Living the Truth

Klaus Demmer's Living the Truth is the signature work of one of the most influential Catholic moral theologians of the last fifty years. His central concern with freedom, truthfulness, and the 'ethical praxis' of Christian life will enrich English-speaking moral theology as it has already shaped the European. This carefully argued analysis of moral agency ought to be read by every moral theologian. -- Stephen J. Pope, Boston College In this book, English-speaking moral theologians for the first time have access to the very influential hermeneutical ethical method of one of Europe's foremost moral theologians... a veritable mind opener. -- Charles E. Curran, Elizabeth Scurlock University Professor of Human Values, Southern Methodist University

How is moral theology related to pastoral theology? This title answers this question by offering a theory of action. It demonstrates that the demand for truthfulness offers a critical corrective to the usual praxis whereby ethical norms are formulated.How is moral theology related to pastoral theology? In this first English translation of "Living the Truth", Klaus Demmer answers this question by offering a complete theory of action. Its crucial element is truthfulness, which Demmer claims is a basic attitude that must be translated concretely into our individual decisions. Demmer demonstrates that the demand for truthfulness offers a critical corrective to the usual praxis whereby ethical norms are formulated. This has significant consequences for every area of ethical directives, including questions about celibacy and partnerships. Demmer moves away from the act-centered morality that dominates the neo-Scholastic manuals of moral theology. His concern is to show how our actions embody and carry out a more original anthropological project. Not only does this anthropological project condition our insights into goods and values, it provides the criteria by which our actions are judged morally. This book will be welcomed by all who are looking for ethical norms, and by all whose task it is to formulate such norms.