Moral Wisdom: Lessons and Texts from the Catholic Tradition

At a time when religion and spirituality have been divorced from one another and morality and ethics are viewed as being confining rather than liberating, Fr. James Keenan offers an accessible book that beautifully reclaims the Catholic moral tradition and casts it afresh for a new age. 'Moral wisdom,' as Fr. Keenan calls it, is the distinctive gift of the Catholic tradition, a gift that helps us discern what values to pursue and which virtues to embody on the path to becoming who we really are and who God calls us to be. Writing in a conversational style filled with stories and examples, Keenan goes beyond the penitential, confessional, and moral manuals that too often define public perception of moral teaching and breaks open the treasure trove of resources in the Catholic tradition for developing moral wisdom. In the process, he reclaims four key texts that bishops and lay people alike appealed to in nurturing their moral wisdom-the person of Jesus in the New Testament, the ten commandments in the catechism, the practice of the corporal works of mercy, and the development of the four cardinal virtues-and lifts up the lessons on love, conscience, sin, and suffering within these texts that form the content of the Catholic moral tradition. By reflecting on each of these texts and lessons, readers get into contact once again with the formative influences of the Catholic heritage and appreciate and understand what gives meaning to our lives and what enhances our relationships with friends and family.

James F. Keenan, S.J., is professor of moral theology and director of the doctoral program at Weston Jesuit School of Theology. His recent books with Sheed & Ward include Practice What You Preach and Virtues for Ordinary Christians.