Reviewed by Thaddeus M. Baklinski
April 20, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Dennis DiMauro has compiled an excellent resource for anyone wishing to understand the true Christian position on abortion.
Beginning with an examination of the historical Jewish views on abortion, and continuing with a brief but well-researched and referenced study of the pronouncements on abortion by the early councils of the Catholic Church and the Church Fathers, the book concludes with the current positions on abortion of all the major Christian denominations.
DiMauro demonstrates, by outlining the course of thought on the sinfulness of and religious penalties for procured abortion through the Middle Ages to the Reformation, and finally exploring the thoughts of modern theologians, the universally pro-life view of Christianity until modern times.
The chapters dealing with the statements on abortion by each modern Christian denomination are particularly revealing. The chapter demonstrates clearly the abrupt change in thought of some Christian sects to a ‘pro-choice’ position beginning in the 1960s, which was also the beginning of the ‘sexual revolution,’ with the introduction of the contraceptive pill.
DiMauro concludes with an appeal to ‘pro-choice Christians’ to reconsider their viewpoint in light of the overwhelming biblical and historical Christian moral position in defense of the sanctity of human life.
“Indeed, Scripture and history have shown that God has not been silent on the issue of abortion. On the contrary, He has revealed himself to be 100% pro-life,” writes DiMauro. The author challenges those that would “solve a crisis pregnancy by choosing death for a child, and a life of uncertainty and regret for his or her parents,” to consider that “ultimately, the abortion question comes down to how the body of Christ chooses to live.”
Dennis DiMauro is Secretary of the National Pro-Life Religious Council, President of Northern Virginia Lutherans for Life, an Adjunct Professor of Theology at Marymount University, and a doctoral student in church history at the Catholic University of America in Washington DC.
A Love for Life may be purchased at many book stores, and online at Amazon.com.
Name: A Love for Life: Christianity’s Consistent Protection of the Unborn
Author: Dennis DiMauro
Publisher: Wipf & Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1556358288