Summaries / Resúmenes - Studia Moralia

REVIEWS / RECENSIONES 289Odozor, Paulinus Ikechukwu, Moral Theology in an Age ofRenewal: A Study of the Catholic Tradition since Vatican II.Notre Dame, Indiana: The University of Notre Dame Press,2003, xi + 412 p.This book, which is well written, effectively organized, anddirected toward a general readership, looks at the history and developmentof Catholic moral theology in the post-Vatican II era, specificallyin the area of fundamental moral. According to its author, itspurpose is twofold: (1) “to offer a systematic presentation of someof the major debates as well as an assessment of the diversity andpluralism in moral theology since the Second Vatican Council” and(2) “to identify the significant and real agreement on the goodwhich, despite our diversity and the plurality of our views, makesCatholic moral theology unique as a form of moral discourse, aswell as to try to ascertain the bases of such an agreement on thegood” (7). The author succeeds extremely well on both counts. Hiscareful delineation of the various movements and debates in fundamentalmoral theology over the past forty years and his excellentsynthesis of these trends make this book well worth having and animportant contribution to the field. In this reviewer’s opinion, it isarguably the most comprehensive presentation to date of the developmentof Catholic fundamental moral theology in the post-VaticanII era.The author divides the book into four major parts that comprisea total of eleven chapters. In his Introduction, he lays out the purposeand scope of his project. In Part One, “The Quest for Renewal:Historical, Ecclesial, and Theological Contexts,” he looks at VaticanII and the call for renewal in moral theology (Chapter One),Humanae Vitae and the ensuing controversies related to contraception(Chapter Two), and important aids for the renewal such asCatholic biblical scholarship and the theology of Karl Rahner(Chapter Three). In Part Two, “The Nature of Christian Ethics,” heexamines questions such as the distinctiveness of Christian ethics(Chapter Four), the relationship between Scripture and ethics(Chapter Five), the place of natural law in the Catholic tradition(Chapter Six), and authoritative role of the Magisterium in teachingCatholic morality (Chapter Seven). In Part Three, “Norms Contexts,and Method,” he studies moral norms as represented in the proportionalism/deontologydebate (Chapter Eight) and looks at alternativesto that controversy in such areas as virtue ethics and neo-casu-