The Luminous Excess of the Acting Person: Assessing the Impact of Pope John Paul II on American Catholic Moral Theology

Abstract

Pope St. John Paul II’s influence on the field of Catholic moral theology has been highly contested. By examining at two of the late pontiff’s major projects – Theology on the Body and Veritatis Splendor – this influence is seen to be centered around an anthropology that extends far, far beyond any sort of narrow constraints his material may be compartmentalized down into, transcending simplistic readings of his thought. John Paul II’s moral theology in the United States has, at best, been influential but incomplete and at times misused.