Moral Theology and the Human Person

Moral Theology and the Human Person

Understanding the human person

• Just as our image of God is crucial in shaping our moral response to God’s love, our understanding of the human person is also important in living a moral life. • We should consider the various dimensions of the human person

Made in God’s Image • The truth that the human person is created in the image of God affirms the sacredness and dignity of every person. • The human person cannot be properly understood apart from God.

Made in God’s Image • Being in the image of God is irreversible. • No form of discrimination, abuse, or persecution cannot remove the inherent dignity of human persons.

Made in God’s Image •

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Human dignity does not ultimately depend on human achievement. The weak, the sick, the disabled, the poor, those in the margins of society deserve protection and respect as much as any human person.

A relational being  If God is Triune, then there must also be a communitarian understanding of the person who is in the image of the Trinitarian God.  A person cannot exist by himself/herself but is always in relation to others.

An embodied subject • The human person is a moral agent with a certain degree of autonomy and selfdetermination empowered to act according to his or her conscience, in freedom and in knowledge. • This implies a respect for the sanctity of a person’s a conscience.

An embodied subject • To say that a person is a subject means to say that a person must never be used as an object or as a means to an end. • Persons should be treated as ends in themselves.

An embodied subject • Our human bodies are not simply accessories to our humanity but are essential to our identity and integrity as persons. • What concerns our bodies concerns the whole person; our bodies are essential to our humanity and how we relate as humans.

An embodied subject • We are obliged to protect and care for our bodies as an integral dimension of our humanity. • We must be careful that whatever manipulation or improvements to our bodies we undertake would not undermine or diminish our humanity and our respect for the humanity of others

A historical subject • We respect the developmental process of each person. We need to consider persons as persons on a journey of growth. • Persons can change and therefore there is always a chance for conversion.

fundamentally equal but uniquely original • We need to be balanced in how we make moral norms, promoting what is common for all while at the same time taking into consideration cultural differences. • We therefore need to be open to learning from various traditions and cultures to increase our knowledge about what it means to be truly human.

Questions for discussion • What unhealthy ways do we look at our bodies and how does it shape our moral choices? • What ways do we as Filipinos judge other people according to their appearance and abilities? • How do we look at people who have fallen into sin or are in immoral situations?

Moral Theology and the Human Person