Avant-propos - Studia Moralia

THE BASIC GOODS THEORY AND REVISIONISM 203
sources of moral knowledge (reason, experience, and Scripture)
and the hermeneutic of those sources impact their perception of
Tradition and tradition as well. Methodology is a dialectical
process of creating a synthetic whole out of the various sources
of moral knowledge. As a theological ethic, the BGT has a clear
hierarchy of the sources of moral knowledge. Tradition, specifically
the magisterium as the teaching authority in the Church on
faith and morals, is at the pinnacle of this hierarchy and functions
as a hermeneutical lens for its interpretation of revelation
and human experience. For revisionism, while recognizing the
preeminence of the magisterium as a source of moral knowledge,
it must be evaluated in its teaching capacity on moral issues
in light of all the other sources of moral knowledge. The
theological justification for revisionism’s perspective lies in Tradition
and the fundamental shift in ecclesiology at Vatican II
from a hierarchical model to a communio model.
Throughout the history of Christianity, polarity has been an
essential dimension of Catholic moral discourse. 101 It is necessary
to recognize the polarity in ethical discourse and the
methodological sources that are at the root of it in order to open
up possible lines of discourse for discovering common ground
between the two theories. While this paper has attempted to
shed light on the former issue, the prospects for discovering
common ground between the two theories requires further investigation.
102
TODD A. SALZMANN
100 See RAPHAEL GALLAGHER on his discussion of polarity in moral theology
since Vatican II (“Change and Continuity in the Human Condition: The
Implications of GS paras. 4-10 for Moral Theology,” Studia Moralia 35 (1997)
49-69, at 63-66).
101 I would like to thank my colleague at Creighton University, DR. JULIA
FLEMING and DR. ROBERT J. CAIN and MRS. BARBARA CAIN, as well as the anonymous
reader from Studia Moralia for their comments and suggestions in reviewing
this manuscript. I am also indebted to the Summer Faculty Development
Grant provided by Creighton University Graduate School for its generous
financial support to facilitate the completion of this article.