An inter-est-ing question posed at 12:02 PM at the Th.M. class end. My short reflection while careening down the Banfield suggests the following. Although my approach to fundamental moral theology is focused on the breaking in of mystery into ‘being and becoming’ moral, I suggest that ethics said within the framework of ‘good and evil’ dis∙closes elements worthy of study. For instance, those who cling to emotivism dis∙close the importance of emotion in thinking morally. Others that emphasize consequences in order to determine whether an act is right or wrong and call me to the recognition of the importance of ‘results’ from choice when ‘becoming’ through Spirit moved transformational moral decision making. The Divine Command deontologist brings the voice of principle which per me is an expression of what ‘being’ ought to look like when worked out.
So my point is that ethics provide various descriptions whereby humanity attempts to say ‘being’ morally. When I consider the place of ethics in theologico- morally laden discussions, I am attempting get beneath the ‘face’ of good-evil matrices and dis-cover underlying essentials in God’s created moral person, thus, a reflection of an aspect of God’s image. One’s ethic is but an inner wooing of a person in an attempt at expressing a linguistic living-symbol of becoming entrapped in the good-evil paradigm. When that living-symbol is transcended, however, it bears witnesses to some substantial truth of being. That is what I am after. So my answer to the question is a qualified and cautious yes, ethics has a ‘symbolic’ descriptive place in theology.
