The title says it all. Professor Bretzke suggests models as the starting place to address complicated moral issues. He folds in the wisdom of evolving church teaching to a savory recipe for good decision-making. Beyond theory, he emphasizes the place of each person’s unique experience and the exercise of skills to draw moral conclusions. Each chapter examines a specific case, applying the methodology in the book’s title, a strong cup of moral theology and a pinch of concrete and sometimes personal examples to complete the dish.

Chapter One raises interesting questions. How can sane and thoughtful persons hold what he terms crazy positions on issues?  Answer: these are nourished by paradigms (“tribal binaries” and “polarization”), sometimes inflammatory language (killing babies vs. termination of pregnancy), and cultural context. These can be the staring place for decision-making. Such fixed notions may precipitate thinking that precludes reasoned decisions. What is truth, and how does someone come to know it? How might church teaching be used to discern an adequate response to a serious question? How should it not be used, as the clear development of doctrine in the moral realm is real.

The second chapter, on the death penalty, uses the case of former Attorney General’s reinstatement of the practice. Not mentioned are some outdated arguments such as the right of the state to execute people deriving from the authorizing power given by God to government, or the subtle connection between opposing abortion because all life is sacred and the death penalty, strengthening the argument against abortion.

I applaud his treatment of abortion Chapter Three.  Bretzke notes the utter complexity of the question. Yes! He does not fall for the binary trap of “pro-life” versus “pro-choice.” Rather, he probes both statements through a healthy moral theology framework, including a serious cautionary tale courtesy of Thomas Aquinas.

The next three chapters deal with gender issues, immigration and border security challenges, and the formation of conscience as Catholics vote. The discussions lean esoteric, but they also yield very practical and prudent tools.  Much pain in this complicated world might be spared if these tools were used.  

The final chapters address how a Catholic can follow the ecclesial call to “Faithful Citizenship” to parse important issues, and how to apply prudently Ignatian principles and contemporary papal paradigms in today’s political climate.  He invokes synodality as an important element. Bretzke does an excellent job of clarifying moral theological language (e.g. “intrinsic evil,” “serious sin”) and often misunderstood tenets plucked randomly from church teaching.

The book can be critical, as it should be. Nevertheless, the author shows respect as he considers facile either/or positions and church teaching that fails on occasion to address adequately modern paradigms.  For readers unfamiliar with technical terms assumed by moral theologians, church documents and notable persons, and even common terms like “woke” and “political correctness” the author includes a forty-page glossary. Footnotes in serious books are often dull documentation of referenced sources. Not so here. Rather, the footnotes expand and enrich the text with commentary, even in the prologue. Each chapter concludes with some really probing discussion questions and further reading.

This book is much like an expensive meal: tastes marvelous, but very rich and requiring time to digest. Maybe I liked it so much because my approach mirrors his. I suspect this book may be too difficult for the average person in the pews and even for undergraduate students, but I hope that people who think they have facile answers to incredibly complex questions read it. Meanwhile I’d love to join the weekly lunch conversation with his Jesuit buddies.