The author then asserts the tenet of natural law that men naturally seek what is good, and that to know the good and not pursue it is to reject God (99, 101-102). Balthasar closes with a comparison of the freedom of an individual and his membership in an aggregate social group -- the only true way to combine the two identities, he says, is in Christ, where the two identities converge. All three of these discussions attempt to explain a modern facet of Christian belief and practice-Schurmann in his examination of a New Testament interpretation, Ratzinger in his reconciliation of praxis and theory, and Balthasar with his overview of justifications for action based on faith. Each man treats a subject that is distinctly modern in its discussion, most notably Ratzinger's response to the Marxist concept of praxis, but all three topics can be related back to moral theology and trace the origins of each question to an older debate-Schurmann's interpretation is similar to debates over the superiority of the New or Old Testament in previous eras of Church history, Ratzinger's theory vs. practice topic has been an issue among Christians since the inception of the faith, and Balthasar's exploration of the underlying moral and ethical motives behind actions has been relevant since time immemorial.

The essays are all applicable to any era of Church history, and all are well reasoned and theologically sound. In the interest of space, however, only one will be analyzed in detail here, that of Schurmann. In his piece, Schurmann asserts why the Gospels can be understood as the most relevant commandments on how to live in accordance with Christian principles, and gives a basic rationale for seeming contradictions in the Old Testament. He notes that "a historically determined obfuscation" occurs in the parables and recollections of the Old Testament, which allows the stories to be interpreted to...

If the literal truth is to be taken from Old Testament lore, they lose their value once their implements are outdated-if, for example, an ox cannot be understood as an automobile, or a tribute to the king cannot be understood as a tax paid to the government. Instead of this strict interpretation, Schurmann suggests an exegesis of the texts in context of the current era.
He supports the case for a more lenient interpretation of the Old Testament parables and myths with an assertation of the relevance the old stories in the Gospels; "God...in his wisdom has so brought it about that the New should be hidden in the Old and that the Old should be made manifest in the New" (Augustine, on p. 15). Schurmann also notes prior Catholic doctrine that states "the books of the Old Testament...attain and show forth their full meaning in the New Testament" (15).

The commandment to "love thy neighbor," expressed in several places in the New Testament, "sums up" (Rom. 13:8) the "law of Christ" (Gal. 6:2). Schurmann later elaborates that this commandment cannot change through various time periods-that social and cultural factors may shift, but the commandment to love thy neighbor is a "time-bound judgment of value and of fact" (43). Societal factors may change the way that one interprets certain passages, for example, Peter's apparently different opinions at different points regarding remarriage (40) or the change in culture that has made human slavery unacceptable, when it was once considered a routine part of life

The analysis of moral theology and Christian ethics today by these three men gives readers a sound starting point from which to examine these thorny issues. Principles of Christian Morality is also an interesting look at the moral theology (in brief) of our current Pope, and is an excellent introduction to…