Contemporary Problems in Moral Theology by Charles E. Curran (review)

354 BOOK REVIEWS expect an adequate evaluation of the opinions of this " Doctor Rarus," but there is none. It would appear valuable for the author to have clarified the teaching of Hervaeus and suggest some probable applications of his principle and method of " negative knowledge." Because so many current philosophers and theologians lay claim to progress through the study and extrapolation of non-being, this clarification and speculation could possibly have held some significance. Subsequent printings of the monograph should be rid of an unfortunate typographical error (p. ~8) which mars the otherwise readable text and forfeits the full meaning of the paragraph. But for this, Plotnik's work comes as a contribution to any theological library. Its appearance in the midst of many non-Scholastic approaches to theological inquiry is encouraging . Many more monographs of this kind are called for by the work of illustrious historians like M. Grabmann, D. Callus, M.D. Chenu, H. Denifle, F. Ehrle, P. Glorieux, Ag. de Guimaraes, B. Haureau, J. Koch, F. Pelster, F. Stegmiiller, F. Van Steenberghen, J. Weisheipl, etc., who in the past devoted painstaking effort to uncover the riches of medieval theological writing. The science of theology has yet to assimilate fully some aspects of Scholastic thought. Work such as this will help m that assimilation. As is expected in an historical survey, the only originality in this study seems to be found in the author's attempt to reconstruct the arguments of Hervaeus once presented in his Evidentiae (Munster Universitiitsbibliothek Ms 175, lost in WW II) from the counter-arguments of Durand contained in Durand's Sentences, Wherever possible, Plotnik seeks confirmation for translations, interpretations, and presentations of arguments from recognized authorites. He includes a valuable and rather complete bibliography. St. Gerard'a Rectory Mibwaukee, Wiaconain F. J. RoENscH Contemporary Problems in Moral Theology. By CHARLES E. CuRRAN. Notre Dame, Indiana: Fides Publishers, 1970. Pp. ~7~. $6.50. This volume gathers together five previously published essays on social ethics, sexuality, genetics, natural law, and the sacrament of penance. The only thing new about the book is the addition of a final chapter in which an attempt is made to assess trends and approaches current in Catholic and Protestant moral theology today. The interest of Curran's work lies not so much in raising some of the main problem areas in moral BOOK REVIEWS 355 theology at present as in highlighting the underlying problem in all these areas, namely, the question of methodology. As the author says, methodological problems are central in most sciences today. As might be expected in a work of this kind, there is a great deal of repetition. In many places the same strictures are made against the inadequacy of past approaches to moral issues. The traditional Catholic moral theology of the manuals was insufficiently conscious of the evolutionary character of world history; it suffered from a simplistic view of the supernatural as something added to the natural; it failed to take sufficient account of the existence of sin and its effect on the humallj situation; it was too legalistic and absolutist. No doubt there is much in these criticisms, but they have often been made in recent times and there seems little to be gained in continued repetition without a deeper critical analysis in view of positive reconstruction. One feels that these criticisms are themselves overly simplistic. The main disappointment of this work is its failure to elaborate any systematic new methodology. It is easier to point out deficiencies in the older approaches than to rebuild on the foundations of the old. The author makes no claim to do this and perhaps he is not to be blamed, considering the present state of moral theology both inside and outside the Catholic Church. His aim is more modest, namely, to act as a commentator on the way things seem to be developing in the moral field. In this perspective his work is clear and readable. Insofar as he commits himself at all, Curran endeavors to adopt a stance between an existentialism which is so immersed in the present that it has no adequate criteria of judgment of the present situation and the classicist approach which, in...