by Charles E Curran. Published by Georgetown University Press, 2018. Reviewed by Neil Darragh

Each chapter of this book discusses one of 12 major North American Catholic moral theologians from the period just before the Second Vatican Council (1962–65) to the present day.

Charles Curran is a significant North American moral theologian whose academic career spans that same period. Occasionally he offers some criticism of the theologian he is discussing but his main purpose is to present that person’s theology as objectively as possible within a single chapter summary.

The chapters are presented in roughly chronological order so that the whole book provides a kind of historical overview of North American moral theology in the last 60 years. Over that period Catholic moral theology became more diverse, more ecumenical, more culturally diverse, included more women, engaged more critically with the teaching authority of bishops and popes, and expanded into new areas such as feminism, Latina and Black theology, and the development of personal spirituality.

A great deal of Catholic moral theology in the South Pacific has come to us by way of North America — local readers might be surprised at how much of what we thought was just “Catholic” was in fact focused through the interests of North American Catholicism.

This book is written for academics, teachers, priests and people with a special interest in moral theology or Christian ethics rather than the general reader. For people with this specialist interest it makes fascinating and sometimes unsettling reading.

Tui Motu Magazine. Issue 244 December 2019: 28