Newness of Life: A Modern Introduction to Catholic Ethics

By James Gaffney

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• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0809122022
• ISBN13: 9780809122028
• Release Date: January 1979
• Publisher: Paulist Pr
• Length: 347 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Ethics: Nothing but Aces

After just rereading this ethics book after the initial reading of many years ago, I decided to give it a belated review. It is an excellent presentation of philosophic ethics as enlightened by Catholic theology. Everyone formulates his/her own philosophic positions based upon one's reflections on personal experiences and vicarious experiences. In other words, no one can escape their own formative events, nor should they. Atheists will reflect their own non-belief in any reality transcending the universe, and believers will reflect their most inner convictions about God. This is to be expected- there is no other human alternative. Philosophic neutrality/objectivity is an absurd myth.Hence, readers who share the Catholic faith will benefit the most from Gaffney's analyses. Non-Catholic Christians will benefit almost as much. And non-believers should probably not read this book- it just might make them question their non- belief.The book tackles most ethical issues and dilemmas without getting too technical. The obviously intended readership is college students in a Catholic setting. The individual chapters are short- about 10 pages each, and each chapter has a number of questions based on that chapter (a feature teachers can easily utilize to assess student comprehension of the material). The book stresses how important are ethical principles/generalities, but also the limitations when trying to apply them to concrete situations. Even for believers, finding the right ethical decisions takes careful thought.