The Vocation of the Theologian

Abstract

Today theologians are as often lay as cleric. Vatican II reshaped the nature of this vocation as a charism located with the prophetic office of the people of God. Originally theologians were bishops, then monks, then Scholastic thinkers. Prior to Vatican II, changes in theology affected the theological vocation: a shift in the understanding of the magisterium, changes in methodology, and renewed attention to Pneumatology enabled the birth of the new cadre. However, the relation between the institutional Church and its lay theologians remains a work in progress.] S OME TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO on a November evening a ceremony for the conferral of the doctorate in theology was underway. 1 The place was the University of St. Michael's College (Toronto). Most of the candidates for the degree were priests or religious, though there were some lay candidates, men and women. The ceremony was presided over by the chancellor of the university, the local archbishop. One by one the candidates for the doctorate knelt before the bishop, and they placed their hands between his. Then he admitted each candidate to the degree as the dean of the faculty adjusted the doctoral hood. After this the new doctor rose to accept the diploma. The ritual with the hands marks that ceremony as perhaps one of a kind. Borrowed from the medieval period, it symbolizes a pledge of fidelity made by the candidate to the Church in the person of the presiding archbishop. The symbolism suggests that participants were commissioned as Catholic theologians, with a serious responsibility toward the faith. Equally, with the hooding, the candidates were inducted into a new status in the academy. The entire ritual, taken as a whole, confirmed MARY ANN DONOVAN, S.C., received her doctorate in theology from the University of St. Michael's College, Toronto. She is professor of historical theology and spirituality at the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley, a founding member of the Graduate Theological Union. She has published studies in patristics and spirituality, including One Right Reading? A Guide to Irenaeus (Liturgical, 1997). Forthcoming soon will be "A Theologian Dialogues with Scripture Scholars," in Biblical and Theological Perspectives on Creation, ed. C. Dempsey and M. Pazdan (Liturgical). She is also preparing an article on Elizabeth Ann Seton and the Eucharist.

Productive resistance: A study of change, emotions, and identity in the context of the Apostolic Visitation of U.S. women religious, 2008–2012

“…In addition to the superiors of religious institutes, bishops or other ecclesial authorities were in charge of evaluating the lives and ministries of women religious and, if judged necessary, disciplining misconduct and correcting improper practices. An historical example of an extreme form of such institutional control (Lawrence, 2008) is found in the case of Mary Ward (Donovan, 2004;McClory, 1999), who attempted in the 17th century to found a religious institute for women, the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, modeled on Jesuit spirituality. She designed her institute not to require cloister or a religious habit, to be governed entirely by women, to combine contemplation with good works, especially through the religious education of women.…”