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The Church deepens its understanding of God’s revelation over time
Like the rest of Catholic teaching, the fundamentals of Catholic social teaching are permanently relevant and unchanging. They reflect the unchanging truth about man. They are part of the fullness of divine revelation Jesus brought to us as God’s definitive Word. “You shall not murder” could not have been a true moral principle in the year 120 but today be wrong. “You shall not steal” couldn’t have been true a hundred years ago but be false today. The essentials of human nature remain the same. God’s plan for humanity remains the same. So Catholic social teaching remains the same.
Still, Catholic social teaching can change in the sense in which we say Catholic doctrine “develops.” Over time, doctrine gets clarified in various ways as new questions or challenges arise.
Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and in response to questions or even objections raised within the Church, the Church deepens its understanding of God’s revelation. It can put its beliefs into new language, drawing on new ideas, to better express its faith, or it can reject new ways of putting things that leave out or contradict things it believes.
This process of listening to questions, responding to objections, and expressing the Church’s faith in specific language is part of the development of doctrine. Over time, it is possible for the Church’s beliefs, while remaining fundamentally the same, to develop or change in how they are expressed, with some implications of those beliefs, perhaps previously unrecognized, being spelled out and some ways of presenting ideas once thought helpful being dropped.
Continued below.
Does Catholic Social Teaching Change?
Like the rest of Catholic teaching, the fundamentals of Catholic social teaching are permanently relevant and unchanging. They reflect the unchanging truth about man. They are part of the fullness of divine revelation Jesus brought to us as God’s definitive Word. “You shall not murder” could not have been a true moral principle in the year 120 but today be wrong. “You shall not steal” couldn’t have been true a hundred years ago but be false today. The essentials of human nature remain the same. God’s plan for humanity remains the same. So Catholic social teaching remains the same.
Still, Catholic social teaching can change in the sense in which we say Catholic doctrine “develops.” Over time, doctrine gets clarified in various ways as new questions or challenges arise.
Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and in response to questions or even objections raised within the Church, the Church deepens its understanding of God’s revelation. It can put its beliefs into new language, drawing on new ideas, to better express its faith, or it can reject new ways of putting things that leave out or contradict things it believes.
This process of listening to questions, responding to objections, and expressing the Church’s faith in specific language is part of the development of doctrine. Over time, it is possible for the Church’s beliefs, while remaining fundamentally the same, to develop or change in how they are expressed, with some implications of those beliefs, perhaps previously unrecognized, being spelled out and some ways of presenting ideas once thought helpful being dropped.
Continued below.
Does Catholic Social Teaching Change?
