Post by homeschooldad on Mar 9, 2024 17:21:57 GMT
archive.org/details/HandbookOfMoralTheology_201805
I know that my up-till-now go-to moral theology book, the one by Father Heribert Jone, elicits mixed responses among those who are aware of its existence, and while it is overall a sound book (the section on, of all things, business ethics and contracts, is huge), some parts of it are hard to understand (it's a translation from German), Jone does not normally cite sources (and says so at the outset, to hear him tell it, that would make the book very difficult to use), and his sections on rape and, pardon me, sodomy within marriage, are, to put it mildly, perplexing. As a rule, when I see something in Jone, and think "hey, this just doesn't sound quite right", I make sure and check other sources.
On the other hand, this moral theology manual by Fr Prümmer doesn't seem, just from casual reading, to present these problems, aside from possibly not having all the citations one would like. I actually found its section on moral issues regarding marriage (as well as licit reasons for spousal separation, and the limits on the "marriage debt") to be quite liberal for its day. It's very easy, approachable reading. I'm going to be digging into it more in the next few days or weeks, but so far, it seems very good. The most recent edition by Sophia Institute Press has the blessing of Fr Chad Ripperger, make of that what one will. So it's far from being some hoary source, pored over in the fetid fever swamps of hyper-traditionalism, by men (and it is almost always men) looking for fodder to condemn even the morally licit use of NFP and to call in the "marriage debt" (assuming they have a spouse, many don't, and for some of them, it'll probably never happen, the word "incel" comes immediately to mind) at the slightest whim of the husband (or, I suppose, hypothetically, the wife).
I know, I know, back in the day, these were intended to be manuals for priests to use in the confessional, and laypeople both weren't expected to read them, and might actually have been discouraged from it. They weren't something that would be found in everyday Catholic home libraries. People just ran off and asked their priests everything, sometimes before the fact, sometimes afterwards ("did I commit a mortal sin?"). Nonetheless, if your life has any kind of complexity at all --- and mine does --- and if your thought processes go anywhere beyond simple black-and-white ideas (ditto), a book such as this can't hurt and might help tremendously. I've normally found Jone helpful in that regard --- I've never raped anyone, never been raped, and I've never done "that thing" with my wife or anyone else, and have no desire to do so (gross!) --- but if I could find a better book, I'd be up for making it my "go-to". One's well-catechized, orthodox sensus catholicus will normally do quite well for moral casuistry, but sometimes you have to check things out further. That's where these manuals come in handy.
And, no, the current Catechism, or any catechism for that matter, won't help you sometimes. Catechisms are not moral theology books, nor are they guides to casuistry. That's not their purpose. So "what does the Catechism say?" isn't always the best question to be asking.
And, yes, moral theology is a great interest of mine, because I want never to offend Almighty God, and knowing what is a sin and what isn't, and whether it is a mortal or a venial sin (pace the recent neo-Jansenists --- this is deeply disturbing --- no, not every sin against one of the Ten Commandments constitutes grave matter per se, seems like folks nowadays have lapsed either into an appalling laxity on the one hand, or crippling scrupulosity on the other, not good), is something I'm interested in. If one is not concerned with these things, I don't know what to say, except that's a problem. I even looked into the online graduate program in moral theology at Christendom College --- it's not massively expensive --- and might even go that route one day. Need a third master's degree like a hole in my head, but you just never know.
I know that my up-till-now go-to moral theology book, the one by Father Heribert Jone, elicits mixed responses among those who are aware of its existence, and while it is overall a sound book (the section on, of all things, business ethics and contracts, is huge), some parts of it are hard to understand (it's a translation from German), Jone does not normally cite sources (and says so at the outset, to hear him tell it, that would make the book very difficult to use), and his sections on rape and, pardon me, sodomy within marriage, are, to put it mildly, perplexing. As a rule, when I see something in Jone, and think "hey, this just doesn't sound quite right", I make sure and check other sources.
On the other hand, this moral theology manual by Fr Prümmer doesn't seem, just from casual reading, to present these problems, aside from possibly not having all the citations one would like. I actually found its section on moral issues regarding marriage (as well as licit reasons for spousal separation, and the limits on the "marriage debt") to be quite liberal for its day. It's very easy, approachable reading. I'm going to be digging into it more in the next few days or weeks, but so far, it seems very good. The most recent edition by Sophia Institute Press has the blessing of Fr Chad Ripperger, make of that what one will. So it's far from being some hoary source, pored over in the fetid fever swamps of hyper-traditionalism, by men (and it is almost always men) looking for fodder to condemn even the morally licit use of NFP and to call in the "marriage debt" (assuming they have a spouse, many don't, and for some of them, it'll probably never happen, the word "incel" comes immediately to mind) at the slightest whim of the husband (or, I suppose, hypothetically, the wife).
I know, I know, back in the day, these were intended to be manuals for priests to use in the confessional, and laypeople both weren't expected to read them, and might actually have been discouraged from it. They weren't something that would be found in everyday Catholic home libraries. People just ran off and asked their priests everything, sometimes before the fact, sometimes afterwards ("did I commit a mortal sin?"). Nonetheless, if your life has any kind of complexity at all --- and mine does --- and if your thought processes go anywhere beyond simple black-and-white ideas (ditto), a book such as this can't hurt and might help tremendously. I've normally found Jone helpful in that regard --- I've never raped anyone, never been raped, and I've never done "that thing" with my wife or anyone else, and have no desire to do so (gross!) --- but if I could find a better book, I'd be up for making it my "go-to". One's well-catechized, orthodox sensus catholicus will normally do quite well for moral casuistry, but sometimes you have to check things out further. That's where these manuals come in handy.
And, no, the current Catechism, or any catechism for that matter, won't help you sometimes. Catechisms are not moral theology books, nor are they guides to casuistry. That's not their purpose. So "what does the Catechism say?" isn't always the best question to be asking.
And, yes, moral theology is a great interest of mine, because I want never to offend Almighty God, and knowing what is a sin and what isn't, and whether it is a mortal or a venial sin (pace the recent neo-Jansenists --- this is deeply disturbing --- no, not every sin against one of the Ten Commandments constitutes grave matter per se, seems like folks nowadays have lapsed either into an appalling laxity on the one hand, or crippling scrupulosity on the other, not good), is something I'm interested in. If one is not concerned with these things, I don't know what to say, except that's a problem. I even looked into the online graduate program in moral theology at Christendom College --- it's not massively expensive --- and might even go that route one day. Need a third master's degree like a hole in my head, but you just never know.