Avant-propos - Studia Moralia

THE BASIC GOODS THEORY AND REVISIONISM 173
mental importance of this relationship as well. 5 Ecclesiology is
central to how one comprehends Tradition and the role and
function of the magisterium in relation to the theologian and the
faithful.
Since Vatican II, theologians have generally adhered to two
fundamentally different ecclesiological models. The model that
originated in the Middle Ages and predominated up until Vatican
II is the hierarchical model. According to this ecclesiological
model, knowledge flows downward from the magisterium to
theologians to the faithful. The role and function of theologians
in this model is to explain and clarify to the faithful what the
magisterium has taught authoritatively, but not to question or
challenge those teachings. 6 While the sensus fidelium and their
experiences are a source for informing the magisterium in its
formulation of moral teachings, it is the magisterium’s responsibility
to determine how that experience is to be interpreted and
incorporated into its teaching. In cases where there is a disparity
between human experience and magisterial teaching (e.g., artificial
birth control), the magisterium holds the trump card. According
to this model, then, the magisterium is the final authority
for interpreting, formulating, and dispensing moral teachings.
Theologians help to explain and disseminate those teachings
to the faithful. They should not question or challenge authoritative,
non-infallible teachings where the magisterium has
deliberately stated an opinion about a controverted matter, even
if their scholarship challenges it, but should defend and explain
such teachings. If we think of this ecclesiological model as a
pyramid, the magisterium is at the pinnacle of the pyramid and
is the hermeneutical key for all other sources of moral knowledge.
With Vatican II came a profound transition in ecclesiology
and, by implication, moral epistemology. The proposed concentric
model is referred to as the people of God or communio
(communion) model. 7 Within this model, knowledge is dis-
5
GRISEZ, Christian Moral Principles 831.
6 This model is clearly reflected in PIUS XII’s Humani Generis (see, for
example, DENZINGER, 2313-14).
7
MCCORMICK, Critical Calling 40. For a helpful study on communio as an
ecclesiological model, see JEAN-MARIE ROGER TILLARD, O.P., Church of Church-