A Sociotheological Approach to Catholic Social Teaching

This book integrates ethical perspectives from Catholic Social Teaching (CST) to develop a sociotheological approach on the common good, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The author applies the Roman Catholic Church's social doctrines that applies the Christian faith to social issues in society, and to global issues. The author advocates for protecting the common good during the pandemic by looking to reform in corporate moral responsibility on the part of the pharmaceutical industry, distributive justice in the global distribution of vaccines, US-led legislative regulation against corruption, overpricing and profiteering of vaccines and medicines, and strong global surveillance and law enforcement systems against corruption and white-collar crime. The book invites the Catholic hierarchy, moral theologians, religious educators, catechists, and lay leaders to draw from these contributions in ethics, theology, and the social sciences to better evaluate the role of religion during the pandemic. In turn, it advocates a questioning of the existing social order, to adapt and develop the Church's social doctrines into the post-pandemic age.

This book brings into dialogue two bodies of literature: documents of Catholic social teaching, and modern sociology and its core thinkers and texts...The author does especially well to describe how taking 'the sociotheological turn'...will benefit the credibility and dissemination of Catholic social thought.

• Rev. Fr. Thomas Massaro, S.J., Professor of Moral Theology, Jesuit School of Theology, Santa Clara University, Berkeley, California.

  Applies Catholic social teaching and sociology to understand major COVID-19 issues that affect the common good Adopts a sociotheological approach in analyzing unethical business practices of Big Pharma during COVID-19 pandemic Examines fraud, corruption, unethical business practices, and white-collar crime using sociotheological perspectives

  Autorentext

  Dr. Vivencio "Ven" O. Ballano is Associate Professor V of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, College of the Social Sciences and Development (CSSD), Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP), Manila, Philippines. He received his doctorate in sociology from the Ateneo de Manila University and master's degree in theology from the Loyola School of Theology (LST), Ateneo de Manila University. He is the author of three Scopus-indexed books, namely: "Sociological Perspectives on Media Piracy in the Philippines and Vietnam" (2016), "Law, Normative Pluralism, and Post-Disaster Recovery" (2017), and "Sociological Perspectives on Clerical Sexual Abuse in Catholic Hierarchy" (2019), all published by Springer Nature Singapore. Dr. Ballano has written several Scopus- and Web of Science-indexed journal articles. His research interests include sociology of law, religion, media piracy, post-disaster management, digital education, and Catholic Social Teaching. In 2021, he received a gold medal award for excellence in international research publication (Lathala Award 2021) from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines. Correspondence: voballano@pup.edu.ph.

  Inhalt
  Chapter 1. Introduction.- Chapter 2. Introducing Catholic Social Teaching and the Role of Sociology in the Catholic Church.- Chapter 3. Catholic Social Teaching and Sociological Perspectives on the Common Good.- Chapter 4. Catholic Social Teaching and the Corporate Moral Responsibility of Big Pharma during COVID-19.