Conscience : a historical, biblico-theological and psychological perspective

Abstract

Conscience is a term that like the spectrum has various shades of meaning. For some people it is simply the 'Voice of God' in man, for others it is a 'moral' faculty. For Bishop Butler, it is a combination of the cognitive faculty and the emotive faculty. Every human being feels conscience inside himself but when asked to define it or attempts to describe it he is lost. The Vatican Council II in "Gaudium Et Spes" puts forward a very mysthical definition of conscience: "Deep within his conscience man discovers a law which he has not laid upon himself but which he must obey. Its, voice, ever calling him to love and to do what is good and to avoid what is evil, tells him inwardly at the right moment: do this, shun that. For man has in his heart a law inscribed by God. His dignity lies in observing this law, and by it he will be judged. His conscience is man's most secret core, and his sanctuary. There he is alone with God whose voice echoes in his depths. By conscience, in a wonderful way, that law is made known which is fulfilled in the love of God and of one's neighbour. Through loyalty to conscience Christians are joined to other men in the search for truth and for the right solution to so many moral problems which arise both in the life of individuals and from social relationships. Hence, the more a correct conscience prevails, the more do persons and groups turn aside from blind choice and try to be guided by the objective standards of moral conduct. Yet it often happens that conscience goes astray through ignorance which it is unable to avoid, without thereby losing its dignity. This cannot be said of the man who takes little trouble to find out what is true and good, or when conscience is by degrees almost blinded through the habit of committing sin." (Gaudium Et Spes Para. 16) [...].