A Brief History of Moral Theology John Mahoney in “The Making of Moral Theology” argues that since the 6th century Christians have associated moral theology with sin.

13th Century

• Pope Innocent III, requires annual confession
• Dominicans were to hear confessions as their mission
• Dominicans were thus required to attend lectures on confessions
• Output: Summaries of confessional manuals
• "Penitentials"

16th Century

• Age characterised by Expansionism
• Moralists concerned with what is sin, what is not.
  
• Particular issues related to the age: lending practices, investments
• These judgments were collated into textbooks: the textbooks have lasted until Vatican II
• Sin-centred
  

17th Century

• No major changes: moralists were convinced that the task of moral theology was solely to teach the priest how to determine in confession what was sin and its due penance
• This cuts the first principle of natural law in half: instead of "avoid evil and do good" the bias focused on avoiding evil
  

Early 20th Century

• Manuals of moral theology appear in the vernacular
• Aside: material on the 6th commandment in Latin so as not be an occasion for sin for the reader.
  

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