is a common ground for the person and the society mutual flourishing. The paragraph 26 of Gaudium et Spes defines the common good as “the sum of those conditions of social life which allow social groups and their individual members relatively thorough and ready access to their own fulfillment.” Interestingly also, Laudato Si’ builds up on the common good and defines it as “belonging to all and meant for all.” (Paragraph 23) In a more complex way, Thomas Aquinas elaborates the common good and locates it at the junction of distributive justice and piety as one’s love of his or her country. In the light of his thought, the common good as a dynamic interaction between the person and the society, becomes the cement of what Thomas Aquinas calls “civil communion.”

Theology as Work: The Mandatum and the Rights of Labor

Horizons ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 128-134
Author(s):  
Patrick T. McCormick
Keyword(s):  
Academic Freedom ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Catholic Social Teaching ◽  
Social Teaching ◽  
The Common Good ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Church ◽  
Safe Working

ABSTRACTMany oppose the mandatum as a threat to the academic freedom of Catholic scholars and the autonomy and credibility of Catholic universities. But the imposition of this juridical bond on working theologians is also in tension with Catholic Social Teaching on the rights and dignity of labor. Work is the labor necessary to earn our daily bread. But it is also the vocation by which we realize ourselves as persons and the profession through which we contribute to the common good. Thus, along with the right to a just wage and safe working conditions, Catholic Social Teaching defends workers' rights to a full partnership in the enterprise, and calls upon the church to be a model of participation and cooperation. The imposition of the mandatum fails to live up to this standard and threatens the jobs and vocations of theologians while undermining this profession's contribution to the church.

Contributions of the Social Teaching of the Roman Catholic Church on Migration

Exchange ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 403-427 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge E. Castillo Guerra
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Catholic Social Teaching ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Social Teaching ◽  
Pope Francis ◽  
The Social

This article searches for contributions provided by the social teaching of the Roman Catholic Church to avoid suffering and death under migrants, that, following Pope Francis, are provoked from a ‘culture of rejection’. From an interdisciplinary approach this article facilitates the assessment of mechanisms that generate these situations. It also focuses on the ethical and theological criteria of the Catholic social teaching to achieve a culture of encounter and acceptance of migrants and refugees.

Catholic Social Teaching

2015 ◽  
pp. 442-456
Author(s):  
David Matzko McCarthy
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Catholic Social Teaching ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Social Teaching ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Mutual Cooperation ◽  
Economic Relations ◽  
Rerum Novarum ◽  
The Common

This essay considers the modern tradition of Catholic social teaching (CST). CST finds its roots in the biblical, patristic, and medieval periods, but was inaugurated in particular by Leo XIII’s encyclical Rerum novarum (1891) and has been sustained by a range of papal encyclicals and conciliar documents since. The documents of CST emphasize that human beings are created for mutual cooperation and a pursuit of common good in social, economic, and political life. The essay considers first CST’s developing account of how social relations may be governed by Christian charity. It then considers the nature of property within economic relations as conceived within CST. The final section considers CST’s reflections on political life, which is understood as primarily personal and dependent on relations of mutual rights and responsibilities that are directed to the common good.

The Origins of “Social Justice” in the Natural Law Philosophy of Antonio Rosmini

2018 ◽  
Vol 80 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert P. Kraynak
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Natural Law ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Social Teaching ◽  
Equal Rights ◽  
Theory Of Justice ◽  
Social Nature ◽  
The Social ◽  
Natural Law Theory ◽  
The Common

Abstract“Social justice” is a powerful idea today, but its origins and meaning are unclear. One of the first to use the term was Antonio Rosmini, author of The Constitution under Social Justice (1848) and other works of moral philosophy. I argue that Rosmini arrived at his idea of social justice by developing Thomistic natural law theory into a novel view of the common good that balances two principles: (1) the equal rights and dignity of persons as ends-in-themselves, a version of “personalism” influenced by Kant and Christianity; and (2) unequal rewards for those who contribute most to society, a version of Aristotelian “proportionalism” based on the social nature of man. I conclude by comparing Rosmini's idea of social justice to John Rawls's “theory of justice” and Catholic social teaching.

Everyday Solidarity: A Framework for Integrating Theological Ethics and Ordinary Life

2020 ◽  
Vol 81 (2) ◽  
pp. 414-437
Author(s):  
Conor M. Kelly
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Catholic Social Teaching ◽  
Moral Theology ◽  
Social Teaching ◽  
Theological Ethics ◽  
Ordinary Life ◽  
New Form ◽  
Moral Choices ◽  
Catholic Theological

As moral theology responds to the pastoral emphases of Pope Francis’s pontificate, more work must be done to facilitate the integration of theological ethics and ordinary life. In order to pursue this goal in a consistent fashion, this article proposes a new form of “everyday solidarity” as a framework for linking Catholic theological convictions with everyday moral choices. The article clarifies the often-ambiguous notion of solidarity found in Catholic social teaching and describes how the new species of everyday solidarity can function as both a principle and a virtue to transform discernment in ordinary life.

On Human Work: An Evaluation of the Key Ideas of the Encyclical Laborem Exercens

1984 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-79
Author(s):  
Miroslav Volf
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Social Teaching ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Social Teaching ◽  
Social Question ◽  
John Paul Ii ◽  
The Social ◽  
Rerum Novarum

Last year John Paul II published his encyclical, Laborem exercens (LE), and Roman Catholic social teaching was so much the richer for it. Only his illness prevented the encyclical from being published on the day of the ninetieth anniversary of the first encyclical on the question of work, Rerum novarum (1891), written by the great pope of the ‘social question’, Leo XIII. LE was intended to contribute to the ‘immortal fame of the encyclical, Rerum novarum’, as Pius XI said of his encyclical Quadragesimo anno (1931). This indicates a basic continuity of LE with the developments in Roman Catholic social teaching set in motion by Rerum novarum. In fact John Paul II explicitly states his intention to remain in organic connexion with these developments. And indeed, with respect to the content of the encyclical, one finds hardly anything fundamentally new.

scholarly journals Catholic Social Teaching as an Explanation of Firm Environmental Impact

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 161-179
Author(s):  
Anne Hetson ◽  
Brian M. Saxton ◽  
Mariah Webinger ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Environmental Performance ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Catholic Social Teaching ◽  
Social Teaching ◽  
The Common Good ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The Common ◽  
Economic Needs

Environmental sustainability in business has become a highly debated topic as societies decide how best to meet their economic needs and care for the earth. Catholic social teaching (CST) may add theoretical richness to the discussion. We examine solidarity, subsidiarity, and pursuit of the common good as dimensions of a heavy manufacturing, U.S.-based firm’s CST orientation. We find that measures of subsidiarity and common good predict a firm’s environmental performance consistent with CST principles. Results are of interest to academics, policymakers, and citizens who wish to advance the implementation of CST, environmental sustainability, or both.

Bridging a Divide: A Faith-Based Perspective on Anti-Discrimination Law

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-78
Author(s):  
Mark Bell
Keyword(s):  
Religious Beliefs ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
Catholic Social Teaching ◽  
Social Teaching ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
High Profile ◽  
Faith Based ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract High-profile litigation in various jurisdictions has drawn attention to situations where conflict arises between the requirements of anti-discrimination law and the religious beliefs and practices of individuals and organizations. Although these disputes reflect genuine disagreements, this article argues that, in addition to litigation, other facets of the relationship between faith and anti-discrimination law need to be considered. Taking Catholic Social Teaching as a case study, the article explores anti-discrimination law through a theological lens. In this example, it identifies significant common ground where religious beliefs are congruent with anti-discrimination law, even if areas of divergence are also present. The article concludes that further exploration of law and theology could make a contribution to fostering a more constructive relationship between faith and anti-discrimination law.

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