A new year invites ponderings of what may be in store in various areas of life. For those in a faith family, there might well be a question for 2024: “Quo Vadis, theology and ethics?” Careful reflection may offer some clues.

It was in the context of the give and take of the civil rights movement that Martin Luther King Jr. offered the iconic and oft-quoted line: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” His words were a reminder that progress is seldom smooth and without setbacks in the human struggle for a just correction of long-standing injustice.  

More often than not, it is a “step forward/ half step back” process. Still, despite often halting progress, there is reason to hope.

Listening to the current conversation of theological and ethical concerns has brought his insight to mind.  There seems to be a ferment in “