Church Teachings
Page 33 – the Mind/Brain distinction – soul
Page 35 God’s providence and free will – St. Augustine
Chapter 3: Page 41: the 6 aspects of the human person that guide us towards the ethical
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The importance of others
The importance of having direction in life
The importance of language and communication
The importance of one’s body (moral muscle like physical muscle)
The importance of conscience
The development of one’s conscience
Charles Taylor: my identity emerges out of my commitments and the direction I take in life
Page 48: The Christian origin of the notion of a person
Page 52: Conscience in the teaching of the Church – our sanctuary where we and God are alone – we
must follow it if it is informed
Page 54-55: Timothy O’Connell’s three senses of conscience
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Conscience as a capacity to recognize right from wrong
Conscience as a process of moral reasoning
Conscience as a judgment
Gula: I must always do what I believe to be right, and avoid what I believe to be wrong – listening to my
conscience – a sanctuary where God and I are alone.
Page 56: the development of one’s conscience (follow moral norms, values, participate in the Eucharist,
have a healthy prayer life, seek guidance from the church, conversation partners).
Page 56 – 58: Chart on Moral decision making
Chapter 4: theophany: God calls each of us to a particular way of life. We are a covenantal people (a
bond of love between God and humanity). This bond of love comes with both promises and
expectations
Page 63: Henri Nouwen – God encounters us in the silence of our everyday lives. We gradually learn to
listen to a voice that says you are my beloved.
Page 64: C.S. Lewis – you are what you do.
Page 65: God encounters us in a privileged way through the sacred scripture. God enters into our
knowing. His expectations often conflict with our cultural tendencies (materialism, consumerism,
narcissism, selfishness, greed, individualism, etc.)
Page 66: God’s name is Yahweh – what is the authority inherent in the name. What is the significance
of the name “I am?”
Page 72: Life at its core is a relationship with God
Page 76: Call story (know the stages of a call story)
Page 81 – 82: Sin and Transgression: realizing when standing before God that our actions do not
measure up. Sin = pride (a disregard for the other). Our relationship with God is measured by our
relationship to our neighbour
Page 86: Exegesis and Hermeneutics (applying scripture’s message to our present day and time).
Page 91 – 92: Chapter 5: Eschatological Ethics – We are in eschatological time. We await the second
coming of Christ (parousia). We are working towards following his example and building the Kingdom of
God one brick at a time. We long for the end of time when God’s promises will be fulfilled. In the
meantime, we are graced by the Holy Spirit. However, why Jesus reminds us to be “perfect as our
Father in heaven is perfect,” we are incapable of completing the Kingdom of God because we are also
sinful. (99 – 105)
Impact of the Sermon on the Mount: Jesus does not give us exact ethical norms. He does not want to
limit our capacity to love.
Chapter 6: Grace – the creative, sustaining and transforming self-gift of God that is constantly being
offered to us
Page 102: Gospel Ethics: a new way of relating to God and to one another. God’s commitment to us
expressed in the name of Jesus – “God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son…”
Page 104 - 108: Role of the Holy Spirit in our live – an advocate – reveal the fullness of God’s love –
therefore, we are never alone
Page 110: conversion of St. Paul – our conversion – we are all called to have a change of heart
Page 113: the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church – the Trinity (love)
Page 118 – 119: the Church shapes moral character, guards and maintains moral tradition and is a
community of moral deliberation whenever and wherever moral dilemmas arise – Richard GULA
Page 120: the role of the Magisterium
Page 123: “You are the body of Christ today.” St. Teresa of Avila – as the body of Christ, we are not only
guided by the Holy Spirit but we have ethical standards and expectations
Chapter 7: Natural Law: Aquinas – we are created for happiness. Happiness is placed in the human
heart by God. We must live well and do well, do good and avoid evil. We must live our natural law – our
calling which is to have a relationship with God. Remember that we cannot have a relationship with
God without a relationship with the other.
Page 134: What makes for a good and happy person?
1. Standards of excellence
2. The role of the other in attaining the good life
3. The need for just institutions that reflect the goodness in humanity (reflect our inclination
towards the good)
Page 142: Solicitude: anxious concern for another
Page 137: Cardinal Virtues (prudence, temperance, justice and fortitude)
Theological Virtues (faith, hope and charity)
Page 150: Our duty and obligation – laws bind us. Laws reflect our just institutions and our innate
natural law. But we are called to be our own authority (autonomous)
Page 151: passions are neither good nor bad / they must be guided by reason
Page 155: moral principles and natural law
Page 160: prudence
Scripture
Psalm 139 (page 21) God’s closeness to us
Genesis 4:9 (page 41) Am I my brother’s keeper
John 1:14 (page 46) The word became flesh and lived among us
1 Corinthians 6:14 (page 49) Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit
Matthew 7:13-14 (page 56) Enter through the narrow gate
Psalm 32 (page 59) Steadfast love surrounds those who trust in the Lord
Deuteronomy 6:5 (page 63) You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, might
Chapter 4: Call stories, Covenant (covenantal relationship between God and us)
Matthew 5 – 7: The Sermon on the Mount
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kingdom of God/eschatological
be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect
salt of the earth / light of the world
against hypocrisy
loving one’s enemies
the beatitudes
don’t retaliate
golden rule
Ask, search, knock
Hearers and doers
Etc….
Acts of the Apostles 9:1 – 22: Paul’s conversion – change of heart
Psalm 119, 33 – 35, 37b, 105 (page 147)
Proverbs list (page 154)
People to Know
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Aristotle (happiness vs. pleasure, community, live well and do well, habits, engage our capacity to reason
as we develop good character, the mean (moderation), teleological ethics)
Kant (deontological ethics, autonomy, good will, moral maxims, a priori principles, universal moral laws,
God, freedom, immortality, end not means, practical vs. theoretical reasoning)
Levinas (relational theory of ethics, face, other, singularity, no makeup, our superior, God’s trace)
Plato (Contemplation, unexamined life not worth living, philosopher kings, good = abstract)
Aquinas (Natural Law, Cardinal and Theological Virtues, cannot give what you do not have)
Noewen (God speaks to us in the silence of our everyday lives)
C.S. Lewis (You are what you do)
Charles Taylor (Commitments, identity, direction, importance of language)
Ludwig Wittgenstein (logical positivist – no free will)
Sir Thomas More (informed conscience)
Sigmund Freud (Social Determinism)
Richard Gula (Tasks of Church in guiding moral life, shapes moral character, guards and maintains moral
tradition, is a community of moral deliberation whenever/wherever moral issues emerge)
Timothy O’Connell (Three Senses of Conscience)
Moses (Torah, Decalogue, Covenant, Call Story)
Prophets : Jeremiah, Ezekial, Isaiah
St. Augustine (Free Will and God’s Providence)
Paul Ricoeur (Conceptual Framework of Human Action)
John Calvin (Religious Determinism)
David Hume (Naturalism)
Huxley (Mind = Brain at work)
Evangelists: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John
St. Paul (conversion, we are the body of Christ, Shammaite, Apostle to the Gentiles – not necessary to first
be Jewish in order to be Christian)
Emperor Constantine (decriminalized Christianity in Rome, made it official religion of Empire)
Martin Luther (Protestant Reformation, schism)
Magisterium (Pope – Bishop of Rome and bishops)
Rene Descartes (I think therefore I am – Mind/Brain Distinction, rise of Individualism)
Erik Erikson (Cognitive Development Stage Theory)
Lawrence Kohlberg (Theory of Moral Development)
Thomas Hobbes (Leviathan – we are beasts that are eventually tamed by society)
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (social contract, noble savage, born good, sign social contract thereby giving up
some of our freedom from a state of nature while protecting others)
John Locke (democracy, born good, governments reflect our goodness and are made to protect the
common good – life, liberty and the protection of private property)
Jeremy Bentham (Utilitarianism)
John Rawls (alternative to utilitarianism, hierarchy of principles)