Pluralismus - Ethische Grundintuition - Kirche

This article tries to give an outline of Christian ethics in a pluralistic world most clearly characterized by its Babel of moral languages. There is no longer any single valid moral language. The liberal solution to establish a neutral moral language – a moral Esperanto – to solve this crisis of mo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Zeitschrift für katholische Theologie
Authors: Palaver, Wolfgang 1958- (Author) ; Guggenberger, Wilhelm 1966- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:German
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Published: Echter 1998
In: Zeitschrift für katholische Theologie
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Christian ethics / Pluralism / The Postmodern
B Moral theology / Pluralism / The Postmodern
Further subjects:B Theology
B Ethics
B ethical argumentation
B Pluralism
B Ethics / Sittenlehre
B Ethische Argumentation
B Transfer Theologie-Politik
B Catholic Church
B political dimensions and consequences of theology
B Catholic church
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Parallel Edition:Non-electronic
Description
Summary:This article tries to give an outline of Christian ethics in a pluralistic world most clearly characterized by its Babel of moral languages. There is no longer any single valid moral language. The liberal solution to establish a neutral moral language – a moral Esperanto – to solve this crisis of modernity is not possible without turning into some sort of moral imperialism. To avoid, however, the other extreme – nihilism – this article follows to some degree "communitarian" thinkers like A. MacIntyre, J. Stout and M. Walzer. Every ethics must be rooted in a narrative tradition and needs a concrete community as its precondition. The second part of this article addresses the narrative structure of Christian ethics. At first it follows MacIntyre's insight that every ethics is based on myth. It differs, however, from MacIntyre's position by putting special emphasis on the substantial content of the Christian "myth". With the help of Girard's mimetic theory this article distinguishes between archaic myths that are the product of the scapegoat mechanism and identify with the view of the lynch mob and the Biblical history of salvation that consists of a story written from the perspective of the victims of collective persecution. In the center of Christian ethics we find the example of Jesus Christ – the victim of collective violence par excellence – and the example of those of his disciples who became aware of their own contribution to Jesus's death and converted to the side of the victim. The third part of this article addresses the question of the concrete community that makes Christian ethics possible. Again MacIntyre's communitarian emphasis on the connection between concrete communities and ethics is taken as a starting point. Whereas communitarians, however, tend to support patriotism the community necessitated by Christian ethics is the universal Church. Patriotism like the ancient Greek polis is essentially characterized by its enmity to outside communities, a friend-enemy-relationship rooted in the scapegoat mechanism. The Church, to the contrary, is at its core a community formed by those small groups that overcame scapegoating and became an alternative to the pagan world. Historical Christianity, however, was not able to follow the early Church. Its Constantinian connection with the pagan state, for instance, led to a sacrificial reading of the Bible closer to ancient myths than to the Judaeo-Christian revelation. In the second half of our century the Catholic Church has turned closer to its Biblical roots again. The Biblical story has become the center of modern Christian ethics. As an example the article refers to pope John Paul II. encyclical "Centesimus annus".
Contains:Enthalten in: Zeitschrift für katholische Theologie