“He Himself Becomes a Living and Personal Law”: Veritatis Splendor, Eating Disorders, and Misguided Moralism

Veritatis Splendor is well-known for its use of the Gospel of Matthew’s depiction of Christ’s exchange with the rich young man seeking eternal life as the framework for understanding the moral life. It establishes relationship with Christ and one’s neighbor as central to both love of God and doing moral theology, highlighting the role of connection and relationship. The Christocentric framing of Veritatis Splendor responds to misguided moralism’s role in the development of eating disorders and the role of relationship in recovery, which has implications for moral theology’s understanding of eating disorders in a social media age. Misguided moralism conceives of eating disorders as rooted in a link between eating and goodness to which relationship as a moral key is particularly responsive. Studies of eating disorder recovery in various fields indicate that strong, compassionate, hope-filled relationships are key to recovery, providing fertile ground for interconnections between Veritatis Splendor ’s understanding of the centrality of relationship with Christ and morality within the process of eating disorder recovery.