Congratulations to Gerald J. Bednar for his fantastic new book, Mercy and the Rule of Law: A Theological Interpretation of Amoris Laetitia. Bednar does a great job of illuminating Church teaching and pastoral practice in light of Pope Francis’s exhortation, The Joy of Love. There has been a lot of concern among some Church leaders and understanding what accompaniment looks like; at its worst, this debate has resulted in a sort of factionalism among leaders, with some claiming allegiance to one pope over and against others. Bednar does a beautiful job of showing the unity of the last three popes’ approaches to ministerial questions around marriage as well as their continuity with the history of the Church. A must read for pastoral theology courses! My review is in the latest issue of the Journal of Catholic Social Thought. I’ll close by including an excerpt that suggests appropriate audiences for the book:

It would be an excellent book in a Catholic ethics course-graduate or undergraduate~for professors wanting students to think through the pastoral application of Church teaching. It should be high on the list of required reading for those seeking careers in ministry, both lay students and seminarians. This book would be helpful for Church leaders in thinking through their own implementation of Amoris laetitia, as well as their demonstration of the continuity of this document with Church teaching historically. Further, Bednar’s thinking on the connection between mercy and law has implications for a wide variety of pastoral questions, far beyond simply the divorced and remarried that he focuses on for this book. In sum, this is an excellent book that I highly recommend for students, leaders, and scholars.