The Abuse of Conscience: A Century of Catholic Moral Theology

by Matthew Levering

Publisher:

Eerdmans

, 2021

Overview

How important is the conscience for the Christian moral life? How should it be understood in relation to the teachings of the Bible and of church tradition?

In this book, Matthew Levering surveys twentieth-century Catholic moral theology to construct an argument for keeping conscience firmly alongside prudence, charity, and the gifts of the Spirit—and for understanding it as something that must be formed by the revealed truths of Scripture as interpreted and applied in the church. Levering shows how conscience-centered ethics came to be—both prior to and following the Second Vatican Council—and how important voices from both the Catholic and Protestant communities criticized the primacy of conscience in favor of an approach that considers conscience within “the broader framework of the Christian moral organism.”

Rather than engaging with current hot-button issues, Levering presents and deconstructs the work of twenty-six noteworthy theologians from the recent past in order to work through core matters. He begins by examining how the conscience has been dealt with in dialogue with the Bible and in the Catholic “moral manuals” of the twentieth century. He then explores the rebuttals to conscience-centered ethics offered by pre- and post-conciliar Thomists and the emergence of a new, even more problematic conscience-centered ethics in German thought. Amid this wide-ranging introduction to various strands of Catholic moral theology, Levering crafts an incisive intervention of his own against the “abuse of conscience” that besets the church today as it did in the last century.

Key Features

• Provides an incisive intervention of his own against the “abuse of conscience” that besets the church today as it did in the last century
• Examines how the conscience has been dealt with in dialogue with the Bible and in the Catholic “moral manuals” of the twentieth century
• Presents and deconstructs the work of twenty-six noteworthy theologians

Contents

• Conscience and the Bible
• Conscience and the Moral Manuals
• Conscience and the Thomists
• Conscience and German Thought

Top Highlights

“But the first practical principles that govern supernatural conscience do not come from synderesis; rather, they come from the ‘first practical principles of faith,’ such as ‘we must seek the happiness of the beatific vision’ (171).” (Page 90)

“Twentieth-century Catholic moral theology was marked throughout by an ‘abuse of conscience.’” (Page 1)

“gave too expansive a place to conscience in the Christian moral life” (Page 1)

“one reads this book in order to get a sense for what conscience is” (Page 1)

“Journal of Moral Theology 8, Special Issue 2 (2019): 134–65” (Page vii)

Product Details

• Title: The Abuse of Conscience: A Century of Catholic Moral Theology
• Author: Matthew Levering
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Print Publication Date: 2021
• Logos Release Date: 2021
• Pages: 360
• Era: era:contemporary
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
• Subjects: Christian ethics › Catholic authors--History--20th century; Conscience › Religious aspects--Catholic Church
• ISBNs: 9780802879509, 0802879500
• Resource ID: LLS:CNSCNCTHCSMRLTH
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-03-25T19:27:26Z

About Matthew Levering

Matthew Levering is a Roman Catholic theologian and and Perry Family Foundation Professor of Theology at Mundelein Seminary of the University of Saint Mary of the Lake. Prior to this, Levering was professor of theology at the University of Dayton in Ohio and also taught for nine years at Ave Maria University in Naples, Florida. Levering earned a BA from the University of North Carolina, an MTS from Duke Divinity School, and a PhD from Boston College. He is an expert on the theology of Thomas Aquinas.