Morality

In this slender and elegantly written volume, Pinckaers offers us the biblical and patristic conception of the moral life as this conception was developed by St. Thomas Aquinas. From this perspective, the moral life is a life of virtue rooted in the human person's natural desire for happiness. God's grace elevates and heals his natural desire so that the infused virtues and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the moral life becomes a 'life in Christ' guided by the Spirit. Father Pinckaers sharply distinguishes this view of morality from modern 'moralities of obligation,' which regard the moral life primarly as obedience to rules that limit human freedom and curb human desires. Pinckaers sees moralities of obligation as the logical outcome of a new understanding of human freedom. Instead of regarding freedom as the capacity to engage in excellent acts of virtue (freedom for excellence), the modern view understands freedom as the radical ability to do good or evil indifferently (freedom of indifference).
Pinckaers argues convincingly that this view of freedom and morality from an impoverished Catholic understanding of the moral life and that the problem can only be redressed by a return to a biblical, patristic view. This book is an ideal introduction to the Catholic view of morality and happiness which is accessible to all readers.