Folia Theologica et Canonica 1. 23/15 (2012)

RECENSIONS

FOLIA THEOLOGICA ET CANONICA I (2012) 281-293

Erdő P., A bűn és a bűncselekmény. Két alapvető fogalom viszonya az egyházi jog tükrében [Sin and crime: Relation of two basic categories in canon law reflection] (Pázmány Könyvek 8), Budapest 2013, pp. 151

The categories of sin and crime are such two fundamental problems which can be found throughout the entire history of the human being. Moreover, these are those categories which perhaps show by the most adequate way the strong bond between the moral and legal principle within the human society. We can particularly confront to this intrinsic and strong relation when the consonance of the two principles deteriorates, because the classical categories are vanishing in that current epoch, geographical and cultural circumstances. The epochs of the cultural disintegrations - which arise again and again in the history - well characterize this appearance. Therefore, the analysis of the meaning of sin and crime is really important and current in any historical age.

Peter Card. Erdő, Primate, Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest Archdiocese, has dedicated to this particular question of his new work. He intends to describe and elucidate those principles which are the bases of the aforementioned unique relation in the canon law sciences. Card. Erdő uses rich biblical and canonical sources, moreover canonical science historical observations from different centuries to illumine the doctrine and discipline of the Catholic Church concerning the question on sins and penalized actions. This volume’s genre fits well into the series of “Pázmány Könyvek” (Pázmány Books) which are intended to explain briefly some important and timely problems based on the Catholic teaching to the public at large (i.e. e.g., Waldstein, W., A szívébe írva. A természetjog mint az emberi társadalom alapja, Budapest 2012 [Written into the heart. The natural law as basis of the human society]). Through the historical and current canonical analysis of the categories of sin and crime the author crystal-clear expresses the inseparability of these two principles in the life of the human society in any historical epoch; moreover he points out the strong bond of these categories to the peculiarities of morality and law. Therefore, the necessary human reflection on these principles does not depend on the human community, cultural circumstances, or a particular historical age. The active and continuous presence of the two categories in the human society is objectively