The Role of Concrete Human Experience in the Discourse of Moral Theology: Lisa Sowle Cahill’s Approach

Abstract

This article analyses the theological approach of Catholic theologian Lisa Sowle Cahill, who seeks to integrate concrete human experience into contemporary moral theological discourse. L. S. Cahill calls for a renewal of moral theology, particularly regarding sexual ethics, emphasizing the importance of addressing contemporary challenges by considering people’s real-life situations and social contexts. She asserts that moral decisions are not made in theoretical vacuums, but in real-life situations, and therefore theological reflection must be sensitive to people’s experiences and needs. However, the study also reveals that L. S. Cahill’s approach raises legitimate doubts about the objectivity of morality and the normative justification of moral theology. Her proposed change to the hierarchy of moral theological sources would subordinate the teachings of natural law, scripture, and the magisterium to the concrete experience of human beings. In doing so, she risks relativizing morality and weakening the essential function of moral theology: to provide objective criteria for distinguishing right from wrong. Although L. S. Cahill recognizes the authority and importance of natural law, Scripture, and the teachings of the Church’s magisterium, her model of moral discourse interprets these sources as open to constant refinement and adjustment in response to life’s realities, as revealed through people’s historically evolving concrete experiences. Furthermore, L. S. Cahill’s theological approach is weakened by her reductive conception of experience, which is limited to empirical and sociological facts. This concept fails to address the fundamental question of what constitutes a human experience that opens individuals to an encounter with objective truth.