MORAL THEOLOGY AT THE DAWN OF VATICAN II
A BRIEF PRESENTATION OF ARREGUI-ZALBA’S COMPENDIO DE TEOLOGÍA MORAL
Keywords:
Pre-Conciliar moral theology, Second Vatican Council, Compendium of moral theologyAbstract
The article offers an overview of the Compendio de teología moral by Arregui-Zalba, a very significant work of moral theology (particularly in the Spanish speaking world) in the years preceding Vatican II. The overview presents the structure of the book, some of the main characteristics of its way of doing moral theology and a few examples of particular topics. The article helps us understand the directions of pre-conciliar moral theology. 50 years after Vatican II, the aim of the article is to help to understand the significance and the effects of the Council in the renewal of moral theology, particularly the significance and timeliness of the call of Optatam Totius, 16 to give special care to the perfection of moral theology, which “nourished more on the teaching of the Bible, should shed light on the loftiness of the calling of the faithful in Christ and the obligation that is theirs of bearing fruit in charity for the life of the world.”
References
John A. Gallagher, Time Past, Time Future : An Historical Study of Catholic Moral Theology, New York: Paulist Press, 1990.
Marcelino Zalba, “Un moralista español de nuestros días. El Padre Antonio Arregui, S.J. (1864-1942),” Estudios Eclesiasticos, 1945.
Zalba, “Un moralista español de nuestros días...,”.
Alfonso Llano Escobar, “Probable origen de la encíclica Humanae Vitae,” Theologica Xaveriana (December 2013); Julio Luis Martínez e José Manuel Caamaño, “Noventa años de teología moral en la revista Estudios Eclesiasticos (1922-2012),” Estudios Eclesiáticos 87 (2012).
Louis Vereecke, “Il Concilio di Trento e l’insegnamento della Teologia morale,” in Da Guglielmo d’Ockham a Sant’Alfonso de Liguori, Cinisello Balsamo: Paoline, 1990.
Cavallotto, “La riforma tridentina e il nuovo assetto della Teologia Morale.
Zalba defends a “recto uso del probabilismo,” un upright use of probabilism. We can certainly trace a genealogy of this to Liguori’s Dell’uso moderato ell’opinione probabile, published in Naples n 1765.
Antonio María Arregui SJ e Marcelino Zalba, SJ, Compendio de teologia moral, 24a ed., Bilbao: El Mensajero del Corazón de Jesús, 1965.
Yves Marie Joseph Congar, La foi et la théologie, Le mystère chrétien, Théologie dogmatique 001, Tournai: Desclée, 1962.
Arregui, Annotationes ad epitomen Instituti Societatis Iesu, Romae: apud Oeconomum Generalem, 1934.
