Formed in the Image of Christ

The Christian life is an imitation of Christ's response to Goda religious response to God's initiative. We are called to make all responsesreligion and moralityacts of adoring worship and praise. This sacramental theology is the fundamental moral theology of Bernard Hring, CSsR, whose contributions as a twentieth-century theologian have prepared the way of renewal in Catholic theology today. Part One of this book introduces Bernard Hring and his place in the history of Roman Catholic moral theology. Part Two examines the central concepts of Hring's sacramental-moral theology: responsibility, Christ as Word of God and High Priest, the human person as word and worshiper, and the sacraments as dialogue and response. In Part III the author illustrates how Hring takes a minor categorythe virtue of religionand places it at the center of moral life. Chapters under Part I: Bernard Hring and Roman Catholic Moral Theology are "Reassessing Bernard Hring's Moral Theology," and "Moral Theology and Sacramental Practice." Chapters under Part II: The Dogmatic Foundations of Hring's Sacramental-Moral Theology are "Word and Response: The Theological Foundations of the Religious-Moral Life," and "Sacraments as Word and Response." Chapters under Part III: The Christian Moral Life and the Virtue of Religion are "The Theological and Moral Virtues and the Virtue of Religion," and "The Interior and Exterior Acts of the Virtue of Religion." Chapters under the Conclusion are "Bernard Hring and Contemporary Proposals in Liturgy and Ethics: Critique and contributions."