John T. Noonan, Jr., is a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco, California. He is a historian of ideas, distinguished lecturer, and author of thirteen books.
“What might at first glance seem to be a problematic piling up of
disparate answers . . . actually helps to seal Noonan's case. The
multiple interwoven issues lead one toward the realization that
there has been a certain heterogeneous inconsistency, even not
excluding the church's determination of what is unnatural or
intrinsically evil.” —American Catholic Studies
"Crisply written and immensely learned, [A Church That Can and
Cannot Change] documents profound change in Catholic teaching on
three topics—slavery, usury, religious liberty—and significant
development with regard to a fourth, the dissolution of marriage."
—Commonweal
"Noonan's real intent is to craft an argument. It is, roughly,
this: Change is healthy, and the Church should abandon what is
untenable; each age helps forge deeper understanding; though a
revised doctrine may itself be wrong, we needn't worry because
people of the future will fix such problems." —New Oxford
Review
“Anyone looking for a comprehensive and insightful read on church
history need look no further than John T. Noonan Jr.'s A Church
That Can and Cannot Change. In short, to-the-point chapters Noonan,
an accomplished historian and a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals,
leads the reader by the nose through his argument that the church's
moral teaching can and does change-and probably will again. The
heart of his case is his unflinching account of the church's
relationship with slavery. Meticulously presenting the evidence,
Noonan demonstrates beyond any reasonable doubt the church's move
from acceptance of human slavery to eventual condemnation.” —U.S.
Catholic
"Noonan's thesis is that while the Catholic Church cannot change in
holding to the deposit of faith, its moral doctrine has changed
with regard to slavery, usury, and religious liberty, and it is in
process of changing with regard to the dissolving of
non-sacramental marriages. . . This is a thoughtful and scholarly
work, which raises questions for both moral and systematic
theologians." —The Catholic Historical Review
"John Noonan wants to do for the commandments what John Newman did
for the creed. Just as Newman showed there have been developments
in the Church's understanding of the creed, so Noonan wants to show
there have been developments in the church's understanding of
morals. As Newman had his test cases, things like Nicea and
devotion to the saints and the papacy, so Noonan has his test
cases. He treats Church teaching on slavery, usury, religious
freedom, and divorce." —The Thomist
“Long curious about the absence of a body of writing on the
development of the Church's moral doctrine to match the copious
treatment of the development of the doctrines of faith, he set
himself to the present inquiry. . . . Noonan chose as the areas of
development to explore slave-holding, usury, religious freedom, and
the second marriage of a Catholic who has been married to an
unbaptized person. . . . The book is a remarkably welcome resource
in an important theological matter.” —Horizons
“Noonan offers an intrepid analysis of unambiguous development in
Catholic moral teaching that should cause the Church to celebrate
rather than diminish the dynamic process of development . . . This
enlightening, challenging, and hopeful book should contribute
substantively to an appreciation of the constructive role of the
development of moral doctrine in Catholic theology.” —The Heythrop
Journal
“Noonan's works on usury, contraception, religious freedom,
abortion, divorce, and bribery have set the gold standard for
research in theological ethics. His research is especially
compelling for Roman Catholic ethics shaped to some degree by
magisterial teachings that often make the claim of inerrancy
precisely through another claim: that its utterances are
continuously the same and resist change, despite evidence to the
contrary. . . . This brilliant book teaches us that, if we
appreciate history, inevitably we are called to understand more
than we presently know.” —The Journal of Religion
"John T. Noonan's writing is tight, the examples are striking, the
one-liners abundant, and the treasure-trove of amazing (and
egregious) ecclesial statements is eye-popping. . . excellent book.
. . " —Catholic Library World
"In "A Church That Can and Cannot Change," Noonan drives home the
point that some Catholic moral doctrines have changed radically.
History, he concludes, does not support the comforting notion that
the church simply elaborates on or expands previous teachings
without contradicting them."—The New York Times
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