Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

[xiii.b] Love for God and humankind may be said to be the root principle of Christian morality. It came to be regarded as the chief ‘theological virtue’ (with faith and hope) as contrasted with the ‘cardinal (i.e. fundamental) virtues’ (prudence, temperance, fortitude and justice) derived from classical ethics. Moral distinctions and precepts were elaborated in the medieval period, still influenced by classical thought but also by the development of Penance. By the 17th century an elaborate casuistry (the science of cases of conscience) had evolved. The Jesuits developed ‘probabilism’, a system emphasizing freedom of conscience, and therefore seen by some as favouring leniency to sinners, which was opposed by Jansenism, and notably by Blaise Pascal (1623–62) in his Provincial Letters (1656–7). Early Protestantism reacted against such complexities. They regarded them as promoting Salvation by ‘works’ (i.e. salvation achieved through man's own actions), and thus as ‘Law’ rather than Gospel. But they generally resisted antinomianism (the rejection of a moral law). Anglicanism and Puritanism developed a casuistry based on their own doctrines. Modern Christians have been influenced by the complexities of contemporary society; by concern for Social morality; and by non-Christian moral reflection. Some simply apply the general ‘law of love’, liberally adapted to circumstances (‘situation ... log in or subscribe to read full text