A Critique of John Noonan's Approach to Development of Doctrine
23 Pages Posted: 28 Jun 2012
Date Written: October 31, 2001
Abstract
In this essay, I consider Judge Noonan’s views on development of doctrine. I conclude that his challenging work in this area leaves much to be desired.
I first consider Judge Noonan’s view on the development of moral doctrine. Judge Noonan contends that the Catholic Church has changed her moral teachings and he uses the idea of the development of moral doctrine to assess these changes. Judge Noonan’s invocation of the the concept of 'development of doctrine' is highly misleading. Judge Noonan is in reality seeking to describe and defend the idea of change, of reversal, not of organic development. Moreover, I do not believe that he has adequately defended his charge that the Church has in fact changed her moral teachings. Further , his account od development runs the risk of subjectivism, and is, for that reason, outside the bounds of Catholic orthodoxy.
I then consider Judge Noonan’s extension of the concept of development of doctrine into the realm of the interpretation of legal texts. I do not believe that his theory of development is any more persuasive in this context. Although his view of development has great appeal in the area of common law decision-making, I believe that it fails in the area of textual interpretation. His approach takes the judge beyond the text and, as was true in his treatment of moral doctrine, too easily results in subjective decision-making. In my view, Judge Noonan’s methodology is flawed n this area as well.
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