Abstract
In Catholic Theological Ethics, Professors Michael G. Lawler and Todd A. Salzman of Creighton University contribute to the conversation recently energized by the Synod on the Family and Pope Francis’s Amoris Laetitia. Lawler and Salzman examine the contested terrain of sexual ethics as they engage the impasse between ‘traditionalists’, who support the absolute moral prohibitions taught by the Roman Catholic Church, and the ‘revisionists’, who question what they perceive as the rigidity of these moral claims. Although the authors acknowledge that their proposals run counter to traditional Catholic teachings, they desire a broad, constructive exchange that might move this well-worn dialogue forward in new directions through deepened mutual understanding.
Lawler and Salzman believe differing methods and anthropologies contribute to the divergence between traditionalists and revisionists. The authors embrace the ‘personalism’ developed by Bernard Häring, Gaudium et spes and Louis Janssens that avoids preoccupation with prohibited acts and that affirms relationality grounded in love that fosters personal flourishing. Their epistemology draws upon Bernard Lonergan’s perspectivism, which regards disagreement among ethicists as arising not from relativism, as the magisterium claims, but rather from differing, limited vantage points. These moves enable the authors to avoid the absolutism inherent in much of the Church’s moral teachings by shedding universal prohibitions and by embracing contextually aware analyses that account for human flourishing within specific, personal relationships.
Lawler and Salzman draw upon virtue ethics (Chapters 1, 7, 8) to argue that primary attention should be devoted ‘not to the actions of agents but to their personal character formed in their moral communities …’ (pp. 9–10). To make headway in historically contentious debates, they propose a relation of complementarity and a manner of charitable dialogue between theologians and the magisterium (Chapter 2). More radically, they call for an expanded theological method that listens attentively to human experiences, cultural trends, liberation theology and recent scientific studies (Chapters 3, 4, 5). Doing so, they argue, would move sexual orientation to the centre of theological anthropology (Chapters 6, 8), increase the moral acceptance of sexual practices traditionally rejected by the Catholic Church (e.g. Chapters 1, 6) and establish standards of moral guidance based on fidelity to one’s own sexual orientation and the promotion of human flourishing (Chapter 6). The volume closes by calling for greater leniency toward Catholics who obtain a civil divorce without annulment and remarry (Chapter 9) and for broader tolerance of artificial methods of reproduction (Chapter 10).
This volume promotes Christian debate of the highest order, for its eirenic tone, carefully constructed arguments and openness to self-critique implicitly invite reciprocation from those who disagree. Discussion questions follow each chapter to facilitate conversations within faith communities and classrooms. The attention devoted to method pushes readers to the level of presuppositions, which helpfully lays bare the deepest fault-lines that separate contested options in sexual ethics. In these ways, Lawler and Salzman render a vital service to all within and beyond the Roman Catholic Church who strive to articulate a Christian response to the shifting sexual norms of contemporary societies.