Reviews for The new Christian ethics

The average rating for The new Christian ethics based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2014-01-10 00:00:00 Ward Orndoff Personally, I far preferred Gallagher's Time Past, Time Future to The Making of Moral Theology, if I am allowed to compare books along that line. That said, it was fascinating to see by the end how Mahoney tries to reconcile the Roman Catholic Church's past neo-Thomist/manualist/legalistic teachings (and papacies) with the post-Vatican II teachings and papacies. I can't agree with his conclusions that the Church must change its teachings to fit the cultures it lies within, but it is interesting to try to trace the paths and controversies that he explores. Of note, I did find it significantly more difficult to read about halfway through, from what I found. My "reader's block" became strong with this one, especially with the increasingly convoluted and lengthy sentences that became more prevalent with more focus on subjectivism. I wonder if there is a correlation...?

Review # 2 was written on 2016-01-11 00:00:00 Norbert Saerberg One of the few contemporary authoritative histories of Roman Catholic Moral Theology. The field was not distinct subject matter until relatively recently. Mahoney provides an excellent narrative that contextualizes the discipline. The first chapter is innovative in finding the origin of the subject in terms of the practice of confession. Confession in Patristic times was a public event. The penitent often received public punishments that lasted years. The worst sins were apostasy, murder, or adultery. For these sins excommunication was often imposed. There were significant debates with regard to re-admitting apostates for instance after persecutions. Upon the fall of the Empire the Church encountered barbarians en masse causing the praxis to shift away from public penance to suit the barbarized world. Monks who protected ancient religious manuscripts in Ireland eventually set out to re-evangelize the Continent when the Dark Ages drew to a close, initiating private confession as well as penitential manuals for the first time. The Irish monks were often considered spiritual healers who prescribed mortifications or spiritual disciplines to cure or atone for various sins. From these orders the practice of private confession developed. Confession to a priest properly ordained in particular became institutionalized. Finally, the practice was enshrined at the Fourth Lateran Council requiring every Church member to confess once a year on pains of mortal sin. Mahoney recounts more of the history involved in other parts of the volume. Themes include legalistic or juridical approaches to sin, the place of subjectivity, kinds of sins or the effects on the soul, or the practices of penance addressed above. The end of the book covers recent developments since Vatican II which called for the renewal of the discipline. Liberation theology or feminist ethics for example challenge the more conservative views of the subject. The Making of Moral Theology is an interesting read for theologians or readers with an interest in history. Overall, the book is more interesting in terms of history than non-narrative accounts that treat the material strictly in terms of theology.