Catholic Theological Ethics Series

Reproduction and the Common Good: Global Perspectives from the Catholic Tradition

In this cutting-edge collection, theologians from around the world consider the relationship between reproduction and social justice. These scholars address the complex injustices women face and reflect on the teachings and mission of the Catholic Church in light of the varied experiences of women across the globe.

This volume is available open access in collaboration with The Journal of Moral Theology.

Doing Theology and Theological Ethics in the Face of the Sexual Abuse Crisis / Hacer teología y ética teológica frente al abuso sexual

This volume is the fruit of a “theological laboratory” initiated by the then-Centre for Child Protection and the Catholic Theological Ethics in the World Church (CTEWC) called “Doing Theology in the Face of Sexual Abuse.” Eventually those from the laboratory engaged those meeting for two years via “virtual tables,” due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the end, twenty-six scholars offer insights on the crisis itself and pathways for moving forward.

There is a certain urgency about this volume, which is not often reflected in works of theology or theological ethics. The sheer scale of the undermining of human dignity through sexual abuse that has occurred within the Church asks questions of these disciplines and scholars within them: to what extent have we been blind to these issues? Why have our efforts in theology and theological ethics been so slow to wrestle with this crisis? How are theology and theological ethics implicated in the crisis? And how might the disciplines be constructive in responding? In this volume, we encounter a diverse range of scholars from all around the world wrestling with these and other questions.

This volume is available open access in collaboration with The Journal of Moral Theology.

Este volumen titulado “Hacer teología y ética teológica frente al abuso sexual” es fruto de un “laboratorio teológico” promovido por el Centro para la Protección Infantil y la Ética Teológica Católica en la Iglesia Mundial (CTEWC, por sus siglas en inglés). Debido a la pandemia del COVID-19, los participantes tuvieron que reunirse de manera remota en “mesas virtuales” durante dos años. Tras estos encuentros, veintiséis académicos compartieron sus reflexiones acerca de dicha problemática y sus posibles abordajes.

La publicación de esta obra supone cierta urgencia, una urgencia que a menudo no se encuentra en otro tipo de trabajos teológicos. La verdadera escala del daño a la dignidad humana causado por el abuso sexual dentro de la Iglesia plantea profundos dilemas, tanto para las disciplinas como para aquellos que las practican: ¿Hasta qué punto hemos pasado por alto estos problemas? ¿Por qué nuestros esfuerzos en teología y ética teológica han tardado tanto en abordar estos temas? ¿De qué manera están implicadas la teología y la ética teológica en esta crisis? ¿Qué contribuciones específicas podrían ofrecer estas disciplinas para abordar constructivamente este desafío? Este volumen reúne el trabajo de diversos académicos de distintas partes del mundo, todos ellos dedicados al análisis y la reflexión de estas y otras interrogantes.

Este volumen también está disponible en Español en colaboración con la Revista de Teología Moral.

A Prophet to the Peoples: Paul Farmer’s Witness and Theological Ethics

Dr. Paul Farmer was a physician, medical anthropologist, scholar, teacher, and visionary world leader who pioneered ground-breaking models for effectively delivering modern medicine to the poorest people in the world, on a large scale, with magnificent outcomes. While not necessarily widely known, a key catalyst of Farmer’s unique and powerful vision and his untiring work on behalf of the poor were the Scriptures related to social justice and the Catholic social tradition, particularly in its incarnation as liberation theology.

In this book, theologians from around the world honor Farmer’s extraordinary life and prophetic message to the world by describing the significance and impact of his scholarly work and on-the-ground praxis for the field of theological ethics. Farmer’s work calls into question long-held assumptions about the moral life, the role of the theologian, and holds important insights for the work of theological ethics going forward.

We invite theologians, scholars, and practitioners dedicated to the work of social medicine, global health equity, indeed, all those who those who believe in and support a preferential option for the poor in health care, to use this book as a starting point for conversation on the ways in which we might join together to continue and further Paul Farmer’s legacy and his beautiful vision for a world free of poverty and oppression.

This volume is available open access in collaboration with the Journal of Moral Theology.

The Rising Global Cancer Pandemic: Health, Ethics, and Social Justice

Cancer is the first or second cause of death in 134 countries, the leading cause of death in most high-income countries (i.e., 10 million deaths in 2020), and the leading cause of death by disease in American children. An estimated 19.3 million new cases of cancer are diagnosed across the world each year, and this number is expected to rise to 29 million by 2040. Most of the increase will occur in low- and middle-income countries, the countries least capable of confronting the cancer pandemic or affording expensive therapies.

Cancer is unjust. Striking inequities can be traced within and between countries in cancer incidence and survival by race, ethnicity, and socio-economic-status. Survival is much higher among the wealthy than among the poor. In the US, outcomes are much more favorable among Whites than among Blacks and Latinos. Scientific contributions and ethical inquiry should help civil society in identifying and naming these inequities and, at the same time, recognizing successful strategies to promote health and articulate further constructive proposals.

To examine the cancer pandemic and its inequities, this book—The Rising Global Cancer Pandemic: Health, Ethics, and Social Justice—gathers a selection of contributions presented, in an initial form, at the international conference hosted at Boston College, on October 2, 2021, by the Program for Global Public Health and the Common Good in partnership with the Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society and the Theology Department of the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences. Both the conference and this volume also aim to celebrate the 50-year anniversary of the National Cancer Act signed into law by the US President Richard M. Nixon on December 23, 1971.

This volume is available open access in collaboration with the Journal of Moral Theology. It is also available for purchase through Wipf & Stock.

Ethical Challenges in Global Health: Climate Change, Pollution, and the Health of the Poor

Global public health is the science and art of promoting good health, preventing disease, and extending longevity through the organized efforts of society. It examines the social, political, economic, and environmental factors that influence health. It studies the health of populations globally, regionally, and locally. It seeks to improve health and end health disparities for all people.

This volume was edited by Philip Landrigan and Andrea Vicini, SJ. Contributors include Walter Ricciardi and Laura Mancini, Kurt Straif, Keith Martin, Philip Landrigan, Michael Rozier, SJ, Tracy Regan, Daniel Daly, Alexandre Martins, Lisa Sowle Cahill, Jacquineau Azetsop, SJ, Stanislaus Alla, SJ, Thana Cristina de Campos, Nadia Abuelezam, Summer Sherburne Hawkins, Nils Henning, and Paul Farmer and Andrea Vicini, SJ.

This volume is available open access in collaboration with the Journal of Moral Theology.

Building Bridges in Sarajevo: The Plenary Papers from CTEWC 2018

The Catholic Theological Ethics in the World Church (CTEWC) conference held in Sarajevo in July 2018 focused on identifying global challenges, particularly climate and political crises, and summoned theological ethicists around the world to respond to those challenges in effective ways.

Building Bridges in Sarajevo brings together the plenary addresses from the conference and includes those by Charles Curran, Emmanuel Katongole, Linda Hogan, Antonio Autiero, and Joshua McElwee, among others.

Purchase Link: https://www.orbisbooks.com/building-bridges-in-sarajevo.html.

Street Homelessness and Catholic Theological Ethics

Spanning five continents this collection seeks to deepen contemporary understandings of, and approaches to, Catholic theological ethics and the global crisis of homelessness. Topics include global strategies for combating homelessness, local ethical responses, and advocacy for special populations such as women, orphans, and veterans.

Contributors include Cardinal Peter Turkson, Dame Louise Casey CBE CB, William T. Cavanaugh, María Teresa Dávila, Shaji George Kochuthara, CMI, Elias Opongo, SJ, and Mary Mee-Yin Yuen.

Purchase Link: https://www.orbisbooks.com/street-homelessness-and-catholic-theological-ethics.html.

The Catholic Ethicist in the Local Church

WINNER 2019 CATHOLIC PRESS ASSOCIATION BOOK AWARD

This volume brings together twenty-five international scholars who reflect on the role of Catholic ethicists in the context of their particular, local churches, and in light of the ecclesiological shifts following Vatican II.

The first half of this work examines the connections between ecclesiology and moral theology. The second half is more practical, treating different themes surrounding concrete life in the local communities: the figure and the role of theological ethicists, their relationship with the community and the local authorities, their academic and ecclesial configuration, and more.  Contributors also consider the emergence of local conflicts, as well as strategies for their solutions.

Purchase Link: https://www.orbisbooks.com/the-catholic-ethicist-in-the-local-church.html.

The Bible and Catholic Theological Ethics

WINNER 2018 CATHOLIC PRESS ASSOCIATION BOOK AWARD – SCRIPTURE

This first original collection of essays on Catholic Biblical Ethics in English brings together distinct voices from numerous cultures and language groups. The result is a volume representing a truly global community of Catholic ethics scholars.

The Bible and Catholic Theological Ethics deepens contemporary understandings of the relationship between the Holy Bible and the world of Catholic ethical reflection. Like the four other books in the prestigious CTEWC Series, this volume aims at offering a more systematic, comprehensive, and global perspective than typical Anglo-centric or North American-focused offerings.

Purchase Link: https://www.orbisbooks.com/the-bible-and-catholic-theological-ethics.html.

Living with(out) Borders

3^rd place, 2017 Catholic Press Association Book Award, USA, Category: Immigration

This collection of original essays deepens contemporary understandings of, and approaches to, urgent issues of immigration, globalization, refugee crises around the globe, and the ethical challenges presented by these phenomena. Including some of the world’s leading ethicists Living with(out) Borders brings both intellectual and theological analysis to bear on issues often removed from the worlds of theology or sustained academic analysis.

Purchase link: http://www.orbisbooks.com/living-with-out-borders.html.

Just Sustainability

This study of the social, economic, and conceptual changes needed on a global level for all of life to flourish in the 21st century begins from the premise that any viable path to sustainability must also be just—whether as norms guiding policy decisions or in the development of a comprehensive ethics of ecology. The scholars whose essays constitute Just Sustainability explore and develop concepts that have emerged in environmental ethics as well as those that have become central to Catholic thought and magisterial teaching in the contexts of economic development, technological innovation, and environmental degradation.

Essays are thematized around particular locations (Part I), global structures (Part II), and theological stances (Part III). Thirty contributors from six continents write from a wide variety of social, ethnic, geographic, and economic backgrounds. Together, these contributors identify pressing issues of environmental degradation, its significant effects, and a range of ethical and moral responses. Just Sustainability represents an important contribution to discourse and discernment in both environmental ethics and ecological theology.

Purchase link: http://www.orbisbooks.com/just-sustainability.html.

Feminist Catholic Theological Ethics

WINNER, CATHOLIC PRESS ASSOCIATION BOOK AWARD – GENDER 2nd Place

New vistas and voices are emerging in feminist thought that trace novel directions and seek to rephrase the central questions of feminist discourse.  Characteristic of this growth is the re-location of issues from the global North to include voices from the global South.  This volume highlights the changing face and color of feminist theological discourse, recognizes innovative research in the field, and facilitates a global conversation among feminists engaged in theological ethics in the world church.

Purchase link: http://www.orbisbooks.com/feminist-catholic-theological-ethics.html.

Catholic Theological Ethics Past, Present, and Future: The Trento Conference

Some 500 theological ethicists from nearly 75 countries met in Trento, Italy in July 2010 to discuss the challenges they face. This volume includes the most important current thinking, with contributions from around the globe: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Germany, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, the Philippines, Scotland, Switzerland, the Ukraine, the United States, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Divided into three main parts (the past, the present, and the future), and with a Foreword by John W. O’Malley, Catholic Social Ethics, Past, Present and Future examines ethics and interreligious dialogue, the interaction between history and theological ethics, missing and marginalized voices, moral reasoning, political ethics, health issues, identity and familial relations, and the future of theological ethics.

Purchase link: http://www.orbisbooks.com/catholic-theological-ethics-past-present-and-future.html.

Applied Ethics in a World Church

These essays by moral theologians were presented at the gathering in Padua, Italy of 420 moral theologians from 63 countries. They demonstrate the creativity, dynamism, and diversity of the Catholic moral tradition as it proceeds from local cultures, opens itself to cross-cultural conversations, and progresses in a spirit of mercy and care.

They address the following issues:- Globalization, Justice and the Environment- Gender- War and Peace- HIV/AIDS- Bioethics and Social Justice- Sexuality and Marriage- Challenges to Method in Moral Theology. This volume was edited by Linda Hogan.

Purchase Link: https://www.orbisbooks.com/applied-ethics-in-a-world-church.html.

Catholic Theological Ethics in the World Church: The Plenary Papers from the First Cross-cultural Conference on Catholic Theological Ethics

On July 8-11, 2006, the first ever truly International Congress of Roman Catholic Ethicists occurred in Padua. Four hundred Roman Catholic ethicists from all over the world met to exchange ideas, not under the aegis of the Roman Catholic Church, but under the patronage of a Dutch foundation and UNESCO. These ethicists, caught up in their own specific cultures, recognize the need to confront the challenge of pluralism; to dialogue from and beyond local cultures; and to interconnect within a world church, not dominated solely by a northern paradigm. While many of these ethicists knew of their conference colleagues by reputation and from their writings, this is the first opportunity most will have to meet face to face and engage in cross-cultural dialogue within their discipline.  This book explores and discusses further the ideas sparked by this conference.

Purchase Link (Continuum Press)