Reviews

Catholicism and Ethics by James J. Drummey, Paul James Hayes, Edward J. Hayes, Dorothy E. Kelly

wwatts1734's review

4.0

This book is one of the four volumes of the "Catholicism" series by two Catholic priests. Written in the 1990s, it is actually not a bad book on Catholic moral theology. The top selling points of this volume are that it is very short and concise, and it is faithful to actual Catholic teaching on ethical issues. While those are great traits, perhaps this volumes two greatest weaknesses are also that it is short and concise and that it is faithful to Catholic moral teaching. The fact that it is short and concise means that it skips over and oversimplifies some very difficult teachings, and this could be problematic to the student of moral theology. There are works that fill 4 substantial tomes that cover the same material as this short little book. So, of course, the reader should refer to more in depth works on those issues that "Catholism and Ethics" is short. Also, while a moral theology book that is faithful to Catholic teaching is great, this book does not cover some of the modern theories of morals that the Church has specifically rejected. While that is good because it is less likely to confuse beginning moralists, it is bad because inevitably the reader of this book will be confronted by these views, and will be unprepared to address them. So, again, the reader of this book should refer to more in depth treatments of morals after reading "Catholicism and Morals."

Another slight criticism of this work is the fact that, in trying to be with the times, it ends up dating itself. The authors rely heavily on the works of St. John Paul II, which is great, but they ignore the older and more established works of moral theology. Furthermore, the authors make reference to Catholic circuit speakers of the 1990s who, while these speakers may have been familiar to the readers of the 1990s, are completely foreign to today's readers. Once again, the reader of this volume should refer to a more in depth treatment of Catholic moral theology that describes the thought of Catholic theologians from prior to the 20th century.

Having said all that, I would highly recommend this book to beginning students of Catholic moral theology.

catherinemohs's review

5.0

An excellent read! Highly reccomend it to Catholic young adults. In this perverted and sinful world, it is extremely helpful to know and learn what is morally permissible and what is not. This book covers controversial topics such as contraception, abortion, euthanasia, AIDS, cloning, natural familly planning, etc. and makes it clear if and when such actions are morally permissible and why.