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CHAPTER IV
EVANGELICAL CASUISTRY
CASUISTRY is the science of resolving problems of conscience
arising from conflicting moral rules, and of the practical
application of ethical principles to individual cases. Outside the
Roman Catholic Church it has never been well esteemed.
Indeed, among English-speaking people the word has become a
term of opprobrium, denoting one who confuses counsel by
quibbling and evades moral issues by mental subtlety and
guile.
In the Early Church casuistry was considered of great
importance, not least in relation to matrimonial questions, as the
works of Tertullian and Augustine show. James Moffatt! points
out that as early as the first century of the Christian Church
casuistry, ‘in the good sense of the word’, was used in dealing
with questions of Holy Writ, church service and confessions of
faith, the right interpretation of belief in Christ and other
matters. The answers given to such problems at that time
influenced later thinkers, though not always to advantage.
Roman Catholic casuistry provoked great scepticism and,
at length, a not ill-founded horror of the whole subject. It is
not suprising that the leaders of the Reformation throw casuistry
overboard altogether. Later, however, some evangelistic
theologians tried to make use of casuistic principles in the care of
souls.
Casuistry Gone Astray
Casuistry has certainly gone very wide of the mark when it
can pass judgment upon an action by reference to
hairsplitting distinctions and fine points of law and precedent while
completely ignoring the condition of the heart. Used in this
way it has been applied to the most astonishing cases: for
example, the question whether one is warranted in becoming
intoxicated in order to escape death. All the signs of intoxication
are discussed in this connection, with the exception of uncertainty
in the gait, which was not considered a reliable sign.
3 The First Five Centuries of the Church, London, 1938.
89
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