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Introduction to Moral Theology

William E. May (Our Sunday Visitor: September 2003), 314 pages.

Table of Contents

    • Foreword to the First Edition    13
    • Introduction to the Second Edition    15
    • Key to Abbreviations of Biblical Books    21
  • Chapter 1    Moral Theology: Its Nature, Purpose, and Biblical Foundation    23
    • The Moral Life — An Introductory Description    23
    • The Nature, Purpose, and Renewal of Moral Theology    23
    • 1.    Who We Are and Who We Are Meant to Be in the Light of Faith    23
    • 2.    Theology and Moral Theology    26
    • 3.    The Function and Purpose of Moral Theology    26
    • 4.    The Renewal of Moral Theology    27
    • Moral Theology and Holy Scripture    31
    • Conclusion    37
    • Notes for Chapter 1    37
  • Chapter 2    Human Dignity, Free Human Action, Virtue, and Conscience    41
    • 1.    Three Kinds of Human Dignity    41
    • 2.    Free Choice    44
    • 3.    The Significance of Human Action and the Meaning of Character    47
    • 4.    Virtue and Our Moral Life    48
    • A.    Grisez on Virtue    52
    • B.    St. Thomas Aquinas on Virtue    53
    • C.    Virtue-based Ethics and Principles-based Ethics    56
    • 5.    Conscience and Our Moral Life    57
    • Notes for Chapter 2    65
  • Chapter 3    The Natural Law and Moral Life    71
    • Introduction    71
  • Natural Law in St. Thomas Aquinas    71
    • 1.    The Basic Understanding of Law in the Summa Theologiae    72
    • 2.    Eternal Law    73
    • 3.    Natural Law: Its Central Meaning and Character    73
    • 4.    ‘Primary’ Precepts of Natural Law, Precepts ‘Close to’ Primary Precepts, and Other Precepts of Natural Law    76
    • Excursus 1    St. Thomas and Ulpian’s Definition of Natural Law    80
    • Excursus 2    St. Thomas’s Teaching on Natural Law in the Summa Contra Gentes    84
  • Natural Law, Vatican Council II, and Pope John Paul II    87
    • 1.    Natural Law and Vatican Council II    87
    • 2.    Natural Law in the Teaching of Pope John Paul II    91
  • Natural Law in the Thought of Germain Grisez, John Finnis, and Joseph Boyle    93
    • 1.    The First Principle of Practical Reasoning and Its General Specifications    94
    • 2.    The First Principle of Morality and the Ideal of ‘Integral Human Fulfillment’    98
    • 3.    The Specifications of the First Principle of Morality: The Modes of Responsibility    102
    • 4.    From Modes of Responsibility to Specific Moral Norms    105
    • 5.    Moral Priorities, Religion, and God    106
    • 6.    A Summary of the Natural Law Teaching of Grisez, Finnis, and Boyle    111
    • 7.    An Assessment of the Thought of Grisez, Finnis, and Boyle on Natural Law    113
  • Natural Law in the Thought of Martin Rhonheimer    119
    • 1.    Areas of Agreement Between Rhonheimer and Grisez, Finnis, and Boyle    119
    • 2.    Areas of Disagreement Between Rhonheimer and Grisez, Finnis, and Boyle    120
    • A.    Two Levels of Practical Reason: The Perceptive-Practical and the Descriptive-Reflexive    120
    • B.    The Relationship Between Natural Law and Virtue    122
    • C.    The Movement From the First or Common Principles of Natural Law to the ‘Proximate’ or ‘Immediate’ Conclusions    123
    • Conclusion    124
    • Notes for Chapter 3    125
  • Chapter 4    Moral Absolutes    141
    • Introduction    141
    • 1.    The Revisionist Rejection of Moral Absolutes    142
    • A.    Clarifying the Terminology    145
    • B.    Arguments to Support the Revisionists’ Denial of Moral Absolutes    146
    • I.    The ‘Preference’ Principle or Principle of ‘Proportionate Good’    146
    • II.    The Nature of a Human Act as a Totality    148
    • III.    The Historicity of Human Existence    150
    • 2.    A Critique of Revisionist Denial of Moral Absolutes    151
    • I.    The ‘Preference’ Principle or Principle of ‘Proportionate Good’    152
    • II.    The Nature of a Human Act as a Whole or Totality    156
    • III.    The Historicity of Human Existence and Moral Absolutes    157
    • 3.    A Defense of the Truth of Moral Absolutes    159
    • Notes for Chapter 4    164
    • Appendix I To Chapter Four: St. Thomas and Moral Absolutes    170
    • Notes for Appendix I to Chapter Four    174
    • Appendix II To Chapter Four: Pope John Paul II and Moral Absolutes    176
    • 1.    The Moral Specification of Human Acts    176
    • 2.    The Criteria for Assessing the Moral Goodness or Badness of Human Acts    177
    • 3.    Moral Absolutes Protect the Inviolable Dignity of Human Persons and Point the Way Toward Fulfillment in Christ    179
    • 4.    The Incoherence of Ethical Theories Denying the Existence of Intrinsically Evil Acts and Absolute Moral Norms    181
    • 5.    The Infallibility of the Teaching Found in Veritatis Splendor    182
  • Chapter 5    Sin and the Moral Life    185
    • 1.    The Core Meaning of Sin    185
    • A.    The Biblical Understanding of Sin    185
    • B.    The Understanding of Sin in the Catholic Theological Tradition    189
    • 2.    The Distinction Between Mortal and Venial Sin    194
    • A.    Biblical and Magisterial Sources for This Distinction    194
    • B.    The Classical Theological Understanding of This Distinction    196
    • C.    Fundamental Option Theories and the Distinction Between Mortal and Venial Sin    198
    • D.    Fundamental Commitments, the Christian Way of Life, and Mortal Sin    203
    • 3.    The Role of Sin in Our Moral Lives: The Way of Sin to Death    205
    • Notes for Chapter 5    207
  • Chapter 6    Christian Faith and Our Moral Life    211
    • 1.    The Existential Context of Our Moral Life    211
    • 2.    Jesus, the Foundation of the Christian Moral Life    215
    • 3.    Our Baptismal Commitment and Personal Vocation    221
    • 4.    Christian Love, the Principle of Our Life in Christ    227
    • 5.    The Beatitudes, Specifying the Requirements of Christian Love    229
    • 6.    The Question of Specific Christian Moral Norms    233
    • 7.    The Practicality of the Christian Moral Life    236
    • Conclusion    239
    • Notes for Chapter 6    240
  • Chapter 7    The Church as Moral Teacher    245
    • 1.    Teaching and Pastoral Authority Within the Church    245
    • 2.    Specific Moral Norms Infallibly Taught by the Magisterium    250
    • 3.    What Response Should Be Given to Moral Teachings of the Magisterium Proposed Authoritatively But Not Infallibly?    257
    • Notes for Chapter 7    265
  • Chapter 8    Christian Moral Life and John Paul II’s Encyclical Veritatis Splendor    269
    • Detailed Exposition of Pope John Paul II’s Teaching    269
    • The Introduction and an Overview of the Document    269
    • Chapter 1    Christ and the Answer to the Question About Morality    270
    • A.    Principal Ideas Set Forth in Chapter One    271
    • I.    The Religious and Existential Significance of the Young Man’s Question    271
    • II.    The Sovereignty of God Over the Moral Order    271
    • III.    The Essential Link Between Obedience to the Commandments and Eternal Life    272
    • IV.    The ‘Fulfillment’ of the Law in Jesus; the Universal Call to Perfection    272
    • V.    Moral Life, the Unity of the Church, and Revelation    273
    • VI.    The More-than-human Authority of the Magisterium on Moral Questions    273
    • B.    Dionigi Tettamanzi’s Analysis of Chapter One    274
    • I.    The Christocentric Meaning of Our Moral Life    274
    • II.    The Ecclesial Dimension of Christian Moral Life    275
    • Chapter 2    The Church and the Discernment of Certain Tendencies in Present-day Moral Theology    275
    • Introduction    275
    • I.    Freedom and the Law    277
    • II.    Conscience and the Truth    278
    • III.    Fundamental Choice and Specific Kinds of Behavior    279
    • IV.    The Moral Act    281
    • Chapter 3    Moral Good for the Life of the Church and of the World    283
    • Introduction    283
    • I.    The Relationship Between Human Freedom and the Truth    284
    • II.    The Intimate and Inseparable Unity of Faith and Morality    285
    • III.    The Relationship Between Respect for Personal Dignity and Refusal to Engage in Intrinsically Evil Acts    285
    • IV.    The Absolute Need for God’s Grace to Live a Morally Upright Life    286
    • V.    The Service of Moral Theologians    286
    • VI.    The Responsibility of Bishops    286
    • Reactions to the Encyclical    286
    • The Selling-Jans Book: The Splendor of Accuracy    287
    • Richard McCormick’s ‘Some Early Reactions to Veritatis Splendor’ and Martin Rhonheimer’s Critique of McCormick    288
    • J. A. DiNoia’s ‘Veritatis Splendor: Moral Life as Transfigured Life’    292
    • Conclusion    294
    • Notes for Chapter 8    294
    • Appendix    Christian Moral Life and the Catechism of the Catholic Church    295
    • 1.    A Synopsis of the Catechism’s Teaching on the Christian Moral Life    296
    • 2.    Essential Meaning of Christian Morality According to the Catechism    298
    • A.    The Moral Life as an Endeavor on the Part of Human Persons to Become Fully the Beings God Wills Them to Be    299
    • B.    Our Absolute Dependence Upon God to Enable Us to Become Fully the Beings He Wills Us to Be    300
    • C.    The God-given Authority of the Church as Mother and Teacher    300
    • D.    What We Must Do in Order to Become Fully the Beings God Wills Us to Be    301
    • Notes for Appendix    303
    • Index    305