Morality : The Catholic View

St. Augustines Press
As Alasdair MacIntyre notes in the preface, the work of Pinckaers attracted strong
and fully justified notice in this country with the publication in English of his The
Sources of Christian Ethics. As Pinckaers himself notes in the text, excellently translated
by Michael Sherwin, the interest should in no way be limited to Roman
Catholics. Morality recasts the earlier book in an argument that is both lower and
upper case catholic, and is accessible to readers and teachers outside the limited
circle of moral theologians and academic ethicists. Pinckaers contends that
Christian morality is not first of all about obligations but about happiness, understanding
that the happiness of union with God is our natural destiny made possible
by grace. The Sermon on the Mount is at the center of an approach to morality
that turns on the distinction between freedom for excellence and freedom of
indifference, the former understood as human flourishing and the latter as a neutral
capacity to choose between controversies. The proposal of Morality is thoroughly
Christ-centered, humanistic, and faithful to the magisterial teaching of the
Church. Warmly recommended.