Contraception: A History of Its Treatment by the Catholic Theologians and Canonists

by John T. Noonan Jr.

Originally published in 1965, Contraception received unanimous acclaim from all quarters as the first thorough, scholarly, objective analysis of Catholic doctrine on birth control. More than ever this subject is of acute concern to a world facing serious population problems, and the author has written an important new appendix examining the development of and debates over the doctrine in the past twenty years. John T. Noonan, Jr., traces the Church’s position from its earliest foundations to the present, and analyzes the conflicts and personal decisions that have affected the theologians’ teachings on the subject.

Genres: Theology, History, Christianity

561 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1965

About the author

John Thomas Noonan, Jr. (1926-2017) was a Senior Circuit Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, with chambers in San Francisco, California. He was appointed in 1985 by President Ronald Reagan.

Affiliations:
United States. Court of Appeals (9th Circuit)
University of California, Berkeley. School of Law
University of Notre Dame. Law School

Reviews

[Josiah DeGraaf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent in-depth look at Catholic teachings regarding contraception over time. I would have liked to see greater discussion/analysis of why modern biological insights may have altered Catholic beliefs (something Noonan alluded to but never went into in-depth). But apart from that, this is a really comprehensive tome for strange people like me who are curious about this subject. The historical Catholic teachings on sex are a lot weirder than I'd realized.

Rating: 4.5 Stars (Excellent).

[ltcomdata · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good book on the histroy of Contraception, as seen through the eyes of the canon law of the Catholic Church. This version of the book was published just before Humane Vitae (and just before the completion of the 2nd Vatican Council), and so it does not include a discussion of that controling encyclical (though it does discuss Casti connubii) nor of the Council's comment on contraception. The book ends with an anticipation of doctrinal development on the issue, ancipitaion which seems to have been "in the air" in those days. It would be interesting to read his updated edition to find out what his take is on the subsequent developments. His treatment is fair (for the most part) and historical.

[Fred Kohn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very complete history of the Church's view of contraception. Because contraception spills out to many other topics as well, there is a lot in here on the theology of sex, procreation, marriage, sterilization, etc. If the book has any fault it is that it is repetitive in places, because in recounting how Catholic views evolved, it was necessary to revisit the thinking of earlier theologians, in particular Augustine and Aquinas.