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Catholic moral theology is a major category ofdoctrine in theCatholic Church, equivalent to areligious ethics. Moral theology encompassesCatholic social teaching, Catholicmedical ethics,sexual ethics, and various doctrines on individual moralvirtue and moral theory. It can be distinguished as dealing with "how one is to act", in contrast to dogmatic theology which proposes "what one is to believe".
Sources of Catholic moral theology include both theOld Testament and theNew Testament, and philosophicalethics such asnatural law that are seen as compatible with Catholic doctrine. Moral theology was mostly undifferentiated from theology in general during thepatristic era, and is found in thehomilies, letters and commentaries onScripture of the early Church fathers.
Examples of Catholic moral theologians includeSt. Alphonsus Liguori (author ofTheologia Moralis),Bartolomé Medina (originator ofProbabilism), Dominic Prümmer (Compensationism),Bernhard Häring (Dialogical Ethics),Servais Pinckaers (Nouvelle théologie),Germain Grisez andJohn Finnis (New Natural Law).
Moral theology tends to be advanced most authoritatively through official statements of doctrine, such as papalencyclicals, which are based on the dogmatic pronouncements ofEcumenical Councils (e.g.,Vatican II),Sacred Scriptures, andSacred Tradition. In addition, moral theologians publish their own works and write in a variety ofjournals devoted in whole, or in part to moral theology. These scholarly journals are helpful in making the theology of the Church more clear and accessible to others, and serve as a forum in which scholarly discussion of understanding and application of issues occurs. However, these journalsper se do not add or remove anything from Catholic teaching.
Thecurriculum forformation ofpriests commonly includes required and elective courses in Catholic moral theology.
During theMiddle Ages, moral theology developed in precision and scope throughscholasticism. Much of the Catholic Church's current moral theology, especially regarding natural law, is based in theSumma Theologica bySt. Thomas Aquinas, which is regarded as one of the best treatises of Catholic moral theology.[1]
Although many theologians found inspiration in Aquinas from his death onwards, moral theology did not become its own separate field of scholarship until after the council of Trent at the dawn of the baroque period and thereformation, one of the wishes of the council fathers was to set out the more rigorous training of priests which would lead to the genesis ofseminaries. Through the renewal of learning in the Churchspecialisation would begin to take root in thecurriculum, with theology becoming fragmented into different 'fields' such asdogmatic, moral,spiritual theology and so on. This would lead to the birth of the genre of the 'Manual'.
Manualism designates an approach toChristian ethics, especially in Catholic moral theology,[2][3][4][5][6][7][8] associated with Alphonsus Liguori[9][10] and the tradition of "moral manuals" (instruction manuals teaching explicitly right and wrong)[11][12][13][14] which came from him.[15]
The manualist tradition has an ambivalent relationship withscholasticism.[16][17][13][18]David Bentley Hart[12] among others[10][13][18] state that much of contemporaryThomism has more manualism thanAquinas himself.
The manualist tradition is related tocasuistry – Reasoning by extrapolation.[14]
Manualism is associated with the theology surrounding artificial birth control.[19]
The first manual of moral theology was written by theJesuit,Juan Azor in three volumes, hisInstitutionum Moralium published in the 17th century. Although claiming patrimony to Aquinas,nominalism was most prolific at the time among theintellectual elite which seems to have influenced Azor's outlook in his work, instead of focusing on thebeatitudes andvirtues in the moral life as Aquinas in hisSumma, nominalism emphasises the obligatory and legal nature of God'scommands as a result of the arbitrary will of God and a person'sconscience before the law, many would follow Azor's model with few modifications and this outlook would influence the whole manualist tradition of moral theology which would become less dominant afterVatican II, during this period it became more common for alternative approaches or attempts to return to a biblical, patristic or scholastic approach before the influence of nominalism and outgrowth ofcasuistry which was characteristic of thetridentine period.
Contemporary Catholic moral theology is developed by acts of theMagisterium, by thePope, otherbishops, and by the works of lay Catholic moral theologians, which include magisterial teachings, as well as (in some matters) theological opinions.
the Counter-Reformation, the manualist tradition produced a wealth of reflections between
manualist tradition's focus on the distinction between material and formal cooperation with evil as well as on the intention of those who so cooperate is at least implicit in our modes of argumentation.
Flannery begins by showing the inadequacies of the approach to cooperation with evil found in St. Alphonsus Liguori and the subsequent manualist tradition. Most pointedly, Liguori uses Aquinas's theory of morally indifferent acts in order to clarify his own position on material cooperation and yet, as becomes even clearer in the later manualists, this ends up revealing the problems with his own analysis. In chapter 2, Flannery finds the answer to these problems by focusing on Aquinas's account of how circumstances factor into the morality of indifferent acts. Rather than focus on the intention of the cooperator, Aquinas looks at the broader issues of whether or not an action is consistent with reason, justice, and charity. Chapter 3 helps to clarify all of this via the issue of scandal: Alphonsus ignores all others affected by acts of cooperation as well as "how the actions performed relate to the ultimate end and order of the moral universe" (122).
After the Council of Trent until the twentieth century, moral theology was shaped by the moral manuals used in seminaries to form future confessors. Manualist moral theology was concerned with avoidance of sin and obedience
In theological circles, the term "Thomism" (or "traditional Thomism" or "manualist Thomism" or "two-tier Thomism") typically refers not to the writings of Thomas himself, or even to any given scholar [...] who happens to study Thomas's thought, but to a particular faction of Baroque neoscholasticism, which began in the sixteenth century, principally withDomingo Banez, and which largely died out in the twentieth, principally withReginald Garrigou-Lagrange.
This was the tradition that produced the infamous Thomist "manuals," and that a succession of Catholic scholars [...] assailed as an impoverished early modern distortion of the medieval synthesis,
In fact, scholasticism and not manualism better conveys the tradition's long-term interests and purpose.
Since manualist moralists sought to uphold universal norms even while exercising casuistry for difficult cases, it became fashionable to denounce casuistry and leave individual choices to the individual's informed conscience. For that, manuals were superfluous, especially onceproportionalism was introduced into Catholic morality. Universal concepts no longer satisfied.
neo-scholastic Manualist tradition in the second chapter
neo-Thomist manualist tradition
His [Thomas Bouquillon's] neo-scholastic adherence to Thomas Aquinas served as the ultimate basis for his criticism of the manuals.
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