THE SOURCES OF CHRISTIAN ETHICS This page intentionally left blank Servais Pinckaers, O.P. THE SOURCES OF CHRISTIAN ETHICS Translated from the third edition by Sr. Mary Thomas Noble, O.P. T&T CLARK EDINBURGH Copyright © The Catholic University of America Press, 1995 Originally published as Les sources de la morale chretienne, copyright © University Press Fribourg, 1985, 1990, 1993. The translation was funded in part by a grant from the Council of the University of Fribourg. The original French edition won the 1985 Lichtenstein Prize awarded by the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. This English translation first published in the United States of America by The Catholic University of America Press, 610 Michigan Avenue, N.E., Washington, D.C. 10064. This edition published under licence from The Catholic University of America Press by T&T Clark Ltd 59 George Street Edinburgh EHZ ILQ Scotland All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of T&T Clark Ltd. First published 1995 Reprinted 2001 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Printed and bound in Great Britain by The Cromwell Press, Trowbridge, Wiltshire Dedicated in faithful love to Our Lady of La Sarte* and to my parents *F6r readers unfamiliar with this title of Our Lady, the author's dedication refers to a shrine of Our Lady in La Sarte, a town near Huy in Belgium. Since the seventeenth century, La Sarte has been an important center for Marian pilgrimages. Until 1967 it was also the site of the Dominican Novitiate and House of Studies where Father Pinckaers taught. La Sarte evokes too the memory of Father Dominique Pire, O.P., one-time pastor there, founder of the organization "Aid for Displaced Persons" in the wake of World War II. Because of his outstanding work with the "hard core refugees," Father Pire was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1958. This page intentionally left blank Contents Foreword to the English Edition ix Introduction xvii i. What Is Christian Ethics? The Search for a Definition i 2,. Overview of Christian Ethics: Some Basic Questions 14 PART ONE: ETHICS, HUMAN AND CHRISTIAN 3. The Human Aspect of Christian Ethics 47 4. Christian Ethics: Its Distinctive Character 95 5. Christian Ethics according to St. Paul 104 6. The Sermon on the Mount and Christian Ethics 134 7. Is St. Thomas's Moral Teaching Christian? 168 PART TWO: A BRIEF HISTORY OF MORAL THEOLOGY Introduction: The Advantage of a History of Moral Theology or Christian Ethics, and the Difficulties Involved 191 8. The Patristic Period 195 9. Moral Theology in the Period of High Scholasticism 216 10. Moral Theology in the Late Middle Ages: The Nominalist Revolution 240 11. Moral Theology in the Modern Era of the Manuals 2.54 Vll viii Contents i z. Catholic Moral Theology and Protestant Ethics 2.80 13. Moral Theology Today 298 PART THREE: FREEDOM AND NATURAL LAW 14. Freedom of Indifference: The Origin of Obligational Moral Theory 3x7 15. Freedom for Excellence 354 16. Human Freedom according to St. Thomas Aquinas 379 17. Natural Inclinations at the Source of Freedom and Morality 400 Conclusion 457 Select Bibliography 469 Index 479 Foreword to the English Edition ROMANUS CESSARIO, O.P. A Recovery of Moral Teaching in the Church The Sources of Christian Ethics reaches its English-speaking reader ship at a particularly opportune moment. Dominican Father Servais Pinckaers provides both professional theologians and educated readers with an invaluable compendium for practicing and studying moral the- ology in the aftermath of Veritatis splendor. As one who has benefited immensely from Father Pinckaers's learning, I am honored to introduce this edition of his book published through the good services of The Catholic Unversity of America Press. The 1993 encyclical Veritatis splendor represents a new initiative in the history of magisterial teaching. It undertakes to expound "funda- mental questions of the Church's moral teaching" and so provides au- thoritative norms for establishing the morality of particular human actions of all kinds. In other words, the encyclical takes up the challenge of helping each believer answer what Pope John Paul II calls "the pri- mordial question: What is good and evil? What must be done to have eternal life?" (no. in). The encyclical gives technical precision to the moral teaching of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which presents Christian moral teaching as an instruction about living in Christ. The present volume offers precious commentary on these two documents of the Magisterium and thereby helps the reader develop his or her own response to the question concerning moral conduct and Christian sal- vation. Prudence, working through the moral virtues, disposes a person to good actions. In Veritatis Splendor, Pope John Paul II appropriates this central thesis of Thomist moral theology for the common teaching of the Church: "It is the 'heart' converted to the Lord and to the love of ix