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Dogmatic Thoughts on Imitation of Christ
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 February 2009
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The following pages were prompted by what would appear to be a theologically faulty but none the less common line of reasoning. I have heard clergy and laity alike justifying a wide variety of theories by appealing to the example of Christ: Christ did or did not do so-and-so, and it is therefore incumbent on us to do or not do likewise. For example, we hear that because Christ the High Priest was a man, all the Church's ministers must be male, or that because Christ the High Priest was celibate, all priests today must be celibate. Now it may well be, for solid and unimpeachable theological reasons, that priests should be both male and celibate—that is not in discussion here. But what is perfectly clear (or I hope will be) is that imitation of Christ cannot, without further theological qualification, be adduced as a reason. Again, a particular concept of prayer as a personal and intimate dialogue with an unseen but ever-present God is sometimes justified by the statement that it is verified in Christ's own life of prayer. There are, however, serious difficulties in the way of this argument, not usually adverted to. Again, the concept of ‘Nazareth’ as used by religious families stemming from Charles de Foucauld is not always applied with obvious theological clarity. It is used to justify a spectrum of virtues said to be appropriate to the Christian who wishes to imitate Christ particularly closely, from adoration of the exposed Blessed Sacrament and retreat silence in seclusion from the world to ‘humble manual work’ and ‘quiet acceptance of ill-treatment’.
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page 201 note 1 I use ‘dogmatic’ here only in the sense that the following reflections belong more properly to doctrinal or speculative than to spiritual theology.
page 201 note 2 It is not to the purpose here to develop this particular point any more fully. On general motives for clerical celibacy see Kottje, R., ‘Zur Geschichte des Zölibatsgesetzes’, in Ehelosigkeit des Priesters (Symposium) (Regensburg: Verlag Pustet, 1970), 19–24Google Scholar; Manaranche, A., Prêtres à la manière des apôtres (Paris: Ed. du Centurion, 1967), 137–149Google Scholar. On imitation of Christ as a reason for clerical celibacy, it suffices here to mention Pius XII, Menti Nostrae (1950), 21 and Sacra Virginitas (1954), 17; John XXIII, Sacerdotii Nostri Primordia (1959), 16; Paul VI, Sacerdotalis Coelibatus (1967), 26.
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page 205 note 4 Gaudium et Spes, 24 (Abbott 223).
page 205 note 5 Cf. Declaration Nostra Aetate on the Relationship of the Church to Non-Christian Religions 5 (Abbott 667).
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page 212 note 1 A docetist would presumably attribute divine power to each and every particular action of Christ because he would see Christ purely as God; the adoptianist (and fellow travellers) would offer legitimate scope to Christ's actus hominis.
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page 213 note 3 Thomas Aquinas, Super Epistolas S. Pauli Lectura, in 2 Cor. 13.4 (Marietti 522).
page 213 note 2 If we may thus paraphrase Bruno of Würzburg, Expositio in Ps. 115, PL 142, 421–2.