Why Holiness is Necessary for Theology: Some Thomistic Distinctions

The Thomist 74 (2010): 437-59 WHY HOLINESS IS NECESSARY FOR THEOLOGY: SOME THOMISTIC DISTINCTIONS1 GREGORY F. LANAVE Dominican House of Studies Washington, D.C. IN 1989, THE CARMELITE theologian Fran~ois-Marie Lethel published a book on what he called "The Theology of the Saints." The book was the dissertation he had written at Fribourg under the direction of the Dominican Christoph Schonborn. Its opening line is a succinct and bold claim regarding the nature of theology: "All saints are theologians, and only saints are theologians."2 Lethel is one of many modern Catholic theologians who have talked about the importance of integrating theology and holiness.3 1 An earlier version of this article was presented on 17 October 2009, at the "Thomistic Circles" Conference on "Thomism and the Renewal of Theology." 2 Frarn;;ois-Marie Lethe!, Connaftre /'amour du Christ qui surpasse toute connaissance: La theologie des saints (Venasque: Editions du Carmel, 1989), 3: "Tous !es saints sont theologiens, seuls Jes saints sont theologiens." 3 Best known is perhaps Hans Urs von Balthasar, "Theology and Sanctity," in Explorations in Theology, vol. 1, The Word Made Flesh, trans. A. V. Littledale and Alexander Dru (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1989), 181-209. See also Harvey D. Egan, "Theology and Spirituality," in Declan Marmion and Mary E. Hines, eds., The Cambridge Companion to Karl Rahner (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 13-28; Bernard Lonergan, Method in Theology (New York: The Seabury Press, 1972), esp. 237-45 ("Conversions and Breakdowns"); William M. Thompson, Fire and Light: The Saints and Theology (New York and Mahwah: Paulist Press, 1987); Jon Sobrino, Spirituality ofLiberation: Toward Political Holiness, trans. Robert R. Barr (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1988}; Nicholas Lash, Holiness, Speech, and Silence: Reflections on the Question ofGod (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2004); James Keating, ed., Seminary Theology: Teaching in a Contemplative Way (Omaha, Neb.: The Institute for Priestly Formation, 2010). Some Thomists have taken up the topic specifically: see, e.g., Jean-Pierre Torrell, "Theologie et saintete," Revue Thomiste 71 (1971): 205-21; idem, "Theology and Spirituality," in Saint Thomas Aquinas, vol. 2, Spiritual Master, trans. 437 438 GREGORY F. LANAVE Such efforts are hardly uniform; neither are the various diagnoses they offer regarding the situation that prompts their call. This is perhaps inevitable, given the ambiguity surrounding the terms "theology" and "holiness": for recent decades have seen the rise of many and varied definitions of "theology," and "holiness" has no fixed, commonly recognized definition. Moreover, if the task of integration is posed as a question, it admits of two very different types of answer. That is, if we ask, "How are theology and holiness to be integrated?" the answer could focus on the way in which theology fosters the achievement of holiness, or the way in which holiness fosters the achievement of theology.4 The present article attempts to contribute some clarity and content to the conversation by delineating various ways in which holiness is necessary for theology as understood in a Thomistic sense. The definition of theology is assumed, based largely on Aquinas's prologue to his Scriptum on the Sentences and the first question of the Summa Theologiae.5 For the sake of a systematic approach I will delineate this definition according to the four Robert Royal (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2003), 1-21; F:iinche Ryan, Formation in Holiness: Thomas Aquinas on "Sacra Doctrina" (Leuven: Peeters, 2007). An echo of the same is found in certain magisterial teaching on the formation of priests, including Vatican Il's Optatam totius (a. 16) and John Paul II's apostolic exhortation Pastores dabo vobis (a. 53). Both texts quote the famous admonition of St. Bonaventure: let no one think that "mere reading will suffice without unction, speculation without devotion, investigation without admiration, observation without exultation, industry without piety, knowledge without love, understanding without humility, study without divine grace, the mirror without divinely inspired wisdom" (Itinerarium, pro.4 [Bonaventure, Itinerarium mentis in Deum, trans. Philotheus Boehner, Works of SaintBonaventure 2 (Saint Bonaventure, N.Y.: The Franciscan Institute, 1956), 33]). See also Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Donum veritatis, esp. nn. 8 and 9. 4 For a contrast along these...