On Conscience (Bioethics & Culture)
by Pope Benedict XVI
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Book Summary Information
Author: Pope Benedict XVIBrand: Ignatius Press
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-01-26
ISBN: 1586171607
Number of pages: 82
Publisher: Ignatius Press
Book Reviews of On Conscience (Bioethics & Culture)
Book Review: Two Brief, Insightful, and Timely Speeches on the Role of the Conscience
Summary: 5 Stars
The contemporary man is so often tempted to interpret the prophetic words of "do what your heart tells you" as meaning that his heart is the sole arbiter of his morality. Of course, this forgets that the
"heart" may desire one thing but also realize that it may be wrong, thereby judging that the person needs to probe deeper into the matter in order to really know what is in consonance with his heart. Implicitly, Truth is involved in the formation and direction of the conscience, thereby eliminating the wholly subjectivist interpretation of "conscience," a term which should be remembered as being con-science, knowing with, thereby presupposing the greater community of humanity and the world.
Cardinal Ratzinger's consideration of the Conscience in these two talks is well timed in an age which as forgotten that the conscience is more than a relativistic term. Both essays aim to reunite the subjective conscience with its orientation to the objective Truth and the whole of the community from whence it takes its promptings and toward which it provides growth. In the consideration of what seems to be a human anamnesis of conscience which points mankind with fits and starts toward the same Truth, the conscience already shows itself to have an orientation to the objective. In addition, one can talk of the conscience changing over time, of becoming more formed or deformed with the making of choices. Once again, Ratzinger points out that this is this points to something outside of oneself. This also provides a direction for how to understand the place of the Church in relation to academic theologians, a subject considered in the second essay. The community of the Church takes on the character of the moral arbiter which passes along the experience which grows from the struggle of the Church through the ages. In order to completely understand this struggle, it must remain in dialogue with "scientific" theologians who help shape the moral dialogue in each age. These theologians remain in service to the community and thereby stand both as a shaper as well as a subject to the moral tradition which informs the Catholic conscience.
Like the other works of Ratzinger (or later as Pope Benedict XVI), this text is insightful yet very accessible to readers of varied levels of theological and philosophical acumen. It is marked by the character of a man who has a deep love of that communion of faith in which he has been formed and which he now leads as spiritual father. In a world which has forgotten the necessary relationship of the conscience to objective truth (and therefore the community of Church, mankind, and world), this text is a gentle introductory corrective which is insightful and fruitful.
Summary of On Conscience (Bioethics & Culture)
Prepared and co-published by the National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia, this book is a combination of two lengthy essays written by Cardinal Ratzinger and delivered in talks when he was head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Both talks deal with the importance of conscience and its exercise in particular circumstances.Ratzinger's reflections show that contemporary debates over the nature of conscience have deep historical and philosophical roots. He says that a person is bound to act in accord with his conscience, but he makes it clear that there must be reliable, proven sources for the judgment of conscience in moral issues, other than the subjective reflections of each individual.
The always unique and profound insights that the new Pope Benedict XVI brings to perennial problems reminds the reader of his strong warning before the recent Papal conclave of the great dangers today of the "dictatorship of relativism."
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