Servais Pinckaers, O.P.: 1925-2008

Servais Pinckaers, O.P. (1925-2008)

Some very sad news today. A brilliant Dominican moral theologian, longtime teacher at Fribourg in Switzerland, honored member of the ITC and formative contributor to the Catechism of the Catholic Church and Veritatis Splendor preparatory commissions, has passed away today....

The news this morning is that Father Servais Pinckaers, O.P., has died after a long period of debilitation. His history of Christian ethics and other writings—and especially his acute distinction between the “freedom of indifference” and the “freedom of excellence”—has had a powerful influence in Christian circles, and not only among Catholics, and certainly not only among Thomists. (RJN at First Things)

Pinckaers was one of the primary inspirations for my master's thesis ("Spiritual Spontaneity at the Heart of Morality"). You can read a decent biography of the great man here.

Also: a short Pinckaers CV, an essay of his entitled "The Place Of Philosophy In Moral Theology", and a personal note passed on from the dominicans who tended his bedside. His magnum opus is The Sources of Christian Ethics, but he also wrote a more introductory version of it: Morality: The Catholic View.

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Requiem aeternam dona ei, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat ei. Requiescat in pace. Amen.

What's been consuming so very much of my time lately?

Three weeks ago the topic for my Master's thesis was approved, and I have since been very occupied with research and writing. It is due mid-March, and I'll be defending by early April. Prayers would, of course, be greatly appreciated. And no worries, I will still be blogging as my "intellectual playtime" (in that I consider blogging intellectual and also great, great fun).

My topic, broadly, is on the thought of Servais Pinckaers, a brilliant Dominican moral theologian, longtime teacher at Fribourg in Switzerland, member of the ITC and contributor to the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Needless to say, I'd recommend reading his masterful magnum-opus The Sources of Christian Ethics or his shorter, more popular-oriented Morality: The Catholic View if you want some top-notch moral theology.