Richard A Mccormick And The Renewal Of Moral Theology

In a career that spanned the periods before, during, and after the Second Vatican Council, Richard A. McCormick, S.J. (1922-2000), was one of the major American theologians who demonstrated broad interest in Christian theological ethics and has written extensively on the issues of fundamental and special theology. When the Second Vatican Council directed that attention should be paid to the renewal of moral theology, McCormick answered that challenge. In this study Paulinus Ikechukwu Odozor, C.S.Sp., examines McCormick's thought and work in detail and sets it against the backdrop of larger developments that have taken place within the Church and the field of moral theology. Odozor begins by establishing McCormick's contribution to the renewal of moral theology and reconstructs McCormick's theological program by situating him within various social, theological, and professional contexts. He then goes on to show whether and to what extent McCormick has been consistent and coherent in his moral theological discourse. To effectively pursue the aims of this study, Odozor divided it into seven chapters. The first chapter delineates the parameters of pre-Vatican II moral theology and situates McCormick and his work in a larger context by defining the historical, social, and ecclesial contexts of his formation. The next five chapters take up themes central to understanding McCormick's work, including the nature of Christian ethics, the Church as moral teacher, proportionate reasoning, anthropology, and casuistry. In addition to his insightful analysis of McCormick's contributions to the field, Odozor includes a sensitive treatment of the complex interactions between McCormick as an individual scholar and the world in relation to which his identity as a scholar was formed and transformed.

The purpose of this book is twofold. First, to honour and celebrate the contribution of Richard A. McCormick to the field of moral theology. Second, to assess the present state and possible future developments in the discipline of Christian ethics. The seventeen authors assembled here include some of the most prominent scholars in the field of Christian ethics today. The new studies collected in this volume use McCormick's own writings as a starting point in order to evaluate the present and future of moral theology, particularly within the Catholic tradition. In addition to questions in fundamental moral theology, there are sections devoted to sexual, medical, social and political issues in the field of Christian ethics.

This study offers a comprehensive survey of developments in moral theology since the Second Vatican Council. The author discusses the call of the Council for the renewal of moral theology and the role the Council itself played in this renewal. Odozor also explores the various issues and controversies which have marked the discipline since the 1960s. The dramatic changes and developments in moral theology during this period rival any in the history of the Church. of Christian morality, natural law, scripture and ethics, moral norms, the Church's teaching authority, virtue ethics, and casuistry. Odozor provides a constructive proposal for a common ground which makes these debates in moral discourse possible. ethicists, systematic theologians and anyone interested in Catholic cultural and intellectual history since Vatican II.

When Richard A. McCormick's The Critical Calling was first published, Andrew M. Greeley commented that "in years to come scholars will look back on Father McCormick's work and say, 'This was a man who knew what he was talking about!'" In this reissue, with a new foreword by Lisa Sowle Cahill, both first-time readers and those opening the pages for a return visit with an honored friend will find Greeley's characterization remains valid. Father McCormick begins The Critical Calling with his personal affirmation of the work of Vatican II: "I believe the Council was a work of the Spirit--desperately needed, divinely inspired, devotedly and doggedly carried through." Yet, he stresses this was no uncritical endorsement of everything the Council did and said. Part One includes a discussion of fundamental moral theology that looks at the relationship between the church hierarchy and individual moral decision making and several chapters addressing issues precipitated by actions involving Cardinal Josef Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI. Part Two focuses on practical and pastoral questions that touch on contemporary concerns ranging from abortion to AIDS, divorce, homosexuality, and teenage sexuality. Cahill suggests that "those who lived through the tumultuous 1960s and '70s" as well as "those who came to maturity after the Council" will find this book to be an accurate and evocative reflection of the passions that imbued all those early debates and a helpful explanation why those passions ran so high. All readers will benefit from the wise insights into the controversies of that era and the more recent struggles, challenges, and debates that confront today's church.

Essays linking Roman Catholic tradition and American cultural moral issues in the last fifty years.

Given the largely Eurocentric nature of moral theology in the history of the Roman Catholic Church, what will it take to invest the theological community in the history and moral challenges of the Church in other parts of the world, especially Africa? What is to be gained for the whole Church when this happens in a deep and lasting way? In this timely and important study, Paulinus Ikechukwu Odozor brings greater theological clarity to the issue of the relationship between Christianity and African tradition in the area of ethical foundations. He also provides a constructive example of what fundamental moral theology done from an African and Christian (especially Catholic) moral theological point of view could look like. Following a brief history of the development of African Christian theology, Odozor examines responses of African theologians to African tradition and Christian responses to the reality of non-Christian religions. In a context where the African religious experience and heritage are powerful sources of meaning and identity, Christian evangelization raises questions both about the African primal religions and about Christianity itself and its claims. Odozor takes up the subject of moral reasoning in an African Christian theological ethics and concludes with case studies that show how the African Church has tried to inculturate moral discourse on a religiously pluralistic continent and relate the healing gospel message to African situations. Students and scholars of moral theology and ethics and church leaders will profit from the issues raised in Morality Truly Christian, Truly African.