Josef Fuchs on Natural LawAppointed by Pope John XXIII to the Pontifical Commission on Population, Family, and Birth, Fuchs ultimately found himself disappointed in his three years of service and spent the next thirty years exploring a broad array of issues pivotal to a reconstruction of Roman Catholic natural law theory. This is the first full-length analysis of Fuchs's efforts. Beginning historically by looking at Fuchs's writings and beliefs before the Pontifical Commission appointment, including his defense of natural law during the "situation ethics" debates of the 50s and 60s, the concept of personal salvation, and the status of "nature" and "human nature," Graham moves to the intellectual conversion that inspired Fuchs to reconsider his concepts following the commission appointment. From there, Graham engages in a sustained critique of Fuchs's natural theory, addressing both the strengths and weaknesses to be found there and suggest possible avenues of development that would make a positive contribution to the ongoing quest to rehabilitate the Roman Catholic natural law theory that continues to dominate the landscape of moral theology today. |
Contents
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A Fuller Account of Natural Law | 36 |
Moral Epistemology and the Magisteriums Competency to Interpret Natural Law | 44 |
Natural Law and the Role of the Individual Moral Agent | 55 |
Natural Law and the Supernatural Destiny of the Human Person | 65 |
The Intellectual Conversion The Pontifical Commission on Population Family and Birth 196366 | 83 |
What Is the Human Being? Human Nature and Personhood | 124 |
An Assessment of Fuchss Theological Anthropology Contributions and Criticisms | 133 |
The Core of Fuchss Mature Natural Law Theory Recta Ratio as the Proximate Norm of Morality | 148 |
The Magisterium and Recta Ratio | 158 |
Contributions and Criticisms | 182 |
Natural Law Christian Faith and Moral Norms | 203 |
Christian Morality and Natural Law | 206 |
Natural Law and the Validity of Moral Norms | 217 |
The State of the Question | 84 |
The Pontifical Birth Control Commission | 87 |
Natural Law in the Commission Documents | 95 |
THE POSTCONVERSION PERIOD 1966Present | 111 |
Theological Anthropology and Natural Law | 116 |
Karl Rahners Transcendental Thomism and the Emergence of the Acting Subject | 117 |