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Cross-Cultural Ethics In a. Presented by. bretzke@bc.edu. How Is Truth?.

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  1. Cross-Cultural Ethics In a Presented by bretzke@bc.edu

  2. How Is Truth? • “The splendor of truth shines forth in all the works of the Creator and, in a special way, in humans, created in the image and likeness of God (cf. Gen 1:26). Truth enlightens humans’ intelligence and shapes their freedom, leading them to know and love the Lord.” Veritatis splendor

  3. Find the Truth in Moral Methodology : Let Every Voice Be Heard! Sacred Texts Normatively Human Human Experiences Tradtions of the community

  4. Source Content Questions • What is used, and why? • What is ignored, and why? • What is rejected, and why? • What is reinterpreted, and why? • Which source(s) is (are) decisive when there is a conflict, and why?

  5. The Natural Law is the same for all Romans 2:13-16 “…what the law requires is written on their hearts, to which their conscience bears witness…” The Spirit speaks in our mother tongue Acts 2:5-11 “…how is that we hear, each of us, in our native languages them speaking about God’s deeds of power?” Two Contrasting Scriptures

  6. Competing Moral Paradigms • Only God Can Know the Whole of Reality • Thus for the rest of us this knowledge is necessarily incomplete and partial, and we tend to understand complex realities according to models and paradigms • Can we speak of authentic cultural paradigms for morality and ethics? • Necessary Openness to Revision of All Paradigms—especially in light of new insights

  7. Recall Thomas Aquinas’ distinction between speculative and practical reason In the abstract, speculative realm truth could be universal and unchangeable, But in the concrete, practical reason rules: “in matters of action, truth or practical rectitude is not the same for all, as to matters of detail, but only as to the general principles and where there is the same rectitude in matters of detail, it is not equally known to all.” ST I-II, Q. 94, art. 4 Morality Is Necessarily Complex

  8. What & Whose Truth? • “Truth,” moral or otherwise exists always in a context • In that context what we see, and how we see it, will help “shape” the truth for us • Therefore, seeing broadly and diversely is part of seeing “correctly” • Even the same site will truly look different depending on time & circumstance

  9. The Inculturation of Truth • If the Gospel is ultimately about the deepest truth of our world and ourselves • And if we are called to inculturate the Gospel in every culture • Then we must look at this “truth” in a variety of modes • And the truth will be both the same and different at the same time

  10. The Truth about Evangelization • “Evangelization is to be achieved, not from without, as though by adding some decoration or applying a coat of color, but in depth, going to the very center and roots of life. The gospel must impregnate the culture and the whole way of life of men & women.” Evangelii nuntiandi, 20

  11. Translation Stage: Assimilation Stage: Adaptation Stage: Inculturation Stage: Cross-Fertilization Stage: Deus is Hanunim Hanunim is Our God Eucharist Is Chae-sa New liturgy? We are all called to filial piety Stages of Inculturation

  12. Cross-Fertilization of Truth • If inculturation leads to new understanding of moral truth then cross-cultural ethics may help produce a broader and deeper understanding akin to the model of cross-fertilization • As inculturation bears fruit in evangelization then this new fruit should be enjoyed by all

  13. “Experience shows that young priests who have been trained in Rome, near to the heart of the Vicar of Christ, adapt themselves even better than others, to the culture of their own countries” Msgr. Luigi Bogliolo, Rector of the Urbanianum “Two of the deepest and most fruitful prayers of Christendom [are] the Stations of the Cross and the Rosary. If nowadays we are so dangerously exposed to the attractions of Asiatic religious practices; it is surely in part because we have forgotten these prayers.” Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Prefect CDF Pathways to Truth [?]

  14. An Alternative Path:Pilgrimage of Dialogue • C.S. Song’s Stages of Conversion: • The World is Different • Blessed Ignorance • Bi-Lateral Cease-Fire • Conversion to Dialogue

  15. The Challenge of Changing Our Perceptions Can We Allow for the Possibility that There Is Another Way to Look on Our Human Moral Nature?

  16. Seeking Out the Truth Meeting the Challenges of Developing Cross-Cultural Ethics

  17. Culture As Framework • Culture as our principal mode of being human, thus the way we are truly human beings • There is no such thing as a non-cultural or “a-cultural” human being • Thus, to speak of “human nature” one must do so always in a cultural context

  18. Theology of Culture • Gaudium et spes states that humans "can achieve true and full humanity only by means of culture”[#53] • Culture as our way of being is God-given, and thus essentially good • For us culture can be a means by which we act as co-creators with God

  19. Through Thick and Thin • Culture is not easily “thinly” defined but rather requires a “thick” description • Geertz’s example of a “wink” • Cultural, and especially cross-cultural understanding first requires “decoding” • This decoding may be partial & fallible, but this shouldn’t paralyze us

  20. Fundamental Values and Root Paradigms • Fundamental Values express assumptions about the world as a whole, and in particular about human nature and concomitant appropriate behavior. • These values are incarnated in Root Paradigms, e.g., The Way of the Cross for Christianity

  21. Ethnocentrism • Culture tends to produce ethnocentrism as a way of viewing the world and especially other cultures in terms of one’s own culture. • Ethnocentrism is a natural result of culture’s functioning, but poses great challenges to intercultural communication

  22. Western Cultural Views “Man [sic] is the measure of all things”

  23. East Asian Cultural Views T’ien-Jen-Ho-I [Heaven and the Human Become One]

  24. Inter-Cultural Communication • Ethnocentrism as a whole raises many difficulties • Fundamental Values and Root Paradigms are usually the last things to change in a given culture • Tension between conflicting root paradigms is particularly challenging

  25. The Challenge of Changing Our Perceptions Can We Allow for the Possibility that There Is Another Way to Look on Our Human Moral Nature?

  26. Life is Coded The Challenge of Finding the Golden Key (C.S. Song)

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