Josef Fuchs, S.J. was one of the most important Roman Catholic theologians of the 20th century. A German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 Jesuit priest, he taught at the Gregorian University in Rome for almost thirty years. While serving on the Pontifical Commission on Population, Family, and Birth from 1963-66, Fuchs experienced an intellectual conversion on two levels: his understanding on the issue of artificial means of birth control

Birth control

Birth control is an umbrella term for several techniques and methods used to prevent fertilization or to interrupt pregnancy at various stages. Birth control techniques and methods include contraception , contragestion and abortion...

 within marriage

Marriage

Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...

 and his understanding of natural law

Natural law

Natural law, or the law of nature , is any system of law which is purportedly determined by nature, and thus universal. Classically, natural law refers to the use of reason to analyze human nature and deduce binding rules of moral behavior. Natural law is contrasted with the positive law Natural...

, appropriating the theological anthropology of fellow Jesuit Karl Rahner

Karl Rahner

Karl Rahner, SJ was a German Jesuit and theologian who, alongside Bernard Lonergan and Hans Urs von Balthasar, is considered one of the most influential Roman Catholic theologians of the 20th century...

. This set the stage for Fuchs' work to achieve in moral theology

Moral theology

Moral theology is a systematic theological treatment of Christian ethics. It is usually taught on Divinity faculties as a part of the basic curriculum.- External links :*...

 what Rahner had accomplished in systematic theology

Systematic theology

In the context of Christianity, systematic theology is a discipline of Christian theology that attempts to formulate an orderly, rational, and coherent account of the Christian faith and beliefs...

. Fuchs chaired the Commission's majority report, only to have it rejected by Pope Paul VI

Pope Paul VI

Paul VI , born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding Pope John XXIII, who had convened the Second Vatican Council, he decided to continue it...

 in the encyclical Humanae Vitae

Humanae Vitae

Humanae Vitae is an encyclical written by Pope Paul VI and issued on 25 July 1968. Subtitled On the Regulation of Birth, it re-affirms the traditional teaching of the Catholic Church regarding married love, responsible parenthood, and the continuing proscription of most forms of birth...

. Fuchs' theology focuses mostly on moral objectivity.

Selected books by Fuchs available in English

• Christian Morality: The Word Becomes Flesh
• Moral Demands and Personal Obligations
• Personal Responsibility and Christian Morality

See further

• Josef Fuchs on Natural Law by Mark E. Graham
• Feminist Ethics and Natural Law: The End of the Anathemas by Cristina L. H. Traina