Project
The Ascetical Anthropology of the Consecrated Life
My proposed dissertation is a comparative examination of the constitutions of institutions of consecrated life in the Catholic Church as a model for constructing an ascetically based theological anthropology. I intend to do this first by establishing the proper hermeneutic to consider the consecrated life in examining the ecclesial documents particular to the consecrated life. After completing this, I will divide religious constitutions into four groups for consideration: Monastic, Mendicant, Apostolic, and Contemplative. In each of these categories, I will present the ascetical features that are prominently displayed by these texts, both in their congruence, as well as in the divergent and particular ways that asceticism is expressed. Throughout this work, I will be considering the implications that this has for the establishment of a systematic ascetical anthropology, but these questions will be explicitly explored in the final chapter of the dissertation devoted to the construction of such a theological anthropology.