New Wine, New Wineskins: A Next Generation Reflects on Key Issues in Catholic Moral Theology

The growing shift in Catholic moral theology from reflecting on rules alone to focusing on the identity and formation of persons as moral agents prompts a further question: What impact do recent changes in the identity and formation of Catholic moral theologians themselves have on how that discipline is practiced? Young Catholic moral theologians experience a sharply different professional formation and a changed location of ongoing professional life than prior generations of moral theologians. How do these differences influence the field of moral theology as a whole? New Wine, New Wineskins: A Next Generation Reflects on Key Issues in Catholic Moral Theology addresses these questions and more by offering a snapshot of how a new generation of Catholic moral theologians understands not only topics in the field, but the effects of their own identity and formation on their treatment of those topics. The distinctive contribution of this volume is the interweaving of three key concerns, all of which arise out of a critical self-reflection on the task of moral theology today: the character and adequacy of training and ongoing formation in the field of Catholic moral theology, the purpose and nature of teaching Catholic moral theology, and the fittingness of methodological debates with regard to the needs of the Christian life. Each essay makes a contribution to its specific area of interest-ranging from economic ethics, to Patristic rhetoric, to the nature and development of practical reasoning-while probing what exactly young Catholic moral theologians are doing, and how they can do what they do better.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1 Preface Chapter 2 Introducing New Wine, New Wineskins Chapter 3 Saintly Voyeurism: A Methodological Necessity for the Christian Ethicist Chapter 4 Finding a Place at the Heart of the Church: On the Vocation of a Lay Theologian Chapter 5 Transparent Mediation: The Vocation of the Theologian as Disciple Chapter 6 Dare We Hope Our Students Believe? Patristic Rhetoric in the Contemporary Classroom" Chapter 7 Community Based Learning and Catholic Social Teaching Chapter 8 Moral Theology for Real People: Agency, Practical Reason, and the Task of the Moral Theologian Chapter 9 Intimacy with God and Self-Relation in the World: The Fundamental Option and Categorical Activity Chapter 10 Economic Comedy or, How I Learned to Stop Being Miserable and Love Economic Ethics

About the Author :
William C. Mattison III is assistant professor of Theology at Mount St. Mary's University. He received his doctorate in Theology from the University of Notre Dame in 2003.

Review :
There is a tremendous power in defining oneself, especially in conversation with others who share similar interests, goals and ideals. This volume reflects just such a process of self-definition on the part of a community of younger Catholic moral theologians who have been meeting together since 2002. If the essays collected here are any indication, this process has already been fruitful, and holds great promise for the renewal of Catholic theology. While these younger theologians locate themselves as part of a new generation of Catholics, a generation removed from the subculture that preceded Vatican II, they draw on the best of the earlier traditions while at the same time bringing new questions and fresh perspectives to the field. This volume will be essential reading for anyone engaged in Christian moral reflection, or for anyone with a stake in the future direction of the church. One of the great strengths of these younger Catholic scholars is their deep and creative attention to, familiarity with, and love of classic Catholic theological and spiritual traditions of faithful thought and practice. The authors of New Wine, New Wineskins put this attention, expertise, and love to good use in taking a constructive yet critical view of the state of moral theology today. The reader will find fabulous forays into the issues of formation, teaching, methodology, and real intervention on key moral issues debated by proportionalists and anti-proportionalists. This book is refreshing and promises not only new wine, but also a new party in the future houses of Catholic moral theology. All are welcome to drink from this goblet. We are beginning to see the makings of a new vision for doing moral theology in the twenty-first century. New Wine, New Wineskins is an important book. A new generation of Catholic moral theologians has arisen and the very conflict between the proportionalists and the conservatives has been left behind because it is seen as unfruitful. Catholic moral theology will be increasingly done by lay people who are concerned about the formation of congregations. So the audience for whom moral theology is written changes. This book will be used in the countless introductions to ethics in Catholic schools. Itwill make a real contribution to the scholarly literature in moral theology. There is no other book like it... New Wine, New Wineskins is an important book. A new generation of Catholic moral theologians has arisen and the very conflict between the proportionalists and the conservatives has been left behind because it is seen as unfruitful. Catholic moral theology will be increasingly done by lay people who are concerned about the formation of congregations. So the audience for whom moral theology is written changes. This book will be used in the countless introductions to ethics in Catholic schools. It will make a real contribution to the scholarly literature in moral theology. There is no other book like it.