Christian Moral Life

John Rziha is professor of theology at Benedictine College and author of Perfecting Human Actions: St. Thomas Aquinas on Human Participation in Eternal Law.

"A welcome offering and an excellent resource for anyone teaching moral theology at the undergraduate level. The book's subtitle, Directions for the Journey to Happiness, suggests the guiding analogy for the content and structure of the text, namely that of a pilgrim on a journey. Using this analogy Rziha presents the Thomistic synthesis of law, virtues, and grace as perfective of the human desire for happiness and corrective of the theological history of human nature." —Reading Religion"Rziha always writes in accessible language to convey deep philosophical and theological ideas to the uninitiated. . . . The Christian Moral Life is a sound introductory textbook on the complexities of moral theology." —Catholic Library World"What is unique about The Christian Moral Life is that it at once offers a comprehensive treatment of moral theology with the necessary background in theological anthropology, takes an approach based in the virtues, beatitudes, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, and also treats the numerous elements of the law pertinent to the virtues." —Christopher J. Malloy, University of Dallas"John Rziha's book satisfies the long-awaited hope for a suitable textbook for students and professors of moral theology that is both robustly Catholic and rigorously academic from cover to cover. His copious work provides the framework and principles for a study that is both soundly Thomistic and refreshingly personalistic. This delightful text, laudably unencumbered by needless technical jargon, leads the reader to a fruitful contemplation and critical apprehension of the way toward genuine human beatitude in Christ by way of grace, virtue, and law. More than merely a suitable textbook, Dr. Rziha's book exemplifies true Christian and Catholic humanism at its finest. As such, this text ought to be standard fare for all students and professors of Catholic theology—not only those whose work directly treats of the moral life in Christ." —Michael G. Sirilla, Franciscan University of Steubenville"The Christian Moral Life provides a necessary corrective to the popular misperception of Christian morality as nothing more than a system of oppressive rules that impair human freedom. He methodically sets forth the Christian moral life in all its splendor as nothing less than our grace-filled journey to personal fulfillment and eternal happiness, drawing upon scripture and the timeless wisdom of the saints. We used an earlier version of this text in our permanent diaconate program, and the students found it eminently readable and enlightening." —Leon Suprenant, Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kansas"Rziha offers an extremely detailed, and laudably systematic, look at the connection points within moral theology." —Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies