Awards

• Winner of Constructive-Reflective Study of Religion (United States).
• Winner of CPA Book Award for Faithful Citizenship 6 (United States)
• Winner of Faithful Citizenship (United States).
• Winner of Faithful Citizenship 6 (United States)

Overview

Can the law promote moral values even in pluralistic societies such as the United States? Drawing upon important federal legislation such as the Americans with Disabilities Act, legal scholar and moral theologian Cathleen Kaveny argues that it can. In conversation with thinkers as diverse as Thomas Aquinas, Pope John Paul II, and Joseph Raz, she argues that the law rightly promotes the values of autonomy and solidarity. At the same time, she cautions that wise lawmakers will not enact mandates that are too far out of step with the lived moral values of the actual community. According to Kaveny, the law is best understood as a moral teacher encouraging people to act virtuously, rather than a police officer requiring them to do so. In ""Law's Virtues"" Kaveny expertly applies this theoretical framework to the controversial moral-legal issues of abortion, genetics, and euthanasia. In addition, she proposes a moral analysis of the act of voting, in dialogue with the election guides issued by the US bishops. Moving beyond the culture wars, this bold and provocative volume proposes a vision of the relationship of law and morality that is realistic without being relativistic and optimistic without being utopian.

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9781589019324

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Reviews

A rich and, finally, polemical commentary on how Americans committed to Catholic teaching should respond morally and jurisprudentially to certain new moral problems. Journal of Religion Thought provoking. Choice Moving beyond the 'culture wars' model of political engagement, Cathleen Kaveny digs deep in Law's Virtues to deliver a must read for anyone who cares about the relationship of law and morality in our pluralistic society. America Magazine Professor Kaveny's book is an excellent resource for understanding the relationsihp that ought to exist between law and ethics. Health Progress Given [the author's] intellectual gifts and also her position as professor of both theology and law at a prominent Catholic University, the arguments of this book will very likely have an influence, especially in Catholic circles, during the presidential campaign season of 2016. -- Kevin L. Flannery First Things

A rich and, finally, polemical commentary on how Americans committed to Catholic teaching should respond morally and jurisprudentially to certain new moral problems. -- Journal of Religion Thought provoking. -- Choice Moving beyond the 'culture wars' model of political engagement, Cathleen Kaveny digs deep in Law's Virtues to deliver a must read for anyone who cares about the relationship of law and morality in our pluralistic society. -- America Magazine Professor Kaveny's book is an excellent resource for understanding the relationsihp that ought to exist between law and ethics. -- Health Progress Given [the author's] intellectual gifts and also her position as professor of both theology and law at a prominent Catholic University, the arguments of this book will very likely have an influence, especially in Catholic circles, during the presidential campaign season of 2016. -- Kevin L. Flannery, First Things

Author Information

Cathleen Kaveny is John P. Murphy Foundation Professor of Law and professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame. She holds a JD and a PhD in religious ethics from Yale University. She is a regular columnist for Commonweal.

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