Osamu Takeuchi

上智大学は、創立以来、キリスト教ヒューマニズムに基づく人間教育を基本理念としており、Men and Women for Others, with Othersすなわち、他者と共に生き、他者に奉仕し、社会をより良く変革する人間を育成することに努めている。それは、自己の成長に真摯に取り組み、他者とのかかわりを大切にし、倫理的思考・判断力を備え、超越的価値にも目を開きつつ、地球的視野に立って、より人間的な世界を築き上げることのできる人間を育成することにほかならない。このことの具体的現れが、「キリスト教人間学」であり、その根源と方向性を示す論文集。

There is an order in nature. Though the term "nature" is polyvalent and ambiguous, many people have accepted this proposition and found a way of living based on it. There is also an order in human society. Human beings are social and in fact live in relationship to others. In order to maintain the order of society one enacts a law and complies with it. If one can say that human beings are part of nature, there might be an order in him/her and a law to maintain it. The thought of the natural law derives from such a background. Lex indita non scripta : the natural law is not a law written down but one inscribed in the human heart. Thomas Aquinas classified law into three categories : eternal law, natural law, and positive law. According to him, "a law is nothing else but a dictate of practical reason emanating from the ruler who governs a perfect community" (S. T., I-II, 91, 1). The eternal law is also called the divine law, divine reason, and divine wisdom. At any rate, the eternal law is understood as what governs the whole world by leading all human acts. Though one cannot comprehend the eternal law as such, as St. Paul says, he/she is led to the understanding of it through creatures : "Ever since the creation of the world, his [God's] invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood and perceived in what he has made" (Rom 1: 20). The natural law is understood in relation to the eternal law. In other words, the natural law is the participation of the eternal law in the rational creature (S. T., I-II, 91, 2). In order to understand the natural law more deeply one can and should do it in a theological context, that is, one should see the natural law in the personal relationship between God and human beings. The natural law is also called right reason (recta ratio) and demands of us the ethical imperative : to do good and to avoid evil. This imperative is, however, abstract and universal as such. Therefore, one has to make good discernment appropriately when one applies this imperative to each concrete case. Here one can see the two aspects of the natural law: universality and historicity. In order to understand this more accurately and concretely, one should put the natural law in the context of narrative. By so doing, we can see it in a new horizon. In this essay, I would like to consider whether the natural law is always abstract and invariable or not, in other words, whether it has the aspect of historicity. For a fuller examination I take three parts. First, I survey the traditional understanding of the natural law. Secondly, I examine the critiques of the natural law from the sides of both Catholics and Protestants. Finally, I investigate the possibility of a new understanding of the natural law by adopting the theory of narrative by Stanley Hauerwas.

Conscience is one of the most prominent phenomena of human persons. The term "conscience," however, is polyvalent and ambiguous, and complicates one's understanding of it. By its very nature, conscience has both individual and socio-ethical characteristics. This understanding derives from another aspect of conscience: transcendence. In other words, conscience is essentially open to the Absolute, and has not only a moral dimension, but also a metaphysical or religious dimension. One can view this not only from an etymological examination of the term "conscience," but also from one's experience of conscience. This experience is nothing but self-awareness. When one experiences conscience, it is often as a "bad conscience." Conscience is not restricted to merely intellectual knowledge, but is related to the whole existence of a person. In this sense, conscience is almost synonymous with moral consciousness, but this in itself does not fully or directly define conscience. Conscience is composed of "con" (together, whole) and "science" (knowledge). From this, we can distill several meanings of conscience such as "to know something together," "to have common knowledge," and "communal knowledge." In order for this "communality" to exist there must be a common horizon of understanding. This horizon is the basis of the universality of conscience and this universality should be found in "con." On the other hand, "science" is not mere intellectual or objective knowledge. It is, rather, a moral or existential knowledge of the human person. In Hebrew there is no term for "conscience." However, there are a few words which represent the phenomenon of conscience, such as leb or lebab (heart) and ruah (spirit). The term "heart" is most frequently used in the Old Testament stories about sin and, in turn, most often correlates with remorse or pangs of conscience. However, there are also several stories in which "heart" is used positively, stressing the prais-eworthiness of a "good conscience." There is a term for conscience in Greek: syneidesis. The term "conscience" does not appear in the Synoptic Gospels. Paul is the first person to use the term "conscience" in the New Testament. Though it is still disputed as to where Paul may have adopted this term, there is general agreement among scholars that Paul uses the term syneidesis, to refer to conscience. He regards conscience as an inner tribunal with both a judicial and a legislative function. However, for him, conscience has not only an ethical but also a theological importance. Thomas Aquinas regards a human being as a person who is created by God in the image of God. Every description of his ethical discourse flows from this understanding. The human person is essentially oriented toward a final end: the good itself. Conscience has an important function in this design. It is an application of knowledge to concrete and particular acts. In this application, conscience has a binding force which is based on that of synderesis. As the first principle of practical reason, synderesis unconditionally claims the precept of doing good and avoiding evil. Conscience can be erroneous. However, it retains a binding force, because it requires one to follow its judgment by nature, regardless of whether conscience is good or evil. Indeed, the binding force remains as long as conscience participates in synderesis, which is never fallible.

We focus on the post-Vatican II approach to conscience. The Second Vatican Council proposed the renewal of moral theology using the metaphor of sequela Christi. The main focus is the personal relation- ship between God and human persons, in and through Christ. Based on this understanding, the Council proposed two contributions to the renewal of moral theology: a shift from a law-centered to a person- centered approach, and a return to scriptural sources. For our detailed examination, we take Josef Fuchs' work as representative, because he contributed so significantly to the aggiornamento of moral theology. He takes the position of autonomous morality. Autonomous morality does not consist in insights available only to believers. Human freedom plays an important role in this morality. His understanding of freedom is based on the teachings of Thomas Aquinas. According to him, the relationship between freedom and the good itself is transcendental. The individual person's freedom participates in that absolute freedom which is engraved in human existence. Fuchs presents three kinds of freedom: basic freedom, Christian freedom, and freedom of choice. Among them, basic freedom or transcendental freedom plays a fundamental role. Without considering this freedom, one cannot sufficiently appreciate conscience, because freedom very much concerns the formation of conscience. This formation constitutes our self-cultivation. In the process of self-cultivation, acts of the will are critical. The will is ultimately oriented toward the good itself. In this way, human morality is a given by which one can accomplish self-cultivation. Freedom is essential to human morality. According to Fuchs, human morality and Christian morality are materially identical. In other words, Christian morality is in essence true human morality. However, at the same time, Christian morality also has an original character: Christian intentionality. Therefore, in order to explain the essence of Christian morality, both human morality and transcendental Christian intentionality must be taken into account. In the interface of human morality and Christian morality, natural law holds an important place. Natural law is never merely an abstract concept, but rather is rooted in personal self-understanding, as well as one's own communication with Christ. In other words, natural law is engraved in the nature of human beings in the sense that they can discover and recognize it in themselves. Natural law is closely related to the formation of conscience. Conscience is not merely the criterion by which one judges right or wrong action and behavior. Rather, conscience is where the personal relationship between God and the human person subsists. In other words, conscience is the source of all moral obligations : there.we are called by God to love and to develop ourselves so as to know what constitutes right living. Conscience is not the direct voice of God, but is the human way of responding to God. The conscience is so engraved in each person that one can become truly and fully human through experiences of moral decision-making. Fidelity to conscience is what determines whether one is good or evil. One can find true morality in the conscience, which is, thus, closely related to self-cultivation.

It is natural for us to be required to act rightly, but to be good is even more important. No matter how right an actis, if one has a bad intention or motivation, that act is not worthy of being ca11ed good. It might be the intentio recta that is required for the rightness of the act. "Every good tree bears good fruit" (Mt 7 : 17). A good act follows a good disposition of one's heart and mind. It is virtue that makes a human being good. Virtue must be considered in reference to good ; more specifically, virtue refers to the good of the human person. Therefore, virtues are indispensable for the formation of the human person. Confucianism which is basically "virtue ethics" can contribute greatly to an inculturation of Christianity in Japan. Since Mencius, through the tradition of Confucianism, conscience, ryoshin in Japanese, has played a significant role in Japanese morality. The main role of ryoshin is to determine how to cultivate oneself, how to become one's authentic self. In particular, in the Japanese context, the primary quality of ryoshin is makoto or sincerity. Makoto, interpreted not metaphysically, but rather morally and anthropologically, became a cardinal virtue for the Japanese ethical/moral ethos in the lin eo ryoshin. Mencius is the first person who used the term liang hsin/ryoshin. According to him, liang hsin springs from one's heart and mind, which is good by nature. This is the origin of all his thought : a "theory of the original goodness of human nature." According to him, liang hsin/ryoshin is given as the "sprouts" of four virtues : humanity, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom. These four virtues are the embodiment of liang hsin in real life. The understanding of liang hsin is developed in the concept of ch'eng (sincerity). Ch'eng is largely discussed and developed as a moral and philosophical or metaphysical concept in the Chung-yung (The Doctrine of the Mean). Ch'eng should be embodied in one's life. According to Wang Yang-ming, making the mind sincere is indispensable for one to be a fully human person. Though there are several meanings of ch'eng, he stresses sincerity as the meaning of ch'eng. Sincerity is not merely a psychological or ethical concept, but rather an existential and anthropological presupposition. Wang's teachings had a great influence on Japanese thought, especially with regard to ethics. We can also find a possibility of inculturation of Christianity in Japan in and through ryoshin. It is inadequate and inappropriate that we unconditionally transfer Christianity cultivated in the Western cultural climate into the Japanese cultural climate. Rather, we have to accept and interpret Christianity in the context of the Japanese cultural climate and express it through Japanese concepts. The problem is how to embody the Good News in Japan. This is challenging to us, but at the same time, it is the basic task of inculturation as the embodiment of evangelization. Evangelization requires us to discover and cultivate the seeds of the Word embedded in the local culture. As God's Word became man, the Words of Jesus can and should be embodied in the Japanese cultural climate.

Conscience, ryoshin in Japanese, is innately engraved in the core of the human person. It essentially invites us to do good and avoid evil. In the Japanese context, we can see that conscience is largely derived from Christianity and ryoshin from Confucianism. Though the two terms donot correspond exactly, ryoshin basically represents what conscience means. However, ryoshin is something more deeply rooted in human nature than conscience. In other words, ryoshin is regarded as a human disposition which transcends the merely intellectual faculty. We can find the possibility of an inculturation of Christianity in Japan in and through ryoshin. In other words, we can embody the fundamental message of Christianity by a careful comparative study of Christianity and ryoshin. Ryoshin is almost equivalent to life, in the sense that ryoshin is the compass by which we can live humanly. Living according to ryoshin is treasuring life as Jesus taught us. Makoto , which is one of the distinctive embodiments of ryoshin, has three aspects : sincerity, reality, and integrity. We can find them in Jesus' life in a supereminent way. On the other hand, in the tradition of the West, Scripture is the book of life. By knowing the spirit of Scripture, and by appreciating ryoshin more deeply, we can find a way for Christianity to be more fully accepted and understood in Japan. For a fuller examination we take four steps. First, we discuss how conscience is articulated in the Western tradition by using Scripture, and how it is understood in the writings of Thomas Aquinas. Second, we examine the notion of conscience or liang hsin/ryoshin as it is understood in the Confucian heritage. We then turn our attention to the West again. We consider how conscience has been understood since the Second Vatican Council, especially by using the contribution of Josef Fuchs to the renewal of moral theology. Finally, we speculate about how the above considerations might contribute to an understanding of ryoshin in modern Japanese society. We propose not only a new understanding of ryoshin, but also an inculturation of Christianity into Japanese culture or society by using the above understanding of ryoshin.