An Introduction to Fundamental Moral Theology

This book discusses fundamental morals, that branch of theology that studies human acts and the sources and motivations of these deliberate acts. This can help the disciple of Jesus Christ to direct these acts to the loving vision of God, understood as his/her true, complete happiness and final end. This study principally examines the foundations of fundamental moral theology, the ideas underpinning this major category of doctrine in the Christian Church, the equivalent to an ethics of religions. While this theology derives its basic moral teaching from the Bible, it adds other distinctive emphases, namely, the concept of the ius naturale (the Natural Law), a tradition drawn from hierarchical ecclesial teaching and from human reason. This encompasses social teaching, medical ethics, sexual ethics, and various doctrines on individual moral virtue and moral theory. The exposition explores how the advent of Jesus Christ, his life and teaching, is central to this theology. A bridge between faith and reason is needed to grasp principles and moral imperatives, and to perceive the positive in human law. The discussion explains why it is necessary further to understand the implication of the individual moral conscience, and the freedom to make moral decisions.