Theology as Pastoral Praxis

On the top shelf of one of my bookcases sits several series of dogmatic manuals--the "Spanish Summa," Tanqueray, Wilhelm and Scannell, Hunter, and Ott.  Yet, when one compares these manuals with the Summa theologiae of St Thomas Aquinas, something very odd emerges.  That odd thing is the complete absence of "moral theology" within these textbooks of dogmatic theology.

Aquinas, in contrast, appears to 'wedge' so-called "moral theology" in the Secunda pars, that is, between the Prima pars on God, Creation, and divine government and the Tertia pars on the Mystery of Jesus Christ, the Sacraments, and the Last Things.  The reason for doing this is revealed in putting "moral theology" in scare quotes--because the Angelic Doctor's long, long treatment on the virtues, vices, gifts of the Holy Spirit, and Beatitudes is not--I repeat not--"moral theology" in the usual sense of the term.  The Secunda pars is, rather, a confessor's handbook, and Aquinas' detailed explanations of the soul's parts, what constitutes moral excellence, and so on, are put in place in order to help the confessor diagnose penitents.

Hence the expression cura animarum--the "cure of souls."

But that's not all.  Unlike the general modern pastoral praxis of minimalism, the Secunda pars aims to shape the Christian soul not only for "moral excellence" but especially to live the virtuous life in such a way that the soul becomes disposed for contemplation.  The idea is that--if I'm reading Aquinas correctly--he intends to form the soul in such an exercise of the supernatural virtues and gifts of the Holy Spirit that they have the right spiritual apparatus to gaze upon Christ who comes to the reader in the Tertia pars.  In other words, the Secunda pars makes a contemplative out of the reader so that she can approach the mystery of Jesus Christ in the best possible way.

This is a far cry from how "moral theology" is often done nowadays--with the notable exceptions of Servais-Theodore Pinckaers OP and Romanus Cessario OP.  As Marie-Dominique Chenu OP says in his Aquinas and His Role in Theology--

Theology in St Thomas's hands creates an organic structure for the content of this truth:  it is a wisdom that is at once both comptemplative and active.  Of course, contemplation and action emerge from different "disciplines"; but the modern distinction between dogma and morality finds no support within the spirituality and methodology of the Summa.  Likewise, the distinction between the ascetical (action) and the mystical (contemplation) breaks down before the unity of the grace of Christ [p. 45].

I an beginning to suspect that Aquinas' abandoned project of commenting on the Sentences of Peter Lombard has to do with just this--in Book III, the Lombard discusses the virtues and the gifts in Christ; the new project of the Summa theologiae sought to create a whole section on the Christian life ("morality" seems too mundane) to bridge God and Christ within us Christians.

Too often I've been told two things.  First, theology is "not pastoral"--heck, if the old manuals drive a wedge between dogmatic and moral theology, then of course it's not going to be "pastoral"--which is precisely the genius of Aquinas in laying out the Secunda pars bridging the Prima and Tertia pars.  This mentality of theology-less homilies (God save us) and doctrinally insipid catechumenates  arises precisely out of this false dichotomy.

Second, I've also been told that the laity "do not need" hefty doctrine or that "they won't understand."  This flies in the face of the entire purpose of the indwelling Holy Spirit (cf Jn 14:26) and the whole purpose of ecclesial leadership (cf 1 Tim 3:2, 5:17), which is to teach and preach.  Christian Smith coined the phrase moralistic therapeutic deism to describe what has become the norm of pastoral praxis--a "God says you're ok and will make everything ok" approach to life that is anything but Christian.  The indwelling Third Person of the Holy Trinity in Christ's disciples serves a far, far more formidable purpose than that.

Despite their differences, both Chenu and his Magister, Reginal Garrigou-Lagrange OP, agreed that contemplation was the normal life of grace--and it is precisely the Lord Jesus Christ to whom Christians' contemplative gaze is to behold and to love.

The Christian "moral life" is not simply about being "good" or simply about "staying forgiven"; it is about ordering the soul so excellently that they are ideally disposed to befriend Christ.

After all, God did not become Man in order to "break even" what was lost by Adam, but to raise us up to glory.  As we've heard several times already over the Easter Octave,

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.  For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God (Col 3:1-3).