How Can the Veritatis Splendor Project Succeed? Problems and Prospects

After initial success in reshaping the field of moral theology, the Veritatis Splendor project of a Christocentric moral theology focused on norms with a larger context of the universal call to holiness, has faded amidst a new decade of fierce arguments over specific moral norms. The essay argues that the Veritatis Splendor project can succeed if it recognizes that revisionist accounts of moral theology are not forms of relativism, nor novel moral theories, but are more fundamentally rooted in a paradigm shift to “historical consciousness.” This article suggests that the Veritatis Splendor project should not deny historical consciousness but needs to offer a better account of history rooted in God’s work as displayed in the biblical narrative.