Christian Ethics and the Human Person: Truth and Relativism in Contemporary Moral Theology

Father Peter Bristow has done a great service in his book Christian Ethics and the Human Person. Its overall purpose is to fill the need for a presentation of Catholic moral thought as renewed in the second half of the twentieth century by Vatican II, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, John Paul’s encyclicals Veritatis Splendor and Evangelium Vitae, and the personalistic theology and philosophy that form the basis of those great encyclicals. Bristow offers readers an accurate and comprehensive account of John Paul’s moral thought. His is a most helpful volume. This work lucidly and attractively draws together the main elements in the renewal of Catholic ethics which has been taking place during the past thirty years. It provides an excellent guide to the field as well as a persuasive account and defence of a distinctive Catholic approach to morality.