Moral Theology: Its Method and Masters
Antony Koch and Arthur Preuss
Drawn from the authors' own words; every quotation links to its place.
Secular (German) · 1859–1915; 1871–1934
On this site: A Handbook of Moral Theology (Koch–Preuss)
His Moral System
Sets out the systems without formally adopting one; objects to simple probabilism and gives the case for equiprobabilism — The sentence "The only thing we reject in the teaching of the Jesuits" in this section is a quotation from "a Protestant ethicist", not Koch.
- “does not remove the logical and moral objection that Probabilism permits men to follow a less probable opinion” — Koch-Preuss, Section 3: Probabilism and Other Systems of Morals
- “is regarded by some as an advance over simple Probabilism” — Koch-Preuss, Section 3: Probabilism and Other Systems of Morals
Life
Antony Koch
Born 17 April 1859, Pfronstetten, near Münsingen (Württemberg); died 24 May 1915, Tübingen. [Deutsche Biographie]
- Extraordinary professor at Tübingen 1894; ordinary professor of moral and pastoral theology there from 1896. [Deutsche Biographie]
- Opposed an overemphasis on casuistry in moral theology; Lehrbuch der Moraltheologie (Freiburg, 1905; 3rd ed. 1910). [Deutsche Biographie; Prümmer, Catalogue of authors]
Sources: Deutsche Biographie (Neue Deutsche Biographie / Historische Kommission bei der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften); Prümmer, Manuale theologiae moralis, Catalogue of authors (on this site). Each fact names where it was read; the links go to the page or entry itself.
Arthur Preuss
Born 22 March 1871, St. Louis; died 16 December 1934, St. Louis. [Wikipedia; New Catholic Encyclopedia, 'Preuss, Arthur']
- Son of Edward Preuss, editor of the St. Louis German Catholic daily Amerika; educated at Canisius College and St. Francis College, Quincy, Illinois. [Wikipedia]
- Began his own Chicago Review on 1 April 1894 and moved it to St. Louis in July 1895; it was later retitled the Catholic Fortnightly Review (1905–1911) and the Fortnightly Review (1912–1935) (NCE). [New Catholic Encyclopedia, 'Preuss, Arthur'; Wikipedia]
- Literary editor for B. Herder of St. Louis, 1896–1934; translated German theology (Pohle's dogmatics; Koch's moral theology). [Wikipedia; New Catholic Encyclopedia, 'Preuss, Arthur']
- A layman. [New Catholic Encyclopedia, 'Preuss, Arthur']
Sources: Wikipedia; New Catholic Encyclopedia (2nd ed., 2003), as published on Encyclopedia.com. Each fact names where it was read; the links go to the page or entry itself.
What Our Authors Say of Him
- “It is a work avoiding the rocks of Casuistry, giving solid and clear doctrine.” — Prümmer, Catalogue of authors
His Moral System, as Our Authors Report It
Every report quoted in the author's own words and linked to its place; point at a name to see his words. Haringer's signs give St. Alphonsus's judgment as Haringer found it in St. Alphonsus's works (his notice, Gury-Ballerini, 1884, p. XI); a sign on a writer the 1884 editor added to the list is the editor's own, and is said to be his.
| Equiprobabilist | |
|---|---|
| Counted among them by one of our authors | Marc, Institutiones I, n. 86 |
Where Our Authors Discuss Him
Each read in its full passage; the words quoted are the author's own. Where several authors say the same thing, one is quoted and the others follow “in nearly the same words”; point at a name to see his words.
| “after the middle of the eighteenth century, in Germany and elsewhere, moral theology was almost confused with natural ethics”Vermeersch adopts his observation on moral theology after the middle of the eighteenth century | Vermeersch, Theologia moralis I, n. 20 |
| “Besides, the same Pontiff ordered that the theology of Fr. Antoine, S.J., a vigorous Probabiliorist, be expounded in the Seminary of Propaganda Fide. Clement XIII on 26 Feb. 1761, through a Decree of the Holy Office, condemned a sheet containing several theses favoring the system of Probabilism; indeed, the proposition, "Probabilism was supremely familiar to Christ the Lord," he specially condemned as erroneous and proximate to heresy. - From all these things it clearly appears how rightly Thyrsus Gonzalez wrote in the supplicatory little book offered to Clement XI in the year 1702: "It is certain that the Apostolic See has always inclined more toward the opinion contrary to Probabilism." The same is thought by Mausbach, Sawicki, Koch, Schmuckenschlager, Liese, Vinati, and very many others among the moderns.”Prümmer names him among the moderns who think the Holy See has always inclined against probabilism | Prümmer, Manuale I, n. 345 |
| “To these sayings consent, besides the alumni of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, very many distinguished theologians, such as Bellesheim (Katholik, 1891, II, p. 245), who thus speaks: "The texts are thus clearer than the midday light, so weighty, that an opponent must be silent: St. Alphonsus truly taught equiprobabilism." The same testify Schneider (Liter. Rundschau, 1895, col. 202), Koch (Tubing. Quart. Schr., 1897, p. 70-126), Mausbach (Die kath. Moral, p. 181), Berardi (Theol. fund., 1905, I, n. 55), Tanquerey (I, n. 405), Sweens (Theol. mor., 688).”Marc names him among the theologians who testify that St. Alphonsus was an equiprobabilist | Marc, Institutiones I, n. 87 |
No article in the Catholic Encyclopedia (1913).