Contemporary moral theologians address a wider scope of ethical issues pertaining to families than did theologians of previous generations. In addition to attending to questions about sexual morality, divorce, and remarriage, many are arguing for intentional family practices, asking what can be done to decrease domestic violence, treating children as moral actors in their own
This note, extended into an article to commemorate Vatican II, argues that any study of the council and theological ethics must attend to World War II’s devastating impact on the field. The war moved European ethicists to repudiate the three centuries of moral manuals and propose a theological ethics based on conscience acting out of
The author discusses the relationship between historical studies and the hermeneutics of the Second Vatican Council. He seeks to develop a critical understanding of the two-sided debate about how to understand and assess the event of the council by showing how one side argues not on the basis of historical understanding of the council but
The article examines changes in teaching and practice endorsed by Vatican II. What “combination of continuity and discontinuity” (Pope Benedict XVI) shaped those reforms? Several conciliar documents set out principles guiding the changes by retrieving neglected traditions (ressourcement) and bringing the church’s life up to date (aggiornamento). The article suggests going beyond such schemes as
Since Vatican II the Latin American church has come of age to become an autochthonous and distinctive expression of the universal church. The article enlists the postconciliar general conferences of Latin American bishops to explore the creative reception of the council and how it has shaped the identity and mission of this church. Three theological
The centenary of Walter Ong’s birth offers an occasion to reflect on how his research into culture, language, orality and literacy, and communication practices can contribute to the work of those engaged in theological research and reflection. This article argues that his work helps us understand how shifting information handling (from classical rhetoric to writing
Both Thomas More and John Henry Newman understood the human subject as a historically situated, responsible, and dynamic being that realizes itself through conscientious moral action amid the ambiguities of history. Both men were also obliged to come to terms with the tensile relationship between loyalty to conscience and loyalty to tradition. Their lives and
The average Christian who accepts or rejects purgatory usually views it as a demi-hell set up by divine justice between heaven and hell to punish those who have died without having made sufficient reparation for their sins. This article contends, however, that the purgatorial stage of the consciousness of the mystics, caused by their intense
The author explores John Courtney Murray’s thought on the telos of Catholic higher education. Although best known for his political writings on church and state and for his advocacy of religious freedom within a pluralistic society, Murray has also written extensively on Catholic higher education. After reviewing some of the core principles that guided his
