Customer Reviews

Principles for a Catholic Morality: Revised Edition

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The first edition of this book is twenty years old. This totally revised edition is eight years old. But it remains the finest, most balanced presentation of Christian ethics out of the Roman Catholic tradition. And what I especially appreciated was that it's written in a clear and accessible style. Actually interesting!

I saw this at a used bookstore and decided to pick it up, after all, with a title like Principles For A Catholic Morality it must be good right? Well, it has it's good points such as being easy to read and understand, but that is about it. If you just look at the substance of the book itself you'll find another dissident that says a whole lot of nothing and leaves you scratching your head at the end.

He questions the Magisterium and makes it seem like there has never been any infallible teaching on morals in the history of the Church, thereby opening up the Church to the moral and cultural rot of whatever time and place it finds itself in such as the enthroned moral relativism of our own time. When all is said and done you feel like the Catholic Church is a changeable institution that ought to keep up with the times, even if that means legalizing sodomy, abortion and assisted suicide.

The three stars are for the nice and easy way the book reads, not for any real substance. There are better books on Catholic morality out there such as Morality: The Catholic View by Servais Pinckaers, O.P. that are just as easy to read and aren't so one sided and unabashedly liberal.