The Disciples’ Call: Theologies of Vocation from Scripture to the Present Day

Description

There is currently no shared language of vocation among Catholics in the developed, post-modern world of Europe and North America. The decline in practice of the faith and a weakened understanding of Church teaching has led to reduced numbers of people entering into marriage, religious life and priesthood. Uniquely, this book traces the development of vocation from scriptural, patristic roots through Thomism and the Reformation to engage with the modern vocational crisis. How are these two approaches compatible? The universal call to holiness is expressed in Lumen Gentium has been read by some as meaning that any vocational choice has the same value as any other such choice; is some sense of a higher calling part of the Catholic theology of vocation or not? Some claim that the single life is a vocation on a par with marriage and religious life; what kind of a theology of vocation leads to that conclusion? And is the secular use of the word ‘vocation’ to describe certain profession helpful or misleading in the context of Catholic theology? Cover HalfTitle Colophone Title Copyright Contents Contributors Introduction Everybody has a vocation Vocation before vocations Key questions Part One 1 What theologies of vocation are to be found in the Bible? Abraham Gen. 12:1–3 Jacob Moses Jephtha – a real vocation gone wrong Samuel – a vocation which is mediated (1 Sam. 3:1–10) Isaiah – a call within a call (6:1–13) Where are the women? Call of Peter Luke 5:1–11 The call of Paul of Tarsus (Acts 9:1–30) In conclusion 2 Did the early monastic tradition have a concept of vocation? Vocation Vocation in monastic rules Vocation in other monastic texts Why be a monk? Conclusion 3 The Church as mission The church’s relationship with God The church’s relationship with history The church’s relationship with the world Part Two 4 ‘The will to enter religious life does not need to be tested to see whether it is from God’ (ST II–II 189:10): Can Aquinas’ u Vocation within God’s plan Vocation in human experience Variety of vocations Summary of Aquinas’s approach to religious vocation Promotion of religious vocations The viability of Aquinas’s approach First criterion: Maximize the number of correctly discerned vocations Second criterion: Minimize the number of ‘false positives’, and persons somehow hurt in following a perceived religious vocati Third criterion: Harmonize with a comprehensive approach to vocations Empirical testing 5 The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola and their contribution to a theology of vocation 6 How did the Reformation develop the theology of vocation? Soldiers of God or mumbling mass hunters? A note on the Imitation of Christ and vocation in the post-Reformation Church 7 ‘The Irreducible Particularity of Christ’ – Hans Urs von Balthasar’s theology of vocation Introduction The divine initiative The contemporary cultural context – seed ground for vocations? The call of Christ The three-fold stages of a vocation Freedom Identity person and mission – at the heart of vocation Obedience Conclusion Part Three 8 What is distinctive about vocations to religious life? Vocational trends and the variety of forms of consecrated life Conclusion A note on apostolic religious life 9 Vocation to the diocesan priesthood Introduction The secularity of the diocesan priest The Second Vatican Council Pastores Dabo Vobis Pastoral charity The unity between consecration and mission Conclusion 10 How is marriage to be understood as a vocation? How is it connected to the clerical state? How is marriage understood as vocation? Conclusion How is marriage, understood as a vocation, connected to the clerical state? 11 The psychology of vocation: nurturing the Grail quest Introduction: What does the psychologist do? The nature of vocation The quest begins First lesson for the discernment of vocation The son of a widow lady Second lesson for the discernment of vocation The beautiful knights Third lesson for the discernment of vocation Fourth lesson for the discernment of vocation Fifth lesson for the discernment of vocation Sixth lesson for the discernment of vocation Seventh lesson for the discernment of vocation Eighth and last lesson for the discernment of vocation Conclusion 12 A culture of vocation How can a culture of vocation find expression today? Conclusion Index