James Keenan

Boston College | BC · Theology Department

The papal exhortation Amoris Laetitia has prompted questions about the way it develops doctrine, prioritizes the Gospel value of mercy, and calls for an accompaniment of and a respect for the discerning consciences of those in “irregular situations.” In their response to these questions, bishops and theologians in Germany, Austria, France, Italy, B...

Since Vatican II, moral theologians have revisted the topic sin time and again. After considering the treatment by the manualists of moral theology of sin, and especially sins in violation of the sixth and ninth commandments, this article proposes four strands of theological argument since the Second Vatican Council that lead to a more robust, perv...

Since the final report of the extraordinary synod of 2014 made no mention of conscience, this note proposes a notion of a socially oriented and accountable conscience as opposed to the contemporary understanding of the term “conscience” among US Catholics, that is, as dissenting from the law. Turning to the European use of “conscience” that arises...

This article attempts to introduce readers to the field of university ethics. As distinct from academic ethics, which typically involves the study of the professional ethics of university faculty, covering such topics as cheating, letters of recommendation, dating students, and so forth, university ethics looks at the university as a whole and inve...

This note, extended into an article to commemorate Vatican II, argues that any study of the council and theological ethics must attend to World War II's devastating impact on the field. The war moved European ethicists to repudiate the three centuries of moral manuals and propose a theological ethics based on conscience acting out of charity. In La...

In this essay I make a fundamental claim about and a recommendation for professional ethics the lack of professional ethics in the academy is noteworthy and members of the Society of Christian Ethics ought to begin to address this reality as a matter of what is right and just for the SCE and for the academic professions at large—it is time to get o...

At the 2009 convention of the Catholic Theological Society of America, the author advocated for a more rhetorically robust and closer-to-the-truth style in theological ethics. In this note, he examines those works that embody that style by capturing the urgency and immediacy of moral truth as lived in the lives of contemporary Christians. In partic...

From July 24 to 27, 2010, some 600 theological ethicists from nearly 75 countries met in Trento, Italy, under the auspices of Catholic Theological Ethics in the World Church. There they heard 30 plenary papers and opted to attend more than 240 concurrent presentations. This note studies the roots, mission, context, goals, and nature of the conferen...

This article explores the role of professional ethics in the academy. While other professional spheres such as business, law, and medicine, have been subject to the instruction and oversight of academic ethicists, the article shows how the academy itself has been immune to such accountability, despite consistent academic scandals. Professional ethi...

This survey of Catholic moralists' writings on sexuality and sexual ethics describes the development of basically positive claims. Far less contentious than the debates in the aftermath of Humanae vitae, these more contemporary works suggest an attentiveness to a theologizing on sexuality. Moreover, while earlier works emphasized the conscience of...

Theological ethicists around the world are turning toward history to comment on the method and arguments of earlier authoritative voices. The intent of this turn to the tradition is precisely to liberate theologians so as to find grounds for Roman Catholics to enter into greater dialogue with others around the world. To examine this development, th...

A substantial portion of the developed world’s population is increasingly dependent upon machines to make their way in the everyday world. For certain privileged groups, computers, cell phones and PDAs, all permitting the faster processing of information, are commonplace. In these populations, even exercise can be automated as persons try to achiev...

A bibliographical review of themes in fundamental moral theology over the past four years evidences an astonishingly frequent reference to crises?in identity and in the Church. Reviewing the literature also yields other more promising developments wherein ethicists are becoming more theological and historical in their work.

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A review of the literature on theological ethics and human sexuality over the past four years indicates a desire by theologians to host a variety of conversations on sexual ethics that uphold traditional claims yet promote responsible sexual ethics in a different key. Writers are particularly concerned by an overwhelming privatization of sexual rel...

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In September 2005 this journal published an article by Thomas Shannon and James Walter on the Catholic tradition surrounding assisted nutrition and hydration (ANH) in end-of-life care. Responding to this essay, moral theologians John Paris, James Keenan, and Kenneth Himes take exception to what they perceive as a proposition promoted in that articl...

The author's survey of the writings of moral theologians over the past five years shows a deep concern about both the nature of moral theology and the role of moral theologians. A certain urgency animates much contemporary reflection calling the moralist to be challenged by the vocation to serve the Church and to explore better the ways Westerners...

[The author provides a bibliographic study of recent publications concerning the scandal and the crisis in the Catholic Church. He focuses on three groups: priests (who are they?), the laity (how can they more fully participate in the life of the Church?), and bishops (what must they do to lead and govern more effectively?). The article concludes b...

In this initial segment of this year's "Notes on Moral Theology, " the author provides a survey of the literature centering on fundamental moral theology published over the last three years or so. He focuses in part one on a variety of Festschriften honoring major ethicists; in part two he addresses writings on God, sin, virtue, globalization, and...

In this final section of the Notes on Moral Theology the author explores the extensive work of Catholic moral theologians reflecting on morality and the lives of gay and lesbian persons. He demon-strates that moral theologians not only critically engage a variety of statements by the different offices of the magisterium, but also in-vestigate the t...