Kate JACKSON-MEYER, Tragic Dilemmas in Christian Ethics: Georgetown University Press, Washington, DC, 2022, pp. 193, $49.95, ISBN 9781647122676 (pbk; hardcover & e-book available).  Reviewed by Mark MILLER, C.Ss.R., 426 St. Germain Ave., Toronto, ON  M5M 1W7, Canada

I chose this book because I have worked for over 25 years as a clinical ethicist in hospitals and healthcare systems where I have encountered many forms of moral distress, moral dilemmas, moral trauma, and moral residue.  These are words or categories that are used without clear lines of definition although they refer to genuinely distressing moments of decision and action.

Jackson-Meyer’s book is a wonderful meditation on what she recognizes as true moral dilemmas.  She offers an engaging first chapter that looks to understand the role of emotion in moral decision making, identifying philosophical positions that range from dismissing any role for emotions to the struggle to clarify how emotion is understood as integral to tough moral decisions.  She then offers two insightful chapters on Augustine and Aquinas respectively, demonstrating how they each developed a system of coming to terms with those moral situations involving good consequences mixed with bad ones.  She is careful to identify some moral dilemmas that fit her definition (clarified in her 4th chapter) where the ‘right’ choice is made, according to moral guidelines, but there remains an aftermath of lament (Augustine) or repugnance of the will (Aquinas) at the choice not taken—even though the chosen path is justified.

Jackson-Meyer then develops a theory of incommensurable goods or non-negotiable moral requirements against which we cannot choose without breaking some fundamental commitment to the good.  She uses remarkable examples such as Sophie’s choice (between her two children) where there is a consequence afterwards of the ‘marring’ of personal identity, something she distinguishes carefully from feeling bad or guilty.    She identifies two non-negotiable moral requirements—to protect human life and to protect the vulnerable—out of her commitment as a theologian building upon Catholic tradition.  When a choice involves two incommensurables, the one not chosen is defined as part of a moral dilemma.  And while some blame accrues to the actor, Jackson-Meyer is clear that social or power structures which create or contribute to the dilemma often mitigate the culpability.

Rather than then leaving the reader with a rather concise—carefully argued and even more carefully delineated—conclusion concerning the reality of moral dilemmas, she adds a truly remarkable chapter inviting Catholic, and other, communities to recognize the tragedy of persons who have faced moral dilemmas, been scared by the realization of what they have done (and, consequently, been unable to do, e.g. save the second child), and embark on pathways of healing. The fifth chapter on possibilities of healing draws lessons from four areas of experiences and practices that have proven themselves as approaches to healing.  She then suggests ten well-researched ‘considerations’ that offer foci for healing, particularly within communities.

The careful argument that arrives at the painful reality of moral dilemmas is remarkably astute and conscious of the ease of both digressions and inapplicable examples.  Jackson-Meyer is not separating out various forms of moral consternation that a clinical ethicist such as myself encounters almost daily.  Rather she focuses her attention on a narrow definition of the moral dilemma arising from almost impossible choices.  And I believe she has done moral theology and the Catholic tradition an invaluable service in identifying both the nature of a moral dilemma and the need to acknowledge the troubling aftermath as well as the need for healing.  Her chapter on healing, which she admits is pulled together from multiple sources of possible approaches to healing rather than a systematic and thorough study, would be a great manual to guide a Christian community into this healing ministry of Christ.  The chapter is not pollyannaish but serious in its gathering of the wisdom of Christian and secular (therapist) healing practices. 

I would like to recommend this book for moral theologians and students of moral theology as a concisely argued and clear identification of a reality that festers when not recognized or dealt with.  The first chapter should raise multiple questions about the role of emotions in fundamental moral reasoning.  The argument resulting in a clear definition of moral dilemmas is a model and tour de force.  But the chapter on healing is a powerful reminder that identifying issues in moral theology is not the end of the story.  Clinical ethicists will also find a gold mine of thought-provoking issues for their field.