Abstract
Holiness in the Christian tradition has often been understood in a way that devalues embodiment and practical engagement with the world of one’s time. The latter understanding, for example, led to Marx’s critique and repudiation of Christianity. Both interpretations of holiness can be understood as mistaken efforts to express the dynamism for authenticity in contextualised human subjectivity. Vatican 2 opposed both views by addressing itself to all people of good will, declaring that everyone was called to holiness, and that authentic Christian identity involved solidarity with the world of one’s time, especially those who are poor. Vatican 2, therefore, provided an authoritative faith foundation for holiness expressed through social commitment and for viewing social commitment on the part of people of good will in whatever state of life as a form of holiness. This vision was also the conviction of leading spirituality writers of the period, like Thomas Merton, and inspired liberation theologians and the Latin American Catholic bishops at their conference in Medellín a few years after the Council. The argument of this article is that the emergence and development of a non-dualist Christian spirituality is grounded methodologically in the correct appropriation of the common innate dynamism for authenticity in concrete human persons and lived spiritual experiences consistent with and capable of enhancing this dynamism.
Highlights
The Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) spoke about a universal call to holiness (Vatican Council II, Lumen gentium / Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, para. 39)
It said that authentic Christian identity involved developing solidarity with the joys and hopes, the grief and anguish of the people of our time, especially those who are poor or afflicted
The Council’s position would have surprised the 17-year-old Karl Marx (1818–1883) who wrote the following in an end of school essay many years earlier (Marx 1997): The main principle which must guide us in the selection of a vocation is the welfare of humanity
Summary
The Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) spoke about a universal call to holiness (Vatican Council II, Lumen gentium / Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, para. 39). This approach to the study of Marx’s life and writings through the lens of spirituality being about perceived lived authenticity means that his life and writings can be conceived as being rooted in a soulful experience of being called, and driven even, to dedicate his life to the welfare of humanity and to cast aside in the process the God of his time as a cold God who did not empower the masses to transform their suffering but chained them to it.
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