Aquinas, Feminism, and the Common Good

Cover

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Title Page, Copyright Page

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Contents

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pp. vii-viii

Acknowledgments

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pp. ix-x

The existence of this book is due to the support and encouragement of many people. Many thanks are due to Ellen Leonard, C.S.J., who helped it reach fulfillment. Lisa Cahill, Jean Porter, Ronald Mercier, S.J., Steven Dunn, and Roger Hutchinson read this work when it was in the stage of a dissertation...

Introduction

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pp. xi-xiii

It is widely recognized that postmodernism has shaped contemporary approaches to theology and ethics.¹ Given this fact, a writer must make clear at the outset the ways in which she responds to the postmodern challenge regarding the use of classic texts and universal claims. However, the issue is not as simple...

1. FEMINIST THEOLOGICAL HERMENEUTICS

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pp. 1-41

Hermeneutical theology is a distinct approach to theology. Hermeneutics itself is the science of interpretation.¹ Since Christianity is a textually based religion shaped by and oriented around a particular set of symbols, Christian theology needs to reinterpret its significant doctrines, texts,² and symbols for each new...

2. THE COMMON GOOD IN THE THOUGHT OF THOMAS AQUINAS

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pp. 42-84

The process of hermeneutical retrieval presupposes that the one who is attempting the retrieval is dealing adequately and fairly with the classic text, doctrine, or principle in question. While this is obvious, it offers a challenge to the one who would engage in a process of retrieval. A worthy process of retrieval demands...

3. A FEMINIST RETRIEVAL OF THE PRINCIPLE OF THE COMMON GOOD

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pp. 85-127

The feminist hermeneutical method proposed in the first chapter is comprehensive and ethical. It includes a consideration of the text or tradition using appropriate analytical tools, as well as the next and necessary step into praxis. When one engages in a critical assessment of significant aspects of Aquinas’s principle...

4. THE RETRIEVED PRINCIPLE OF THE COMMON GOOD AND HEALTH CARE IN THE UNITED STATES

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pp. 128-154

Now that we have retrieved Aquinas’s principle of the common good through the proposed feminist hermeneutics, we should inquire about its significance for the community. What is this retrieved principle capable of ? What does it offer the human community? On the one hand, the distinction between...

Afterword

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pp. 155-

The principle of the common good holds considerable promise for improving life both in American society and globally, particularly when it is reinterpreted through the lens of women’s experience. It has become commonplace today to recognize that a significant cultural blinder in the United States is individualism...

Notes

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pp. 157-195

Bibliography

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pp. 197-208

Index

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pp. 209-220