Toward global ethics

Theological Studies

Volumn 63, Issue 2, 2002, Pages 324-344

  Cahill, Lisa Sowle ^a  

^a BOSTON COLLEGE   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 50849090777     PISSN: 00405639     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/004056390206300205     Document Type: Article

References (68)

1. David Hollenbach, S. J., "Afterword: A Community of Freedom," in Catholicism and Liberalism: Contributions to American Public Philosophy, ed. Bruce Douglass and David Hollenbach (New York: Cambridge University, 1994) 334.
2. See also, David Hollenbach, S. J., "Common Good," in Judith A. Dwyer, ed., The New Dictionary of Catholic Social Thought (Collegeville: Liturgical, 1994) 192-96.
3. John XII, Pacem in terris, no. 57, in David J. O'Brien and Thomas A. Shannon, ed., Catholic Thought: The Documentary Heritage (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 1998) 140.
4. See Robert O. Keohane and Joseph S. Nye, Power and Interdependence, 3rd ed. (Addison-Wesley, 2000);
5. Joseph S. Nye Jr. and John D. Donahue, ed., Governance in a Globalizing World (Cambridge, Mass. and Washington: Visions of Governance for the 21st Century and Brookings Institution, 2000);
6. and David Held, Anthony G. McGrew, David Goldblatt and Jonathan Perraton, Global Transformations: Politics, Economics and Culture (Stanford: Stanford University, 1999).
7. For illustrations of radical Islamic fear of a "Zionist-Crusader alliance" and some of its historical roots, see Michael Scott Doran, "Somebody Else's Civil War," Foreign Affairs 81/1 (2002) 22-42.
8. Gunnar Berge, chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, as quoted by Sarah Lyall, "In Nobel Talk, Annan Sees Each Human Life as the Prize," New York Times, December 11, 2001, A3.
9. This aim is voiced in Michael A. Fahey's editorial for the TS 62/1 (March, 2001). It is exemplified in the issue on Black Catholic theology 61/4 (December, 2000), and in essays such as Peter C. Phan, "Method in Liberation Theologies," TS 61 (2000) 40-63;
10. James T. Bretzke, S. J., "Moral Theology out of East Asia," TS 61 (2000) 106-121;
11. Maureen A. Tilley, "The Collapse of a Collégial Church: North African Christianity on the Eve of Islam," TS 62 (2001) 3-22;
12. Jean Porter, "The Search for a Global Ethic," TS 62 (2001) 105-21;
13. William R. O'Neill, S. J., "African Moral Theology," TS 62 (2001) 122-39;
14. and Peter C. Phan, "The Wisdom of Holy Fools in Postmodernity," TS 62 (2001) 675-700.
15. Porter, "Search for a Global Ethic" 120.
16. O'Neill, "African Moral Theology" 131, 135, 138.
17. Recent international Catholic ventures in this regard include Karl-Josef Kuschel and Dietmar Mieth, ed., Concilium 2001/4: In Search of Universal Values (London: SCM, 2001);
18. and J. S. Boswell, F. P. McHugh, and J. Verstraeten, Catholic Social Thought: Twilight or Renaissance? (Leuven: Peeters, 2000).
19. Emmanuel Katongole, Beyond Universal Reason: The Relation between Religion and Ethics in the Work of Stanley Hauerwas (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame, 2000) 221.
20. See Gary Teeple, Globalization and the Decline of Social Reform: Into the Twenty-First Century, rev. ed (New York: Prometheus Books, 2000).
21. On the importance of a revived notion of common good in dealing with phenomena like transnational capital and global finance in a newly interdependent world, see John A. Coleman, S. J., "Retrieving or Reinventing Social Catholicism: A Transatlantic Response" in Catholic Social Thought 281-86.
22. Margaret E. Keck and Kathryn Sikkink, Activists Beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University, 1998).
23. A longstanding project to bring religions together around issues of global responsibility is the Parliament of the World's Religion; see Hans Küng and Helmut Schmidt, ed., A Global Ethic and Global Responsibilities: Two Declarations (London: SCM, 1998);
24. Coleman, "Retrieving or Re-inventing Social Catholicism" 290.
25. Beyond Universal Reason 177.
26. See Richard J. Bernstein, Beyond Objectivism and Relativism: Science, Hermeneutics and Praxis (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1985).
27. For a strong theological endorsement of theological pragmatism, see Sheila Greeve Davaney, Pragmatic Historicism: A Theology for the Twenty-First Century (Albany: State University of New York, 2000).
28. J. Wentzel van Huyssteen, The Shaping of Rationality: Toward Interdisciplinarity in Theology and Science (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999) 174.
29. Another philosopher of science who defends a "modest realism" in science and political ethics is Philip Kitcher, Science, Truth and Democracy (New York: Oxford University, 2001).
30. Emmanuel Katongole, "The 'Faces' of African Philosophy: On Being 'Placed' by Western Paradigms and/or Misrepresentations," St. Augustine Papers 1/1 (2000) 5-13. Published by St. Augustine College of South Africa, PO Box 436, Bedford-view 2008 (cusa@global.co.za).
31. Leila Ahmed, Border Passage: From Cairo to America - A Woman's Journey (New York: Penguin, 1999) 239.
32. Porter, "Search for a Global Ethic" 119-21.
33. See Thomas F. O'Meara, O. P., Thomas Aquinas: Theologian (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame, 1997);
34. Jean Porter, Natural and Divine Law: Reclaiming the Tradition for Christian Ethics (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999);
35. and Stephen J. Pope, "Overview of the Theological Ethics of Thomas Aquinas," in Stephen J. Pope, ed., The Ethics of Aquinas (Washington: Georgetown University, 2002) 30-33.
36. My thanks to Stephen Pope for many helpful criticisms of my discussion of Aquinas. For a review of several additional works in a similar vein, see Joseph Wawrykow, "New Directions in Research on Thomas Aquinas," Religious Studies Review 27/1 (2001) 32-38.
37. Daniel Westburg, Right Practical Reason: Aristotle, Action, and Prudence in Aquinas (Oxford: Clarendon, 1994).
38. Pamela M. Hall, Narrative and the Natural Law: An Interpretation of Thomistic Ethics (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame, 1994).
39. In a post-September 11 article on human rights, Michael Ignatieff defends a concept central to modern encyclicals, human rights, on the basis of its wide appeal to the disempowered, its ability to challenge the inequality of cultures and civilizations, and its power to ground deliberation "in a basic intuition that what is pain and humiliation for you is bound to be pain and humiliation for me" ("The Attack on Human Rights," Foreign Affairs 80/6 (2001) 116.
40. In a surprising political turn, World Bank spokespersons and documents have begun to sound like recent popes, endorsing development goals in terms of inclusion, participation, solidarity, and common human resources and aspirations. See James D. Wolfensohn, "The Other Crisis," Address to the Board of Governors, October 6, 1998 (Washington: The World Bank, 1998);
41. World Development Report 2000/2001: Attacking Poverty (New York: Oxford University, 2001).
42. See also an essay by a former managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Michel Camdessus, "Church Social Teaching and Globalization," America 185 (2001) 6-12;
43. and June O'Connor, "Making a Case for the Common Good in a Global Economy: The United Nations Human Development Reports (1990-2001)," Journal of Religious Ethics 30 (2002) 157-73.
44. See, for instance, Michael B. Crowe, "The Pursuit of the Natural Law," in Curran and McCormick, Natural Law 296-332 (originally published in the Irish Theological Quarterly, 1971).
45. Hall, Narrative and Natural Law 94;
46. Jean Porter, The Rediscovery of Virtue: The Relevance of Aquinas for Christian Ethics (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1990) 122, affirms the relevance of individual circumstances to the exercise of prudence.
47. For a discussion, see Stephen J. Pope, "Knowability of the Natural Law: A Foundation for Ethics of the Common Good," in James Donahue and M. Theresa Moser, R. S. C. J., Religion, Ethics, and the Common Good (Mystic, Conn.: Twenty-Third Publications, 1996;
48. The Annual Publication of the College Theology Society, Vol. 41) 57-59.
49. Gregory M. Reichberg, "The Intellectual Virtues (Ia IIae, qq. 57-58)" in Pope, Ethics of Aquinas 134.
50. Francis Schüssler Fiorenza writes of "criss-crossing judgments" yielding a "broad reflective equilibrium" ("The Challenge of Pluralism and Globalization to Ethical Reflection," In Search of Universal Values 70-85).
51. Phan, "Method in Liberation Theology" 59, 60, 61, respectively.
52. Jean Porter attributes the moral values of the natural law to a historical and theological tradition whose values cannot in fact be generalized (Natural and Divine Law 108, 141-44).
53. Resolution adopted by the General Assembly 55/2, United Nations Millennium Declaration, September 8, 2000, available at the United Nations Website, .
54. General Assembly Declaration of Commitment on H.I.V./AIDS, 28 June 2001, excerpted in "From the U.N.'s Statement on AIDS: 'Prevention Must Be the Mainstay,' " New York Times, 29 June 2001, A8.
55. Robert F. Drinan, S. J., The Mobilization of Shame: A World View of Human Rights (New Haven: Yale University, 2001).
56. Westberg, Right Practical Reason 82, 84, 246-47.
57. in Pope, Ethics of Aquinas 259.
58. The point is confirmed by Keenan, "Prudence" 266-67 and Clifford G. Kossel, S. J., "Natural Law and Human Law (Ia IIae qq. 90-97)" 176-78,
59. See John Paul II, "Towards a Common Ethical Code for Humankind," Address to the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences 2001;
60. and World Council of Churches, "The Need for a Global Ethic," Declaration by the Eighth General Assembly in 1998, both in In Search of Universal Values 7-14 and 15-18, respectively.
61. Michael Amaladoss, S. J., "Religions for Peace," America 185 (December 10, 2001) 6-8, at 7, 8.
62. A. S. Cua, Moral Vision and Tradition: Essays in Chinese Ethics (Washington: Catholic University of America, 1998) 274; on universality, 307.
63. See also Bretzke, "Moral Theology out of East Asia" 111-12.
64. Anthony C. Yu, "Enduring Change: Confucianism and the Prospect of Human Rights," Lingnan Journal of Chinese Studies, New Series No. 2 (October 2000) 27-70.
65. Keck and Sikkink, Activists Beyond Borders 199, 200, 201 respectively.
66. William Greider, One World, Ready or Not: The Manic Logic of Global Capitalism (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1997) 461.
67. Pope, "Knowability of the Natural Law" 62.
68. Katongole, Beyond Universal Reason 233.