Ethics is the Language of God: Reflections on the Highest Good

Abstract

Meta-ethical commitments or fundamental life assumptions shape a person's understanding of the good and informs the person's perspective on any given ethical issue. The common culture's commitment to the notion of autonomy has hollowed out civility and community in the United States and has left persons empty, lonely, and despairing, unable to correctly perceive the right in the context of moral discourse. The events surrounding the election of Pope Leo XIV reflect the culture's need for an ethic grounded in a theologically informed understanding of the good. A proper understanding of the good must start with God who is good, as revealed in Scripture and testified to in classical ethics. The characteristics ascribed to God and the Word of God Incarnate define transcendent moral law—those virtues, values, and moral principles which rightly govern human relationships. Ethics is ultimately the language of God. Without God, ethics is nothing but nonsensical language. We need to humbly proclaim we are not autonomous, devising our own notions of the good. We are dependent upon God and one another as humans and mutually accountable to the Infinite Good. We need to resuscitate God consciousness in our culture, grounding ethics in the source of the good, beautiful, and true.