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Dr. Janet Smith's Books

Humanae Vitae: A Generation Later
by Janet E. Smith, Ph.D.
Published by CUA Press
ISBN: 0813207401

Washington D.C.; Catholic University of America Press, 1991; 426pp.

Dr. Smith draws from theology, philosophy, and classical studies to examine the arguments for and against Catholic Church teaching on contraception. She includes a heavily annotated translation of Humanae Vitae from the original Latin that is especially valuable. This is not light reading, but extremely worthwhile.

Why Humanae Vitae Was Right: A Reader
by Janet E. Smith, Ph.D.
Published by Ignatius Press
ISBN: 0898704332
San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1993

Rather than end the debate over artificial means of contraception once and for all, the encyclical letter Humane Vitae only energized the debate when it appeared in 1968, and that debate continues to this day. Janet E. Smith presents a comprehensive review of this issue from a philosophical and theological perspective. Tracing the emergence of the debate from the mid-1960s and reviewing the documents from the Special Papl Commission established to advise Pope Paul VI, Smith also examines the Catholic Church's position on marriage, which provides context for its condemnation of contraception.

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