Includes bibliography.

Christian tradition and moral theology -- Modern thought and moral theology -- Purpose of this study -- General outline -- Thomistic perspective of the work -- Charity and Morality in St. Thomas (Historical Part) -- Charity and the Moral Act -- Charity the Form of the Virtues -- Toward a Charity-Centered Moral Theology (Methodological and Speculative Part) -- The Moral Act as Mediation of Our Profound Spiritual Tendency -- Our Profound Spiritual Tendency is Charity-Love -- The Virtuous Act, A Mediation of Charity -- Outline of a Charity-Centered Moral Theology (Practical Part) -- Fundamental Attitudes of Charity -centered Moral Theology -- Conclusions: Attitude of Consecration to the Heart of Christ -- Practical Applications in General Moral Theology --Practical Applications in Special Moral Theology -- Charity and Realism

An epoch-making book that has already been widely acclaimed in the great theological journals of Europe. The Primacy of Charity in Moral Theology is basically a rethinking of morality in the light of charity. Not that Christian morality has hitherto been false; far from it. But what is called traditional moral theology is admittedly oriented toward the confessional, and Christian morality as it should be lived is not so much the avoidance of sin, as the positive practice of virtue. The question is, then, "Can moral theology be so formulated that it rightly centers morality in charity and can still produce men adequately trained for the confessional?" This question is much more vital than it at first appears: it is not just a matter of pedagogical technique; the traditional approach, because it is not properly centered, can produce some very strange anomalies. The "sin orientation" of moral theology if one may so speak, can adversely affect the mental outlook of persons who are themselves not properly balanced. Father Gilleman, in the present – and brilliant –work, approaches the question from an historical point of view. St. Paul tells us that charity is the bond of the virtues; in Thomistic terminology, charity is the form of the virtues, that is, it "informs" them. Father Gilleman studies the Thomistic texts to discovers what this "informing" means. The second part of the book is by far the most valuable. Briefly, Father Gilleman analyzes the moral act philosophically and finds that it is shaped by and, in a sense, is a product of, the deepest tendency of our very being. This tendency can be nothing else than love, and in the Christian it is super naturalized into charity. Our various moral acts, even though they appear to be act of justice, produce and so on, are "informed" by charity; they are so many "mediations" of charity, unfolding the multiform riches of that fundamental power of love in the many fields of our activity. The third, and practical, part of The Primacy of Charity in Moral Theology is essentially an outline of a course in moral theology that would be centered on charity, where Christians life itself is centered. This book is of interest, naturally, to moralists, whether teachers or students. But it is also a most significant contribution to the philosophy of man and his meaning.