Christian Bioethics Advance Access originally published online on November 25, 2008
Christian Bioethics 2008 14(3):283-301; doi:10.1093/cb/cbn017
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This article appears in the following Christian Bioethics issue: Richard McCormick's Moral Epistemology and Bioethics: A Symposium [View the issue table of contents]
Moral Ambiguity, Christian Sectarianism, and Personal Repentance: Reflections on Richard McCormick's Moral Theology
St. Edward's University, Austin, Texas, USA
Address correspondence to: Mark J. Cherry, PhD, Department of Philosophy, St. Edwards University, 3001 S. Congress Avenue, Box 844, Austin, Texas 78704, USA. E-mail: markc{at}stedwards.edu
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Abstract |
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This article raises three challenges to Richard McCormick's proportionalism. First, adequately to judge proportionate reason requires the specification of a particular background moral content and metaphysical context. Absent such specification, evaluation of proportionate reason is inherently and deeply ambiguous. Second, to resolve such ambiguity and yet remain Christian, proportionalism must adopt a forthrightly Christian moral content set within a straightforwardly Christian metaphysics. This move will, however, set Christian bioethics off as sectarian—a conclusion McCormick wishes to avoid. Third, even if proportionalism were to adopt a Christian moral content and metaphysics to avoid such ambiguity, its methodology sets aside a key aspect of the Christian life: repentance. Proportionalism does not account for the core reality that repentance plays in one's personal encounter with and knowledge of God. As I will argue, the challenge in part is that moral action cannot be adequately conceptualized, nor can moral theology be properly understood, outside of the authentic practice of the religious life, and repentance is central to that Christian reality.
Keywords: proportionalism, repentance, Richard McCormick