On Formal and Material Cooperation with Evil, by Randall Smith

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August 21, 2023

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Image: David Sees Bath-Sheba Bathing by James Jacques Joseph Tissot, c. 1896-1902 [Jewish

By Randall Smith, The Catholic Thing, Aug. 22, 2023

Randall B. Smith is a Professor of Theology at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas. His latest book is From Here to Eternity: Reflections on Death, Immortality, and the Resurrection of the Body.

The issue of formal and material cooperation with evil came up in a conversation recently. My interlocutor was disconcerted when I expressed some reticence. Isn’t this a standard distinction in moral theology? Why wouldn’t we use it?

I suggested she read Fr. Kevin Flannery’s recent book, Cooperation with Evil: Thomistic Tools of Analysis. If she did, she would find that the origins of that distinction are unclear and its application to specific instances contentious.

The classic case (much discussed and much disagreed upon) involves a servant who is told to carry a ladder to a house which his master intends to use to climb up to a window so he can commit adultery with the mistress of the house. ..

On Formal and Material Cooperation with Evil, by Randall Smith

Msgr. Charles Pope: While on Others Thou Art Calling, Do Not Pass Me By – A Homily for the 20th Sunday of the Year

Pope Francis Writing a Second Environmental Document After Laudato Si’, by Hannah Brockhaus

By Randall Smith, The Catholic Thing, Aug. 22, 2023

The issue of formal and material cooperation with evil came up in a conversation recently. My interlocutor was disconcerted when I expressed some reticence. Isn’t this a standard distinction in moral theology? Why wouldn’t we use it?

I suggested she read Fr. Kevin Flannery’s recent book, Cooperation with Evil: Thomistic Tools of Analysis. If she did, she would find that the origins of that distinction are unclear and its application to specific instances contentious.

The classic case (much discussed and much disagreed upon) involves a servant who is told to carry a ladder to a house which his master intends to use to climb up to a window so he can commit adultery with the mistress of the house. ..

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