Understanding Moral Theology: Key Concepts and Principles
Understanding Moral Theology: Key Concepts
Key Terms: Law, Natural Law, Eternal Law, Positive Law, Human Acts, Acts of Man, Moral Rectitude, Conscience, Lax Conscience, Scrupulous Conscience, Erroneous Conscience, True Conscience, Antecedent Judgement, Concomitant Judgement, Consequent Judgement, Ascesis, Intrinsic, Immutable, Positivism, Sacred Tradition, Canon Law, Doctrine, Catholic Moral, Freedom, Responsibility, Partial Knowledge, Full Knowledge, Autonomous Morality, Heteronomous Morality, Vincible Ignorance, Invincible Ignorance, Immorality, Infallibility, Universality, Pluralism, Rationalism, Object, Consequentialism, Circumstances, Intention, Situation Ethics, End, Fundamental Opinion, PDE, Proportionalism, Actual Sin, Complete Consent, Formal Sin, Idolatry, Intrinsic Evil, Material Sin, Mortal Sin, Occasion Sin, Personal Sin, Original Sin, Sin, Sin of Commission, Sin of Omission, Social Sin, Structural Sin, Venial Sin, Theological Virtue of Charity
That intellect and will enable man to act morally. What freedom is vs. what it is not. That freedom fundamentally depends on God Who is Truth. What the three ancillary sciences of moral theology are.
- What the Magisterium is.
- That “man is a being that unites body and soul” is a belief that is a major difference between the Christian and humanistic concepts of man.
- That charity is the theological virtue by which a Christian loves God above all things for His own sake, and loves his neighbor as himself for love of God.
- The knowledge and will are required for a human act.
- How acts of man differ from human acts.
- How prudence is best acquired.
- That Christians are called to holiness.
- That God’s grace makes the correct moral choice more clear.
- That strict parents are not limitations to one’s freedom.
- That the 10 Commandments are rules that guide people to live in right relationship with God and one another.
- That invincible ignorance is not the fault of the person.
- That vincible ignorance is the result of a person’s failure to discover the law and typically the result of a lax conscience.
- What conscience is.
- That the purpose of conscience is to evaluate whether a particular act is good or evil.
- The means to the formation of conscience.
- That a just civil law should protect moral values as dictated by the Natural Law.
- That a person who is not sure about which course of action is morally right has a doubtful conscience.
- That subjective morality involves the individual’s perspective on how to react to moral issues.
- That a person who feels overly guilty after committing an accident or minor offense has a scrupulous conscience.
- That a person who sincerely thinks something evil is good has a lax conscience.
- That the “eye for an eye” maxim is not one of the considerations when a conscience is in doubt.
- That Eternal Law is the foundation of all law.
- The four properties or aspects of law.
- That “all people must feel good about laws” is not provided by the Natural Law.
- That the three types of Positive Law are Divine, Ecclesiastical, and Civil.
- That laws of nature, such as gravity, are not the same as the Natural Law.
- That the New Law applies specifically to the fulfillment of the Mosaic Law.
- That Aquinas wrote of three conditions for a just civil law.
- What the Fundamental Option is.
- That to say that the Truth is objective means it is absolute and unchanging.
- That object, intention, and circumstances are the three criteria for evaluating moral human acts.
- That the principle of double effect can allow good acts that have bad secondary effects.
- That moral relativism teaches that morality changes with each new situation.
- The function of civil laws.
- That the concept of civil disobedience allows citizens to refuse to obey fundamentally unjust laws.
- That people tend to rationalize because they do not want to admit their culpability in an action.