Put simply, this is a magnificent book. It's taken me a long time to get around to reading it. However over the last six months or so I have been determined to educate myself on current Catholic moral theology, just to see whether sensible and intelligent voices were addressing the major issues we all face each and every day in our contemporary personal, social and political lives.
Each of the half a dozen or so books I've read all referred to Farley's Just Love as a classic in the field.
She is a world renowned and highly respected ethicist and theologian who taught at Yale for many years. This book, published in 2006, is her major and groundbreaking work.
She is a very liberal and progressive voice across the whole spectrum of moral theological issues, and is the polar opposite of the reigning conservative, reactionary, stale, and frustratingly stupid official positions of the Catholic Church hierarchy. So angry were the Vatican officials they condemned the book and banned it from being used as a text or reference in Catholic universities across the world. That of course made it a best seller!
The book explores marriage, divorce and re-marriage, same sex relationships, gay marriage, and other important contemporary issues, and all from a perspective of love, desire, human nature and frailty, and the stresses and strains of living a full life in today's world.
Her perspective is anthropological and in clear, non-academic prose she digs deep into the debates from four overarching perspectives : scripture, tradition, secular traditions of knowledge (science), and contemporary lived experience. She never references papal encyclicals or hierarchical determinations or documents at all. She is way beyond that, and her thinking is in no way constrained by it. That's so refreshing.
I highly recommend this liberating tome. Every educated Catholic should read it.
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