COMPLETO x stampa III bozza N.1-2-2014_Layout 1 26/02/15 15:41 Pagina 235
Teresianum 65 (2014) 235-262
Towards a spirituality of solidarity with Johann Baptist metz and edith Stein Jo RoBSon, oCd Carmelite Monastery, Ware, England
Introduction The Christian tradition provides manifold witness to the truth that theology and prayer are not entirely separate activities. Such towering figures in the history of Christian thought as augustine and aquinas, to name but two, have underpinned their intellectual endeavours with a life-long commitment to prayer; while medieval theologians such as eckhart and hildegard of Bingen regarded prayer and mystical experience as a rich resource for theological enquiry. despite this well proven synergy, modernity placed the relationship under considerable threat. as theology struggled for intellectual legitimacy in the academy, the role of prayer as an essential part of its modus operandi became more of a liability than an advantage, and prayer and the insights derived from it became increasingly marginalised, if not jettisoned altogether1. as something of a corrective, theological thinkers of the twentieth century have argued once again for an essential integrity between prayer and theology; Rahner, for example, situating everyday mysticism at the heart of his theological anthropology2, and Balthasar insisting that theology should be done «on one’s knees»3. The shift from modernity to a post-modern era offers some further potential for the rehabilitation of prayer within theology, as commentators note an increasing dissatisfaction with the hegemony of critical reason and a concomitant turn to the spiritual4. while this shift might initially hold out 1 For a discussion of this history see m. a. mCInToSh, Mystical Theology: The Integrity of Spirituality and Theology, oxford, 1998. 2 k. RahneR, The Spirit in the Church, Trans. by J. G. CummInG, London, 1979 [orig. German: 1977]. 3 h. u. Von BaLThaSaR, «Theology and Sanctity», Explorations in Theology I: The Word Made Flesh, Trans. by a.V. LITTLedaLe and a. dRu, San Francisco, 1989, p. 181-209, (p. 206), [orig. German: 1960]. 4 P. TyLeR and R. woodS (eds), The Bloomsbury Guide to Christian Spirituality, London, 2012, p. 2.