A very well-written work that describes the journey of the Catholic Church to the truth about slavery, usury, freedom of religion, and divorce. The depth of knowledge of Mr. Noonan about the Church's history with regard to these moral issues is astounding!

After seminal books on the history of moral teaching (usury, contraception, abortion, bribes, divorce and religious liberty) John T. Noonan, Jr. has attempted to tie them all together by articulating a coherent approach to the problem of doctrinal development in the Roman Catholic Church. He applies his formidable erudition to three issues where church teaching has reversed itself definitively (slavery, usury, and religious liberty) and to one that is still in progress (divorce). Half of the book deals with the teaching and practice on slavery - from toleration to defense and finally to condemnation, almost as an after-thought, at the Second Vatican Council. Having already written books on the other three topics, Noonan deals with them more succinctly but with no less acumen.

Noonan has the rare capacity to look the historical record straight in the face. He neither hides from the facts nor tries to spin them. He weighs and evaluates facts like the judge that he is (US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit) seeking whatever meaning they yield - no more, no less. He notes that none of the great minds of the past "were capable of rising above their circumstances in all areas of moral doctrine." Augustine approved the torture of heretics and Aquinas justified their execution if they relapsed; Erasmus failed to criticize the European slave trade; Bartolome de Las Casas did not object to the inquisition; and "St. Alfonso de'Ligouri owned a personal slave."

Embarrassing as the historical record is when viewed from our vantage point at the end of centuries of development, Noonan's dispassionate examination leads to many insights. In the last section of his book, "The Test of the Teaching," Noonan puts forth a synthesis. Argument from analogy, a sense of vital balance, logic, and experience, "understood broadly to include empathy, identification with the experience of the other," are the tools that lead to development. However, the criterion for judging development of doctrine is the rule of faith guided by love of God and neighbor. Noonan closes with a quote from Augustine. "If it seems to anyone that he has understood the divine scriptures or any part of them, in such a way that by that understanding he does not build up that double love of God and of neighbor, he has not yet understood them." The same goes for doctrinal development.

I would take issue with Noonan's repeated assertion that the Latin translation of Luke 6:35 ("Lend, hoping nothing therefrom.") was a mistake. The New Revised Translation of the Bible has: "Lend expecting nothing in return." Besides, Noonan himself admits that the driving force of the prohibition of usury (taking any interest on a loan) was the common understanding dating back to Aristotle that money was not fruitful. The gospel citation was window-dressing. Another criticism relates to an omission. For some reason Noonan failed to mention the brilliant 1963 speech by Bishop Emile DeSmedt introducing what eventually became the Vatican Council's Decree on Religious Liberty in 1965. Yet, he gives several pages to Archbishop Michel Lefebvre's attempt to refute DeSmedt. Finally, I wonder how long readers will have to wait for authors to give references to information on the Internet. Noonan gives none.

These criticisms aside, Noonan has written a provocative and insightful book that is well worth reading and may even become a classic.