Catholic Tradition and Moral Change

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The RC Church is doctrinal in character. As such, its self-understanding and identity is in large part shaped by doctrinal content that has proved resistant to historical change (though not immune to it), linked as it is to the idea of a Church in historical continuity with the apostolic tradition. For much of the Church's history, theologians resisted the idea that the so-called 'deposit of the faith' was subject to the forces of history. A key hermeneutical task in the age of historical consciousness has been to understand and theologically justify the doctrinal change that has occurred with regard to faith and morals. The aim of this research study is to address this task with regard to morality.In the modern era, principles of morality have become as important as articles of faith in defining Christian identity. However, there has been considerable change in Catholic moral teachings: what was previously condemned is now approved, and what was previously approved is now condemned. This renders Catholic identity less secure and makes Christian tradition seem subject to historical relativism. This fascinating theological area, and the important issues it raises about faith and history, have never been studied in any adequate depth by moral theologians. The key focus of this research project is the question: how can and should Catholic tradition and moral change be reconciled?The concept of 'doctrinal development' frequently employed to describe the interplay between Catholic tradition and historical change is problematic and inadequate. With Vatican II the development of doctrine emerged as an ecclesiological question that was 'solved' under the hermeneutic of continuity: strategically, doctrinal reversals such as to the right to religious freedom were explained in terms of continuity to Church tradition. The notion of doctrinal development was further sedimented into Catholic tradition through John Paul's appeal (in Veritatis Splendor) to doctrinal development with regard to morals, in which it is linked to a belief in moral progress. As with the notion of doctrinal development, the idea of moral progress offers tantalising theological possibilities, but is also subject to conceptual difficulties.I argue that an alternative understanding of moral change is required which better articulates the historically and culturally conditioned nature of morality. I have chosen to address the issue by drawing on work done on the nature of human knowledge in the disciplines of epistemology and philosophy of science, where the model of paradigm change has been employed. In theology, doctrinal change can occur when alternative paradigms of understanding open up hermeneutical horizons that allow the tradition to been seen anew. This insight has ramifications for theological ideas about the development of doctrine, fidelity to tradition and reception of teaching. The contrasting approaches of Toulmin and Kuhn, while both working from the assumption that conceptual change occurs in models of human knowing, provide useful parallels to the debates about evolutionary and revolutionary change within doctrinal development. To my knowledge this has not been noted before. I believe it offers a fruitful resource for further theological reflection. To imagine history as merely 'one damn thing after another' would be theologically untenable for a Church committed to the idea of the Holy Spirit guiding it towards the truth. Even when a Church admits past error in its teaching, the idea of moral progress need not be jeopardised and the progressivist eschatology that views humankind's faltering advance towards the City of God can remain intact. I would hope that this study will become a resource for understanding contemporary Catholic moral theology, and will go some way to reuniting morality to theology in Catholic studies.