Il fondamento etico-religioso del diritto secondo S. Tommaso d’Aquino by P. Reginaldo M. Pizzorni, O. P., and: Una discussione sul’etica della Felicità by Giovanni Blandino, S. J., Bernard Haring, C. SS. R., Gianfranco Morra, Paolo Valori, S. J. (review)

158 BOOK REVIEWS ll fondamento etico-religioso del diritto secondo S. Tomm(Uo d'Aquino. By P. REGINALDO M. PIZZORNI, 0. P. Rome: Lateran University, 1968. Pp. 231. Una discussione sul'etica della Felicita. By GmvANNI BLANDINO, S. J., BERNARD HARING, C. SS. R., GIANFRANco 1\'IoRRA, PAoLO VALORI, S. J. Bologna: Edizioni di Etica, 1968. Pp. 99. L.600. ll fondamento etico-religioso del diritto secondo S. Tom=o d'A_quino is an ample, thoroughly thomist and well-documented thesis on the necessary dependence of positive law on the natural law and of both on the eternal law of God. There are many conclusions to be drawn. One that is of interest in the changing world today is that law should not be changed for frivolous reasons. St. Thomas's warning is timely: " qui facile mutat legem, quantum est de se, debilitat legis virtutem." Much modern thought about the relativity of natural law is rooted in the false notion that it is something bound up with nature as we understand it and not as the Wisdom of God has designed it. What we call divine positive law, God's many personal interventions in our moral affairs, is a check on the tendency of man to be a subjectivist where morality is concerned. The growth of atheism has increased this danger so much that even believers think it is suitable to formulate the theory that there can be law or morality without reference to God. It is a theory that division among Christians has indirectly fostered; for this pluralism causes the State to shy at identifying itself with the truth as preached by one or other Christian denomination, and in its passion for secularism it ends by failing to give practical recognition in its lawmaking to the existence of God and his Wisdom. This book has a vital message. Indeed, it is a recall to sanity, if only intelligent men have the patience to read through it slowly and thoughtfully . With all the names l'Etica della Felicita looks like a notice of a film coming shortly. Father Blandino the protagonist of the thesis that a sytem of Ethics could be suitably built on the intention in every action of contributing to one's own and other people's happiness. It is introduced by Gianfranco Morra of Bologna University, and the theory is discussed by Father Haring, C. SS. R., and Father Valori, S. J., of the Gregorian University. The merits of the thesis are fairly appraised, but disagreement centers on two points-Father Blandino's idea that an Ethic can be established without reference to God and because felicity, pleasure or happiness are much too vague and indefinite concepts on which to base one's moral judgment. It seemed to me that, in a discussion on morality, there was an absence BOOK REVIEWS 159 of realism. Morality remained very much an idea and reflected experience neither of God nor of people. However, now that discussion is so popular, many will find it interesting. St. Charle'8 Seminary Nagpur, India JEROME ToNER, 0. P. Participated Eternity in the Vision of God: A Study of the Opinion of Thomas Aquinas and his Commentators on the Duration of the Acts of Glory. By CARL J. PETER. Rome: Gregorian University Press, 1964. Pp. 808. If one had to summarize Peter's lengthy doctoral dissertation in one sentence, one might say that the duration of acts of glory was for Thomas Aquinas participated eternity but for Duns Scotus aevum. If one were allowed two sentences, one could add that Thomists tended to side with Aquinas and Franciscans with Scotus but three Jesuits (de Toledo, Bellarmine , Vazquez) considered the two to be saying the same thing: Aquinas's participated eternity was Scotus's aevum (see " Conclusion," pp. 253-68) . Of course, such a summary does not do justice to the nuances of doctrine within the thomistic or the scotist schools, nor to Peter's paleographical work (see "Appendices," pp. 281-88) or his careful textual exegesis (at times quite detailed) of at least thirty-nine theologians stretching from Aquinas (1223-1274) to John of St. Thomas (1589-1644). As an exegetical instance let us outline...