The Acting Person and Christian Moral Life

"develops a compelling and subtle argument about the importance of reflection on sinful actions for a Christian understanding of the moral life.She offers two different balanced and extended discussions of debates between traditionalists and revisionists, noting limitations in both accounts of the relation between action and moral agency."—Theological Studies

"The book locates itself in the contemporary currents of Christian ethical discourse and recent discussions of the doctrine of sin. Here one finds a great deal of carefully attentive discussion of the core positions and movements around which contemporary discussion revolves . . . . This excellent and important book deserves a wide reading in both academy and church."—Alistair McFadyen, University of Leeds, UK, Studies in Christian Ethics

"Simply put, this book will help reset the agenda for moral theology. In a nonpolemical manner the author points out the need to return to a style of moral analysis that is more attentive to individual acts and more explicitly theological in our way of understanding the significance of moral action. With wisdom and literary style Weaver has called us to focus again on topics—freedom, accountability, sin, reconciliation, and grace—that are central to Catholic moral theology."—Kenneth R. Himes, OFM, Theology Department, Boston College

"In this book, Darlene Weaver argues that we can develop a robustly theological account of the moral life which gives a central place to conceptions of sin and grace while also doing justice to the moral and spiritual significance of specific acts. . . . Building on a thoughtful, sympathetic, and yet challenging study of recent Catholic moral theology, Weaver shows how our human engagement with material and relational goods forms our wills and contributes to our ongoing relationship with God. This is a well-argued, important study which deserves, and I expect to receive, wide attention."—Jean Porter, John A. O'Brien Professor of Moral Theology, University of Notre Dame

"Darlene Weaver's, The Acting Person and the Christian Moral Life, should represent a new starting point for sterile debates in ethics, and in particular Catholic moral theology. Drawing on philosophical accounts of the role of description for naming moral actions, she provides a constructive account of how theological language should do its proper work."—Stanley Hauerwas, Carole Baker Research Associate, Duke Divinity School