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A Morally Complex World: Engaging Contemporary Moral Theology
How can people celebrate the gospel of life in their daily lives? What about cloning? Is euthanasia morally acceptable in certain cases, such as terminal illness? In case of health reasons, mental illness, pregnancy due to rape, etc., is abortion morally acceptable? Are you in favor of the use of contraceptives, both natural and artificial? A Morally Complex World will not answer such complex questions in detail, but it does provide a framework for trying to grapple better with the first question of how we should lead our moral lives in general, as well as some of the concrete ethical issues the other three questions raise. A Morally Complex World is an accessible introduction to moral theology covering the methodology of moral theology; basic concepts such as conscience and moral agency; natural law, moral norms; how the Bible can be used in Christian ethics; how to dialogue on contested ethical issues; how to consider sin and moral failure; and finally, how to mediate moral principles and moral teaching in a pastorally sensitive manner in concrete life situations. Chapters are Mapping a Moral Methodology, The Natural Law and Moral Moving Along the Rational Claim Axis, Scripture and Moving Along the Sacred Claim Axis, The Sanctuary of Where the Axes Intersect, Modes of Moral Navigating Towards a Common Ground, Navigating in the Morally Complex Casuistry with a Human Face, and Sin and Failure in a Morally Complex World. James T. Bretzke, SJ, STD, is associate professor of theology and religious studies at the University of San Francisco, and an adjunct professor of moral theology at the Jesuit School of Theology-at-Berkeley. He has written three books, including Consecrated A Latin Theological Dictionary, published by Liturgical Press, which won an award from the Catholic Press Association. He has also authored over fifty articles and scholarly reviews in the areas of Roman Catholic moral theology and cross-cultural ethics. "
- GenresTheology
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 23, 2009
Book was interesting to read, gives you a good grasp on the Catholic view of ethics, and Bretzke is not dry, which makes it a read that won't put you to sleep.
June 5, 2022
Let's start with a declaration. I am a lifelong Catholic. This review is colored by my convictions.
Bretzke tells the reader (p.138) "We are born with conscience, but it is not like a genetic code that stamps our moral character in the ways in which our genes might condition and influence our biological devlopment." That assertion may have flown in 2004, when this book was published. However, given the advances in genetics since then, the assertion "born with conscience" makes no sense.
In 2022, we live in an RNA world, and we're a long way from fully understanding its complexities. That said, we can reasonably assert that "conscience" must, in some way, be related to the "genetic code" that Bretzke deprecates. The inter-relationship betwen RNA and DNA in any human allows for enormous variation in "conditioning" and "stamping" who we are.
Asserting that conscience is somehow beyond the stuff of which we are made is false. Such an assertion is not needed to deal with the questions Bretzke's "morally complex world" poses to every one of us, every day.
Bretzke's "Spiral of Conscience" diagram on p.139 seems to hold promise - until we reach p.141. There we are told "discernment means opening up the decision-making process not only to rational deliberation, but situating the decision in such a way that...we try to be open and sensitive to God's own Spirit present in our world....this is really what conscience-based moral living is all about."
A Christian reader might be comfortable with Bretzke's comments on discernment. The problem is that "conscience" is non-denominational. EVERYONE grapples with discerning good and evil. That's what "conscience-based moral living" is all about.
No one bats 1.000 in this ball game - and the ball game is integrated! Folks playing it may be Muslim, Hindu, Jew, Buddhist, atheist or who-knows-what. For some, "God's own Spirit" will be a knuckle ball masquerading as a slider.
A Catholic moral theology needs to be "catholic"; i.e., universal. Bretzke's is denominational. As Catholics, we need to address the human condition holistically. How the notion of "conscience" fits with modern neuroscience is where our focus should be.
It appears Bretzke wrote "A Morally Complex World" for an undergraduate Catholic audience. If so, the book's efficacy may lie in the compassion he displays for people caught in moral dilemmas. Bretzke's description of the complexity surrounding the abortion issue in the US is a genuine appeal for considered debate as opposed to slogans, and is arguably the highlight of the book.
Bretzke tells the reader (p.138) "We are born with conscience, but it is not like a genetic code that stamps our moral character in the ways in which our genes might condition and influence our biological devlopment." That assertion may have flown in 2004, when this book was published. However, given the advances in genetics since then, the assertion "born with conscience" makes no sense.
In 2022, we live in an RNA world, and we're a long way from fully understanding its complexities. That said, we can reasonably assert that "conscience" must, in some way, be related to the "genetic code" that Bretzke deprecates. The inter-relationship betwen RNA and DNA in any human allows for enormous variation in "conditioning" and "stamping" who we are.
Asserting that conscience is somehow beyond the stuff of which we are made is false. Such an assertion is not needed to deal with the questions Bretzke's "morally complex world" poses to every one of us, every day.
Bretzke's "Spiral of Conscience" diagram on p.139 seems to hold promise - until we reach p.141. There we are told "discernment means opening up the decision-making process not only to rational deliberation, but situating the decision in such a way that...we try to be open and sensitive to God's own Spirit present in our world....this is really what conscience-based moral living is all about."
A Christian reader might be comfortable with Bretzke's comments on discernment. The problem is that "conscience" is non-denominational. EVERYONE grapples with discerning good and evil. That's what "conscience-based moral living" is all about.
No one bats 1.000 in this ball game - and the ball game is integrated! Folks playing it may be Muslim, Hindu, Jew, Buddhist, atheist or who-knows-what. For some, "God's own Spirit" will be a knuckle ball masquerading as a slider.
A Catholic moral theology needs to be "catholic"; i.e., universal. Bretzke's is denominational. As Catholics, we need to address the human condition holistically. How the notion of "conscience" fits with modern neuroscience is where our focus should be.
It appears Bretzke wrote "A Morally Complex World" for an undergraduate Catholic audience. If so, the book's efficacy may lie in the compassion he displays for people caught in moral dilemmas. Bretzke's description of the complexity surrounding the abortion issue in the US is a genuine appeal for considered debate as opposed to slogans, and is arguably the highlight of the book.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews