The Gift and Ethical Responsibility within Society
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35312/studia.v26i1.837Keywords:
Gift; Charis-Agape; Munus-Donum; Relation; Christian Faith.Abstract
The following research aims to explore the complex and multifaceted meaning of the gift through the inquiries of various scholars. Using the descriptive and analytical approach, this study examines the words associated with the experience of the gift. The guiding question to be elaborated is what the gift means and how it may ground ethical concern. The results of the study show that the word “gift” is polysemous and functions as a moral category of relation, expressed through generosity, recognition, and communion. The noun “gift”, rooted in the verb “to give”, corresponds to the ideas of donum, munus, and charis. As a relational category, the gift is constituted by the giver, the receiver and the given object, but ultimately reflects God’s grace that sustains human acts of living hospitably in koinonia. This research suggests that the gift, rooted in God’s own self-giving love, provides a foundation for the ethical concern as persons called to communion and discipleship in Christ. Acknowledging that gift is not a private possesion but a relational reality, this study contributes to moral responsibility and social commitment.
References
Benveniste, Émile. “Gift and Exchange in the Indo-European Vocabulary» in A.D. Schrift (ed.), Toward an Ethic of Generosity, Routledge, New York 1997, 33-42.
Donati, Pierpaolo. “Dono” in Luigino Bruni and Stefano Zamagni (edd.), Dizionario di Economia Civile, Roma: Citta Nuova Editrice, 2009: 277-289.
Douglas, Mary. “No Free Gifts” in Marcel Mauss, The Gift: The Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic Societies. Trans.W.D. Halls. London: Routledge, 1990, xi-xii.
Esposito, Roberto. Communitas: The Origin and Destiny of Community (Cultural Memory in the Present). Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 2010.
Gnada, Aristide. “The Gift as Principle of Moral Action” in R.C. Koerpel and V. Tirimanna (Edd.), Contemplating the Future of Moral Theology. Essays in Honor of Brian V. Johnstone C.Ss.R., Oregon: Pickwick, 2017, 55-70.
Gnada, Aristide Le concept de don. Ce qui dit l’ếtre personnel et l’agir moral, L’Harmattan, Paris 2013, 123-124.
Gnada, Aristide. L’universalismo morale nella prospettiva del dono. Una sfida teologica e antropologica di fronte al relativismo morale contemporaneo, Venezia: Marcianum Press, 2019.
Godbout, Jacques and Allan Caile. The World of the Gift. In collaboration with Alain Caille, trans. Donald Winkler, McGill-Queen’s University Press, Montreal 1998.
Hollenbach, David. The Common Good and Christian Ethics, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2002.
Horner, Robyn. Rethinking God as Gift. Marion, Derrida, and the Limits of Phenomenology. New York: Fordham University Press, 2001.
Johnstone, B.V. “The Gift. Derrida, Marion and Moral Theology”, in A. Gnada – G. Witaszek (edd.), Dono per un giusto comportamento morale.Giustizia e misericordia, Lateran University Press and Editiones Academiae Alfonsianae, Roma 2016, 71-88.
Johnstone, B.V. “Moral Decision Making in the 21st Century: Methods and Challenges”, in D. Mitchell (Ed.), Moral Action in a Complex World: Franciscan Perspectives, Washington Theological Union Symposium Papers, St Bonaventura University NY 2008, 9-28.
Kupczak, Jaroslaw. Gift and Communion. John Paul II’s Theology of the Body, The Catholic University of America Press, Washington 2014.
Lopez, Antonio. Gift and the Unity of Being, Cambridge: James Clarke & Co, 2014.
Marion, Jean-Luc. Being Given: Toward a Phenomenology of Givenness. Translated by Jeffrey L. Kosky. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2002.
Mauss, Marcel. The Gift: The Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic Societies. Trans. W. D. Halls. London: Routledge, 1990.
Mauss, Marcel. “Gift, Gift” in A.D. Schrift (ed.), Toward an Ethic of Generosity, Routledge, New York 1997.
Palumberi, S. “Un binomio costitutivo eros e agape, tra dono e impegno”, in A. Gnada – G. Witaszek (edd.), Dono per un giusto comportamento morale.Giustizia e misericordia, Lateran University Press and Editiones Academiae Alfonsianae, Roma 2016, 89-111.
Peperzak, Adriaan. “Giving”, in E. Wyschogrod et al. (edd.), The Enigma of Gift and Sacrifice, Fordham University Press, New York 2002, 161-175.
Riyanto, Armada. Relasionalitas. Filsafat Fondasi Interpretasi Aku, Teks, Liyan, Fenomen. Yogyakarta, Kanisius 2024.
Bruni, Luigino. A Lexicon of Social Well-being. New York: Palgrave Macmilan, 2015.
Schmitz, Kenneth L. The Gift: Creation. Milwaukee: Marquette University Press, 1982.
Schrift, Alan D. “Introduction: Why Gift” in A.D. Schrift (ed.), The Logic of the Gift: Toward an Ethic of Generosity, Routledge, New York 1997, 1-22.
Smith, Janet.E. Humanae vitae. A Generation Later, Washington: The Catholic University of America Press, 1991.
Wodka, Andrzej. Una teologia biblica del dare nel contesto della colletta paolina (2Cor 8-9), Editrice Pontificia Università Gregoriana, Roma 2000.
Wodka, Andrzej. “L’oblatività neotestamentaria e il discorso etico-morale. Il dono del dare (2Cor 8-9)”, in A. Gnada – G. Witaszek (edd.), Dono per un giusto comportamento morale.Giustizia e misericordia, Lateran University Press and Editiones Academiae Alfonsianae, Roma 2016, 49-70.
Zanardo, Susy. Il legame del dono, Milano: Edizioni Vita e Pensiero, 2007.
Journal Articles
Johnstone, Brian V. “he Ethics of the Gift According to Aquinas, Derrida, and Marion”, Australian eJournal of Theology 3 (2004), 1-16.
Damonte, Damonte, “Il dono nella recente Dottrina social della Chiesa” in Lesscio di Etica Pubblica, 5 (2014), 143-154.
Schindler, David L. “Being, Gift, Self-gift: A Reply to Waldstein on Relationality and John Paul II’s Theology of the Body. Part One.” Communio 42, no. 2 (2015): 221-251.
ID. “Being, Gift Self-Gift: A Reply to Waldstein on Relationality and John Paul II’s Theology of the Body. Part Two.” Communio 43, no. 3 (2016): 409-483.
ID. “The Given as Gift: Creation and Disciplinary Abstraction in Science.” Communio 38, no. 1 (2011): 52-102.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Frumensius Gions, Antonius Denny Firmanto, Silvinus Soter Reyaan
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
