A Church That Can And Cannot Change: The Development of Catholic Moral Teaching (Erasmus Institute Books)

By John T. Noonan Jr.

Book Overview

Using concrete examples, John T. Noonan, Jr., demonstrates that the moral teaching of the Catholic Church has changed and continues to change without abandoning its foundational commitment to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Specifically, Noonan looks at the profound changes that have occurred over the centuries in Catholic moral teaching on freedom of conscience, lending for a profit, and slavery. He also offers a close examination of the change now in progress concerning divorce.

In these changes Noonan perceives the Catholic Church to be a vigorous, living organism answering new questions with new answers, and enlarging the capacity of believers to learn through experience and empathy what love demands. He contends that the impetus to change comes from a variety of sources, including prayer, meditation on Scripture, new theological insights and analyses, the evolution of human institutions, and the examples and instruction given by persons of good will.

Noonan also states that the Church cannot change its commitment to preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Given this absolute, how can the moral teaching of the Church change? Noonan finds this question unanswerable when asked in the abstract. But in the context of the specific facts and events he discusses in this book, an answer becomes clear. As our capacity to grasp the Gospel grows, so too, our understanding and compassion, which give life to the Gospel commandments of love, grow.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0268036039
• ISBN13: 9780268036034
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press
• Length: 312 Pages
• Weight: 3.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.4" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

The Question of Change in Moral Teaching

For one willing to read this book sentence by sentence, the reward is immense. The implications of Noonan's conclusions are in fact shattering. But Noonan speaks in a soft voice. His examination of moral theology throughout Chrisitan history is meticulous and brilliant. He is straightforward, uncompromising and above all clear. His study is graceful as well as intelligent, elegant as well as penetrating, and his findings compel us to examine our theological inheritance with a conscience. Quote from the book: "Change is not a thing to be ashamed of, to be whispered about, to be disguised or held from the light of day, as grave guardians sometimes think." A challenging and encouraging work.

A scholarly and innovative modern approach to the teachings of Catholic fundamentals within the cont

A Church That Can And Cannot Change: The Development Of Catholic Moral Teaching by John T. Noonan, Jr. (Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco, California) is a scholarly and innovative modern approach to the teachings of Catholic fundamentals within the context of the modern church. Offering the reader a comprehensive introduction of the teachings of the church as they pertain to issues of freedom and conscience, lending for a profit, and the condition of slavery, A Church That Can And Cannot Change offers a detailed and specific analysis of the particulars in the ideals and progressive evolution of the Catholic Church. A Church That Can And Cannot Change is very highly recommended reading for seminary students, the clergy, the laity, interested in Catholic theology, ideals of moral, developmental, and ethical teachings.

Premier Analysis of the Premier Problem

How do doctrinal changes or developments happen in a church that must accomodate insights accumulated over time and within cultures newly encountered? John Thomas Noonan, a layman and a great legal scholar, confronts the discontinuities in Catholic teaching with candor and insight. Theologians and involved Catholics of all persuations will find the book helpful and challenging. He concentrates on specific issues such as slavery, marriage, and usury and then moves to a theory that will surprise many because it is so obvious but so ignored by professional theologians and teachers. A must read.

A Church That Can and Cannot Change

A very well-written work that describes the journey of the Catholic Church to the truth about slavery, usury, freedom of religion, and divorce. The depth of knowledge of Mr. Noonan about the Church's history with regard to these moral issues is astounding!

How Church Teaching Changes Over Time

After seminal books on the history of moral teaching (usury, contraception, abortion, bribes, divorce and religious liberty) John T. Noonan, Jr. has attempted to tie them all together by articulating a coherent approach to the problem of doctrinal development in the Roman Catholic Church. He applies his formidable erudition to three issues where church teaching has reversed itself definitively (slavery, usury, and religious liberty) and to one that is still in progress (divorce). Half of the book deals with the teaching and practice on slavery - from toleration to defense and finally to condemnation, almost as an after-thought, at the Second Vatican Council. Having already written books on the other three topics, Noonan deals with them more succinctly but with no less acumen. Noonan has the rare capacity to look the historical record straight in the face. He neither hides from the facts nor tries to spin them. He weighs and evaluates facts like the judge that he is (US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit) seeking whatever meaning they yield - no more, no less. He notes that none of the great minds of the past "were capable of rising above their circumstances in all areas of moral doctrine." Augustine approved the torture of heretics and Aquinas justified their execution if they relapsed; Erasmus failed to criticize the European slave trade; Bartolome de Las Casas did not object to the inquisition; and "St. Alfonso de'Ligouri owned a personal slave." Embarrassing as the historical record is when viewed from our vantage point at the end of centuries of development, Noonan's dispassionate examination leads to many insights. In the last section of his book, "The Test of the Teaching," Noonan puts forth a synthesis. Argument from analogy, a sense of vital balance, logic, and experience, "understood broadly to include empathy, identification with the experience of the other," are the tools that lead to development. However, the criterion for judging development of doctrine is the rule of faith guided by love of God and neighbor. Noonan closes with a quote from Augustine. "If it seems to anyone that he has understood the divine scriptures or any part of them, in such a way that by that understanding he does not build up that double love of God and of neighbor, he has not yet understood them." The same goes for doctrinal development. I would take issue with Noonan's repeated assertion that the Latin translation of Luke 6:35 ("Lend, hoping nothing therefrom.") was a mistake. The New Revised Translation of the Bible has: "Lend expecting nothing in return." Besides, Noonan himself admits that the driving force of the prohibition of usury (taking any interest on a loan) was the common understanding dating back to Aristotle that money was not fruitful. The gospel citation was window-dressing. Another criticism relates to an omission. For some reason Noonan failed to mention the brilliant 1963 speech by Bishop Emile DeSmedt introducin