Morality: Units 1 & 2

What is the study of the human person in how it relates to God?

Answer explanation

Christian Anthropology

Theologically, human beings possess the following:

Immortal Soul, Rational Intellect, Free Will

Body/Soul composite

Matter/Form

Historical/Eternal: in other words, you exist in time, and yet eternally

Individual and Social:

You are you, but you also made for relationship

The process of becoming more like God is called...

Answer explanation

Theosis or Divinization

According to St. Athanasius, "God became human in order that humans might become God."

What is a Moral Act?

• Acts that are involuntary, such as breathing or the beating of the heart

• The intention or goal a human being possesses 

• Habitual and firm disposition of character to do the good; allows man to give the best of himself

• An act that affects human flourishing and the reaching of our final end

All of the following are true about the Natural Law EXCEPT

• Known by faith

• Man's original moral sense

• Known by reason

• Most basically expressed in the natural inclination to do Good and avoid Evil

Which are the sources of morality?

• Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas

• Conscience, whether formed or unformed

• Divine Revelation, Ethics, and Experience

• An individual's unique and unrepeatable circumstance

With what is Christian morality most concerned?

Answer explanation

Guiding us toward our telos (natural end), which is happiness (union with God)

Importantly, Christian morality cannot be reduced to following obligatory rules, sexual morality, or limiting human freedom. All of these are important, but what orders the Christian life is not any of these individually but human nature's purpose of achieving perfect union with the Lord.

Which are the three Transcendentals as commonly listed?

Answer explanation

Beauty, Goodness, and Truth

All of these are natural avenues through which one may find God.

They are all features of being, i.e. realty

Habitual and firm disposition to do the good which are naturally attainable by humans; articulated by pre-Christian philosophers

Standards by which we judge actions to be right or wrong according to our understanding of the good

God's Wisdom as manifested in the nature of the cosmos