Humanae Vitae: A Generation Later
Type
Book
Authors
ISBN 10
0813207401
ISBN 13
9780813207407
Category
Pope Paul VI
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Publication Year
1991
Publisher
The Catholic University of America Press, United States
Pages
448
Tags
Description
Rather than end the debate over artificial means of contraception once and for all, the encyclical letter Humanae Vitae only energized the debate when it appeared in 1968, and that debate continues to this day. Janet E Smith presents a comprehensive review of this issue from a philosophical and theological perspective. Tracing the emergence of the debate from the mid-1960s and reviewing the documents from the Special Papal Commission established to advise Pope Paul VI, Smith also examines the Catholic Church's position on marriage, which provides the context for its condemnation of contraception.
Smith analyzes the various moral principles that are crucial to an understanding of Humanae Vitae. She offers new renderings of several traditional arguments based on natural law, among which is an argument based on personalist values. A chapter on the theological arguments for Humanae Vitae includes a consideration of scriptural support and an analysis of munus, a word that appears in the first line of Humanae Vitae and is accorded special status in the documents of Vatican II. She also evaluates the reasons given by revisionists for their rejection of Humanae Vitae and presents a review of John Paul II's innovative defense of the condemnation of contraception.
Smith notes that those moral theologians who once challenged the very principles on which the Church's teaching is based. This incisive book also argues that while revisionists early on claimed to use personalist values to urge the moral legitimacy of contraception, the traditional defenders of the Church's teaching have begun to show how personalist values serve to strengthen rather than to negate natural law argument against contraception. Throughout this book, Smith's keen observations and perceptions contribute to a discerning and thought-provoking study.
Janet E Smith is assistant professor of philosophy at the University of Dallas. She has published articles in such journals as The Thomist, International Philosophical Quarterly, and The New Scholasticism.
Taken from the back cover.
Smith analyzes the various moral principles that are crucial to an understanding of Humanae Vitae. She offers new renderings of several traditional arguments based on natural law, among which is an argument based on personalist values. A chapter on the theological arguments for Humanae Vitae includes a consideration of scriptural support and an analysis of munus, a word that appears in the first line of Humanae Vitae and is accorded special status in the documents of Vatican II. She also evaluates the reasons given by revisionists for their rejection of Humanae Vitae and presents a review of John Paul II's innovative defense of the condemnation of contraception.
Smith notes that those moral theologians who once challenged the very principles on which the Church's teaching is based. This incisive book also argues that while revisionists early on claimed to use personalist values to urge the moral legitimacy of contraception, the traditional defenders of the Church's teaching have begun to show how personalist values serve to strengthen rather than to negate natural law argument against contraception. Throughout this book, Smith's keen observations and perceptions contribute to a discerning and thought-provoking study.
Janet E Smith is assistant professor of philosophy at the University of Dallas. She has published articles in such journals as The Thomist, International Philosophical Quarterly, and The New Scholasticism.
Taken from the back cover.
Number of Copies
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