Summaries / Resúmenes - Studia Moralia

StMor 44 (2006) 233-250MARTIN MCKEEVER C.SS.R.THE 50 TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE LAW OF CHRISTBERNHARD HÄRING’S CONTRIBUTION TO THERENEWAL OF MORAL THEOLOGYEvery now and then, in a given discipline, someone writes abook which is destined to change the history of that disciplinein some decisive way. Such an event is usually not to beexplained simply on the basis of the content of the book butrather by a confluence of circumstances which render themoment propitious.Something like this happened in 1954 when BernhardHäring first published The Law of Christ (Das Gesetz Christi,hereafter DGC). It is therefore most welcome that the MunichProvince of the Redemptorists, to which Häring belonged,should choose to mark the anniversary of its publication with asymposium on Häring’s contribution to the renewal of moraltheology, held at Gars in January 2005. Thanks to the excellenttranslating and editing work of two Redemptorists, AugustinSchmied and Josef Römelt, the papers delivered at the symposiumare now available in German in a volume entitled 50 Jahre“Das Gesetz Christi”. Der Beitrag Bernhard Härings zurErneuerung der Moraltheologie. (Studien der Moraltheologie,Abteilung Beihefte, 14. Münster: LIT Verlag, 2005). Given theimportance of the original work and the quality of the presentationsat the symposium, this publication deserves special attention.For those interested in the history, the nature and the futureof moral theology, this book raises important questions aboveand beyond its immediate theme. It would therefore seem appropriateto treat this work at two levels: first, regarding what it hasto say directly about Häring’s contribution to the renewal ofmoral theology and second, the broader questions it raises aboutmoral theology. The structure of what follows will accordingly bethe following: (1) a very brief general introduction to the statusquaestionis regarding Häring and the renewal of moral theology