Conscience

Translated and edited by Matthew K. Minerd Conscience: Four Thomistic Treatments presents a series of distinct essays by the Thomistic scholars Benoît-Henri Merkelbach, Reginald Beaudouin, and Michel Labourdette. Expertly compiled and translated by Matthew K. Minerd, these essays confront the difficulty of assessing the proper locus of conscience in moral theo­logy—a difficulty as palpable today as when debates over casuistry and probabilism raged. Introduced by Minerd’s own expansive overview of conscience, the volume comprises Merkelbach’s “Where Should We Place the Treatise on Conscience in Moral Theology?” (1923) and “Treatise on Conscience in General” (1946); Labour­dette’s Comments on Conscience (1940s); and Beaudouin’s De Conscientia (1911). The seventh volume in the Thomist Tradition series, Conscience: Four Thomistic Treatments offers a technically rigorous, deeply insightful examination of a crucial aspect of moral theology. * * * Benoît-Henri Merkelbach, O.P., (1871–1942) was professor of moral theology at the Dom­inican studium in Louvain and the Angelicum in Rome. His Summa theologiae moralis is perhaps the most extensive pre-Second Vatican Council Thomist manual of moral theology. Michel Labourdette, O.P., (1908–1990) was professor of moral theology at the Dom­inican studium of St. Maximin in Toulouse, editor of the Revue thomiste, and author of many theological studies. Reginald Beaudouin, O.P., (1842–1907) was regent of studies for the Paris Dominicans and socius of the Master General of the Order. He influenced many luminaries of twentieth-century Thomism, including Ambroise Gardeil, Pierre Mandonnet, M.-B. Schwalm, and Antonin Sertillanges. Matthew K. Minerd is a Ruthenian Catholic, husband, and father, serving as professor of philo­sophy and moral theology at the Byzantine Catholic Seminary of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Paperback & E-book: 386pp. E-book: Immediately following purchase, an .epub file and a .mobi (Kindle) file are available for download. ISBN: 978-1685950231 * * * Praise for Conscience: Four Thomistic Treatments The retrieval of these Dominican moral masters on the topic of conscience marks a watershed moment. It is high time to face the question of how to integrate virtue ethics and casuistry, and these masters offer important directions. In translating and introducing these works, Matthew Minerd has outdone himself again. –Matthew Levering, James N. and Mary D. Perry Jr. Chair of Theology, Mundelein Seminary Conscience is easily one of the most important texts on the conscience written in English. Minerd's scholarship brings together central Thomistic developments and synthesizes the resulting theory in a rigorous and eminently plausible way. The volume represents both the best starting point for those seeking to understand the conscience and a central contribution to senior scholars of this area. It is required reading for moral philosophers and theologians thinking about the mechanics of moral knowledge.  –Brian Besong, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Saint Francis University