Doing Theology and Theological Ethics in the Face of the Abuse Crisis

Daniel J. Fleming · James F. Keenan SJ · Hans Zollner SJ

Apr 2023 · Wipf and Stock Publishers

About this ebook

This volume is the fruit of a "theological laboratory" initiated by the then-Centre for Child Protection and the Catholic Theological Ethics in the World Church (CTEWC) called "Doing Theology in the Face of Sexual Abuse." Eventually those from the laboratory engaged those meeting for two years via "virtual tables," due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the end, twenty-six scholars offer insights on the crisis itself and pathways for moving forward. There is a certain urgency about this volume, which is not often reflected in works of theology or theological ethics. The sheer scale of the undermining of human dignity through sexual abuse that has occurred within the church asks questions of these disciplines and scholars within them: To what extent have we been blind to these issues? Why have our efforts in theology and theological ethics been so slow to wrestle with this crisis? How are theology and theological ethics implicated in the crisis? And how might the disciplines be constructive in responding? In this volume, we encounter a diverse range of scholars from all around the world wrestling with these and other questions.

About the author

Daniel J. Fleming is head of ethics for St Vincent’s Health Australia and adjunct professor of ethics in the School of Medicine at the University of Note Dame Australia. Fleming holds a PhD in moral philosophy and theology and is the author of over fifty academic and media publications in the areas of theological ethics, health care ethics, and moral education. He is an active member of Catholic Theological Ethics in the World Church (CTEWC) and co-chairs CTEWC’s virtual table on the topic of abuse in the church with James F. Keenan, SJ.



James F. Keenan, SJ, is the Canisius Chair, director of the Jesuit Institute, and vice provost for Global Engagement at Boston College. In addition to being a distinguished scholar, with over twenty-five books and three hundred essays published, he is also the founder of the Catholic Theological Ethics in the World Church (CTEWC) network. His most recent book is A History of Catholic Theological Ethics. Receiving a licentiate and a doctorate from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, Keenan has been a Jesuit priest since 1982.



Hans Zollner, SJ, is director and professor of the Institute of Anthropology: Interdisciplinary Studies on Human Dignity and Care at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He has been a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors since its inception in 2014.