Table Of ContentDiverse Voices
in Modern US
Moral Theology
Selected Titles from the Moral Traditions Series
David Cloutier, Kristin Heyer, and Andrea Vicini, SJ, Editors
The Acting Person and Christian Moral Life Loyal Dissent: Memoir of a
Darlene Fozard Weaver Catholic Theologian
Charles E. Curran
Aquinas, Feminism, and the Common Good
Susanne M. DeCrane Moral Evil
Andrew Michael Flescher
Aquinas on the Emotions: A Religious
Ethical Inquiry The Origins of War: A Catholic Perspective
Diana Fritz Cates Matthew A. Shadle
Aquinas on Virtue: A Causal Reading Prophetic and Public: The Social Witness of
Nicholas Austin, SJ U.S. Catholicism
Kristin E. Heyer
Catholic Moral Theology in the United States:
A History Reconsidering Intellectual Ability: L’Arche,
Charles E. Curran Medical Ethics, and Christian Friendship
Jason Reimer Greig
The Critical Calling: Reflections on Moral
Dilemmas since Vatican II The Sexual Person: Toward a Renewed
Richard A. McCormick Catholic Anthropology
Todd A. Salzman and Michael G. Lawler
A Culture of Engagement: Law, Religion,
and Morality Sex, Violence, and Justice: Contraception and
Cathleen Kaveny the Catholic Church
Aline H. Kalbian
Family Ethics: Practices for Christians
Julie Hanlon Rubio The Social Mission of the U.S. Catholic
Church: A Theological Perspective
Kinship across Borders: A Christian Ethic
Charles E. Curran
of Immigration
Kristin E. Heyer Theological Bioethics: Participation, Justice,
and Change
Living the Truth: A Theory of Action
Lisa Sowle Cahill
Klaus Demmer
Love and Christian Ethics: Tradition, Theory,
and Society
Frederick V. Simmons
Diverse Voices
in Modern US
Moral Theology
Charles E. Curran
Georgetown University Press
Washington, DC
© 2018 Georgetown University Press. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, includ-
ing photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.
The publisher is not responsible for third-party websites or their content. URL links
were active at time of publication.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Curran, Charles E., author.
Title: Diverse Voices in Modern US Moral Theology / Charles E. Curran.
Other titles: Diverse Voices in Modern US Moral Theology
Description: Washington, DC : Georgetown University Press, 2018. | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018004912 (print) | LCCN 2018006840 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781626166332 (ebook) | ISBN 9781626166325 (pbk.: alk. paper) |
ISBN 9781626166318 (hardcover : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Christian ethics—Catholic authors. | Christian ethics—United States. |
Theologians—United States. | Catholic Church—Doctrines.
Classification: LCC BJ1249 (ebook) | LCC BJ1249 .C81724 2019 (print) | DDC
241/.0420973—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018004912
This book is printed on acid-free paper meeting the requirements of the American
National Standard for Permanence in Paper for Printed Library Materials.
19 18 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 First printing
Printed in the United States of America.
Cover design by Martha Madrid.
In gratitude to all those who over the years have helped to
prepare my manuscripts for publication.
They are too numerous to mention but too important to forget.
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Contents
Preface ix
1. John C. Ford 1
2. Bernard Häring 19
3. Josef Fuchs 39
4. Richard A. McCormick 61
5. Germain G. Grisez 85
6. Romanus Cessario 107
7. Margaret A. Farley 129
8. Lisa Sowle Cahill 151
9. Ada María Isasi-Díaz 177
10. Bryan N. Massingale 197
11. New Wine, New Wineskins 209
12. James F. Keenan 221
Conclusion 249
Index 253
About the Author 265
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Preface
This volume discusses the method and approach of twelve significant figures
in Catholic moral theology in the United States beginning with John C.
Ford (1902–89) and continuing down to the present. In addition to Ford,
this book explores the approaches of Bernard Häring; Josef Fuchs; Richard
A. McCormick; Germain G. Grisez; Romanus Cessario; Margaret A. Farley;
Lisa Sowle Cahill; Ada María Isasi-Díaz; Bryan N. Massingale; the New
Wine, New Wineskins movement; and James F. Keenan.
Some comments about those included in the volume are in order. Ber-
nard Häring and Josef Fuchs were both Germans who taught for a long time
in Rome, beginning in the 1950s. These two were major international fig-
ures, but they also made a significant impact on Catholic moral theology in
the United States because of their writings and their teaching and lecturing
in this country. Häring and Fuchs were teaching at a time when the home
of moral theology was in seminaries and the theologates and the theologians
themselves were priests. There were very few publishing US moral theolo-
gians at this time.
In the United States, the home of moral theology in the late 1970s and
especially the 1980s began to shift to colleges and universities. Some of the
newest moral theologians were female religious, such as Margaret Farley, but
they were followed by laypeople, such as Lisa Sowle Cahill. Today the ma-
jority of moral theologians in the United States are laypeople. Since the late
1970s, there has been a tremendous growth in the quantity and quality of
moral theologians writing in this country. In addition, as we come closer to
the present time, theologians teaching in Rome no longer have the influence
or the reputation of Häring and Fuchs.
All the approaches discussed here deal with individual moral theologians,
except for the treatment of the New Wine, New Wineskins movement. The
approach of this movement, which came to the fore in the first decade of the
twenty-first century, is significant both because of its distinctive approach to
