Le fondement évangélique du voeu religieux de pauvreté
Some authors have recently contested the direct gospel origin of the religious vow of poverty. They react against the traditional opinion that Jesus called certain persons to a more complete giving up of worldly goods. Above all, these authors want to put to rest the idea of a special category of th...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | French |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Ed. Pontificia Univ. Gregoriana
1975
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| In: |
Gregorianum
Year: 1975, Volume: 56, Issue: 3, Pages: 441-467 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Some authors have recently contested the direct gospel origin of the religious vow of poverty. They react against the traditional opinion that Jesus called certain persons to a more complete giving up of worldly goods. Above all, these authors want to put to rest the idea of a special category of the « more perfect, » and they try to ground their position exegetically by interpreting the episode concerning the rich young man as a doctrine that is valid for all Christians. An analysis of the call of the rich man, first in Mark and then in Matthew and Luke, shows on the contrary that there was a special invitation addressed not to everyone but individually to a particular person in virtue of a particular love on the part of Christ, an invitation to attach himself to the person of Christ to the point of leaving all his possessions. Jesus clearly distinguishes between the way of the commandments and the new way, more demanding, which consists in following him. This new way has been traditionally called the way of the « evangelical counsels. » One can criticize the notion of counsel, which does seem to indicate that all Christians are counselled to enter on this way; the notion nevertheless contains this much truth — that entering on this way is the result of a call that does not have the strict obligatory character of the commandments and that asks for a more free response. Any superiority complex on the part of those who respond to the call is to be avoided. But it remains important to maintain the distinction between the two ways, since one cannot hold that all Christians are called to give up their possessions; that would be to extend to lay persons the state of the religious life. To wish to apply the story of the call of the rich young man to everyone is not only contrary to the textual meaning; it is to necessarily conclude that lay people do not practice the demands of the gospel. In reality, for those who are called to leave everything to follow Christ, perfection lies in this giving up of goods; for the others, perfection lies elsewhere, in fulfilling the commandments and more particularly in the obligation of charity imposed by Jesus on everyone. |
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| Contains: | Enthalten in: Gregorianum
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