Work

Theological Ethics and Moral Helplessness in the Anxious Present: Responsibility and Repair

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Theological ethics has inadvertently contributed to the diminished autonomy many feel amid the anxieties of daily life. The shift from act-based ethics to totalizing ethics, and Vatican II’s universal call to social justice, urged Christians to work for earthly justice without offering tools for assessing one’s moral goodness when these projects fail. Virtue ethics that is attentive to moral luck can help combat moral helplessness by observing moral agency in action patterns that shape the self’s dispositions.

Source: Theological Studies

DOI: 10.1177/00405639241309743

Author: Kate Ward

Institution: Marquette University

Language: English

Topic: Catholicism and Religious Studies

Subfield: History

Field: Arts and Humanities

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: bronze

Funders: Boston College, Yale University, Australian Catholic University

OpenAlex ID: W4407974574

FWCI:

Cites:

Cited by:

Related to: 10