The Spirituality of Martyrdom: to the Limits of Love

176 Pages·2016·0.75 MB·English

by  Servais Pinckaers OP (Author)

The
Spirituality
of Martyrdom
. . . to the Limits
of Love

Servais Pinckaers, OP
The
Spirituality
of Martyrdom
. . . to the Limits
of Love
Translated by
Patrick M. Clark & Annie Hounsokou
-
The Catholic University of America Press
Washington, D.C.
Original French edition: La spiritualité du martyre . . . jusqu’au bout de l’Amour
© 2000 SAINT-PAUL éditions religieuses—101 rue de Sèvres—
lot 1665—75272 PARIS cedex 06
English translation Copyright © 2016
The Catholic University of America Press
All rights reserved
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standards for Information Science—Permanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.
∞
Cataloging-in-Publication Data available from
the Library of Congress
isbn: 978-0-8132-2853-2
Contents
Translator’s Preface by Patrick M. Clark ix
Theological Context and Genre of the Present Study ix
Remarks on the Translat-ion xiii
R elation and Contribution to Martyrdom in the
Contemporary World xiv
the Spirituality of Martyrdom
. . . to the limits of love
Foreword 1
1. An Overview of the Spirituality
of Martyrdom 9
I. The Meaning of the Term and Concept of
“Spirituality” 9
Critique of the Modern Term “Spirituality” 11
The Problems 11
R easons for This Narrowing of Perspectives
Regarding Spirituality 12
A Broader Conception of Spirituality 13
Our Method 16
II. The Spirituality of Martyrdom 17
The Spirituality of Martyrdom and the Gospel 17
The Importance of the Beatitude of the Persecuted 18
v
The Christian Soul in Persecution 20
The Interpretation of St. Augustine and St. Thomas 22
The Context of Persecution Illuminates the Church 24
Persecution and Spiritual Combat 25
The Authenticity of the Beatitude of the Persecuted 27
The Old Testament Roots of the Beatitude of the Persecuted 29
Conclusion 30
The Importance of the Spirituality of Martyrdom in the
First Three Centuries of the Church 30
The Importance of the Spirituality of Martyrdom in the
Subsequent History of the Church 33
III. The Documents 34
2. The Definition of Martyrdom:
The Martyr Is a Witness 37
I. The Common Conception of Martyrdom 37
II. The Martyr Is Essentially a Witness 39
In Nonbiblical Greek 39
In the Septuagint 39
The New Testament 40
St. Luke 41
St. John 41
The Testimony of Christ 44
In Subsequent Christian Vocabulary 48
Conclusion 50
The Object of the Martyrs’ Testimony 51
The Leading Responses 51
Our Response 53
The Internal Aspect of the Jesus Event 54
The External Aspect of the Jesus Event 60
Conclusion 62
Additional Notes 63
Note 1: The Juridical Basis of Christian Persecution 63
The System of Common Law Legislation 64
The System of Coercion 65
vi Contents
The Crime of Christianity 66
Conclusion 69
Note 2: The Difference between a Confessor and
a Martyr 69
Note 3: Under What Conditions May a Christian Be
Considered a Martyr? 71
3. Martyrdom and the
Eucharist 73
I. The Link between the Eucharist and the Passion 73
II. The Link between the Eucharist and Martyrdom 74
Conclusion 80
4. Martyrdom and Eschatology 81
I. The Eschatological Perspective of Martyrdom 81
II. Objections from the Protestant Critique 84
5. The Summit of the Spirituality
of Martyrdom 87
The Letters of St. Ignatius of Antioch 87
6. Clement of Rome’s Letter
to the Corinthians 94
7. Tertullian: The Treatise
Ad Martyras 98
I. The Prison as the Site of Spiritual Combat 99
II. Liberation from the True Prison of the World 100
III. The Martyrs as Soldiers and Athletes for Christ 104
IV. Fighting for the Spirit, Strengthening the Flesh 105
V. Final Exhortation 107
Conclusion 108
Contents vii
8. The Spirituality of Martyrdom
in St. Augustine 109
The Texts 110
I. The Testimony of Martyrdom 111
II. The Martyrs’ Combat 116
The Martyrs’ Combat against Suffering 116
The Martyrs’ Combat against the Temptations of the
Devil and the World 121
III. The Strength of the Martyrs Is a Gift from God 124
IV. What Makes the Martyr Is the Cause for Which
He Suffers 128
V. Martyrs Are the Seed of the Church 130
9. Martyrdom in the Theology
of St. Thomas Aquinas 134
Selected Bibliography 139
Index 145
viii Contents
Translator’s Preface
Theological Context and Genre
of the Present Study
-
Fr. Servais Pinckaers, OP, perhaps more than any other scholar,
has contributed to the renewal of Catholic moral theology since
the Second Vatican Council. The Sources of Christian Ethics, which
many consider to be Pinckaers’s magnum opus, has found an ex-
traordinarily wide readership in the English-speaking world.1 It is
an introduction to the field as sweeping as it is compelling, begin-
ning with a constructive account of the fundamental nature and
aims of Christian ethics as an academic discipline: “Christian eth-
ics,” he writes “is the branch of theology that studies human acts so
as to direct them to a loving vision of God seen as our true, com-
plete happiness and our final end.”2 By establishing from the outset
theology’s primary concern with God, his work has breathed fresh
life into the field of moral theology by simply echoing the tradi-
1. Servais Pinckaers, OP, Sources de la moral chrétienne (Fribourg: University
Press Fribourg, 1985); translated into English by Sr. Mary Thomas Noble as Sources
of Christian Ethics (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press,
1995). I will refer to this work simply as Sources from this point.
2. Ibid., 8. The definition also includes this qualifying sentence, immediately
following: “This vision is attained by means of grace, the virtues, and the gifts, in
the light of revelation and reason.”
ix