The following reactions by theologians and other academics to the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith's “Notification” regarding Mercy Sr. Margaret Farley's Just Love: A Framework for Christian Sexual Ethics were gathered by the Yale Divinity School for distribution to the media ---
Harold Attridge, Dean of Yale Divinity School
Professor Emerita Margaret Farley has long been a revered figure at Yale Divinity School. She has inspired generations of students, both men and women, to take seriously the task of theological ethics, by examining the logic of our moral judgments in the light of scripture, tradition, and human experience.
Her work on sexual ethics, Just Love, is an award-winning example of that enterprise, recognized by Christians of many traditions as a thoughtful attempt to wrestle with some of the most divisive social issues of our time.
Honest and creative theologians have often met a critical response to serious theological reflection and it is not a surprise that Professor Farley’s work has done so as well. In time, I suspect, those who react negatively to it now will come to appreciate the important contribution it makes to what must be our constant effort to examine the foundations of our moral life. The YDS community continues to appreciate the unique insights Professor Farley brings to the theological enterprise, and we look forward to her future contributions in the field.
Emilie Townes, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, Yale Divinity School, past president of the American Academy of Religion
To read Margaret Farley is to be in the company of a fine mind, a precise eye, an open heart, an inspiring teacher, and a woman of deep and abiding faith. Her work has influenced several generations of ethicists and people of faith who are Christians and other religious traditions (and those yet to come) to think a bit more deeply and prayerfully about how we experience each other as thinking, feeling humans of mind and body.
The gift of her work is that it both sheer delight and awesome challenge as she works deeply within the tradition to speak outwardly to our broken world.
Farley knows what she thinks and communicates in a clear style—taking the reader on a journey that encourages us to think along with her such that a genuine conversation emerges and we and creation are all the better for it. She is a moral theologian par excellence.
Angela Batie Carlin, Former Campus Minister at St. Louis University
Margaret Farley’s construction of an approach to sexual ethics based on a framework of justice has been a critical pastoral tool in working with young Catholic adults who know Church teaching about sexual morality but seek to integrate it more fully in the greater values they espouse.
Inviting young adults to see sexual morality as a justice issue has prompted their sexual decision-making to have greater thoughtfulness and depth. Margaret Farley’s suggestion to employ justice as an essential criterion in discernment of sexual relationships has been an invaluable contribution to people of faith in this important and often misunderstood part of the human experience.
Kristen J. Leslie, Ph.D., Professor of Pastoral Theology and Care, Eden Theological Seminary
Sr. Margaret Farley, PhD. is a leading Roman Catholic scholar whose work in Christian Ethics dares to respond, in just and ethical ways, to the most difficult of relational questions.
Her book, Just Love: A Framework for Christian Ethics, offers a clear ethical framework for relational issues that too often become dangerously politicized by the Church and politicians who would use these issues as a way to serve their own individual agendas. Her work offers to Christians and non-Christians alike a wise, consistent and faithful response to the question about sexual ethics, upholding what is at the very heart of the best of Catholic teachings.
Lisa Cahill, J. Donald Monan Professor, Department of Theology, Boston College..."
NCR coverage of the Vatican's criticism of Margaret Farley's Just Love:
- Vatican criticizes US theologian's book on sexual ethics, by Jerry Filteau, June 4
- Theologian's book a wide-ranging study, by Joshua J. McElwee, June 4
- No justice for Margaret Farley and 'Just Love', a column by Jamie Manson, June 4
- Mercy order president asks for 'compassionate accompanying' of Vatican-criticized sister, by Joshua J. McElwee, June 4
Professor Emerita Margaret Farley has long been a revered figure at Yale Divinity School. She has inspired generations of students, both men and women, to take seriously the task of theological ethics, by examining the logic of our moral judgments in the light of scripture, tradition, and human experience.
Her work on sexual ethics, Just Love, is an award-winning example of that enterprise, recognized by Christians of many traditions as a thoughtful attempt to wrestle with some of the most divisive social issues of our time.
Honest and creative theologians have often met a critical response to serious theological reflection and it is not a surprise that Professor Farley’s work has done so as well. In time, I suspect, those who react negatively to it now will come to appreciate the important contribution it makes to what must be our constant effort to examine the foundations of our moral life. The YDS community continues to appreciate the unique insights Professor Farley brings to the theological enterprise, and we look forward to her future contributions in the field.
Emilie Townes, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, Yale Divinity School, past president of the American Academy of Religion
To read Margaret Farley is to be in the company of a fine mind, a precise eye, an open heart, an inspiring teacher, and a woman of deep and abiding faith. Her work has influenced several generations of ethicists and people of faith who are Christians and other religious traditions (and those yet to come) to think a bit more deeply and prayerfully about how we experience each other as thinking, feeling humans of mind and body.
The gift of her work is that it both sheer delight and awesome challenge as she works deeply within the tradition to speak outwardly to our broken world.
Farley knows what she thinks and communicates in a clear style—taking the reader on a journey that encourages us to think along with her such that a genuine conversation emerges and we and creation are all the better for it. She is a moral theologian par excellence.
Angela Batie Carlin, Former Campus Minister at St. Louis University
Margaret Farley’s construction of an approach to sexual ethics based on a framework of justice has been a critical pastoral tool in working with young Catholic adults who know Church teaching about sexual morality but seek to integrate it more fully in the greater values they espouse.
Inviting young adults to see sexual morality as a justice issue has prompted their sexual decision-making to have greater thoughtfulness and depth. Margaret Farley’s suggestion to employ justice as an essential criterion in discernment of sexual relationships has been an invaluable contribution to people of faith in this important and often misunderstood part of the human experience.
Kristen J. Leslie, Ph.D., Professor of Pastoral Theology and Care, Eden Theological Seminary
Sr. Margaret Farley, PhD. is a leading Roman Catholic scholar whose work in Christian Ethics dares to respond, in just and ethical ways, to the most difficult of relational questions.
Her book, Just Love: A Framework for Christian Ethics, offers a clear ethical framework for relational issues that too often become dangerously politicized by the Church and politicians who would use these issues as a way to serve their own individual agendas. Her work offers to Christians and non-Christians alike a wise, consistent and faithful response to the question about sexual ethics, upholding what is at the very heart of the best of Catholic teachings.
Lisa Cahill, J. Donald Monan Professor, Department of Theology, Boston College..."
Her work on sexual ethics, Just Love, is an award-winning example of that enterprise, recognized by Christians of many traditions as a thoughtful attempt to wrestle with some of the most divisive social issues of our time.
Honest and creative theologians have often met a critical response to serious theological reflection and it is not a surprise that Professor Farley’s work has done so as well. In time, I suspect, those who react negatively to it now will come to appreciate the important contribution it makes to what must be our constant effort to examine the foundations of our moral life. The YDS community continues to appreciate the unique insights Professor Farley brings to the theological enterprise, and we look forward to her future contributions in the field.
Emilie Townes, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, Yale Divinity School, past president of the American Academy of Religion
To read Margaret Farley is to be in the company of a fine mind, a precise eye, an open heart, an inspiring teacher, and a woman of deep and abiding faith. Her work has influenced several generations of ethicists and people of faith who are Christians and other religious traditions (and those yet to come) to think a bit more deeply and prayerfully about how we experience each other as thinking, feeling humans of mind and body.
The gift of her work is that it both sheer delight and awesome challenge as she works deeply within the tradition to speak outwardly to our broken world.
Farley knows what she thinks and communicates in a clear style—taking the reader on a journey that encourages us to think along with her such that a genuine conversation emerges and we and creation are all the better for it. She is a moral theologian par excellence.
Margaret Farley’s construction of an approach to sexual ethics based on a framework of justice has been a critical pastoral tool in working with young Catholic adults who know Church teaching about sexual morality but seek to integrate it more fully in the greater values they espouse.
Inviting young adults to see sexual morality as a justice issue has prompted their sexual decision-making to have greater thoughtfulness and depth. Margaret Farley’s suggestion to employ justice as an essential criterion in discernment of sexual relationships has been an invaluable contribution to people of faith in this important and often misunderstood part of the human experience.
Kristen J. Leslie, Ph.D., Professor of Pastoral Theology and Care, Eden Theological Seminary
Sr. Margaret Farley, PhD. is a leading Roman Catholic scholar whose work in Christian Ethics dares to respond, in just and ethical ways, to the most difficult of relational questions.
Her book, Just Love: A Framework for Christian Ethics, offers a clear ethical framework for relational issues that too often become dangerously politicized by the Church and politicians who would use these issues as a way to serve their own individual agendas. Her work offers to Christians and non-Christians alike a wise, consistent and faithful response to the question about sexual ethics, upholding what is at the very heart of the best of Catholic teachings.
Lisa Cahill, J. Donald Monan Professor, Department of Theology, Boston College..."
NCR coverage of the Vatican's criticism of Margaret Farley's Just Love:
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