Self-Mastery and the Gift of Self
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SELF-MASTERY AND THE GIFT OF SELF John Paul II’s Re-presentation of Chastity from the Perspective of the Moral Wisdom of St. Thomas Aquinas Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Theology of the University of Fribourg (Switzerland) For the Degree of Doctor in Theology by Fr. Alan O’Sullivan O.P. Fribourg, Switzerland September 2012 This thesis has been approved by the Faculty of Theology at the University of Fribourg on 09 November 2012 on the recommendation of: Prof. Michael S. Sherwin, O.P. (1st Reader); Prof. Michael Waldstein, Ave Maria University (2nd Reader); Prof. Franz Mali (Dean). 2 Table of Contents LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................................................ 7 GENERAL INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 8 1. LOVE, CHASTITY, AND THE PERSON ............................................................................... 10 1.1 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS ................................................................................................................. 10 1.2 CULTURE, CHASTITY, THE PERSON ..................................................................................................... 10 1.2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 10 1.2.2 Chastity, Culture, Resentment ....................................................................................................... 11 1.2.3 Dignity of the Person ..................................................................................................................... 14 1.2.4 The Personalistic Norm ................................................................................................................. 18 1.2.5 Conclusion..................................................................................................................................... 23 1.3 SEXUALITY, CHASTITY, THE PERSON .................................................................................................. 24 1.3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 24 1.3.2 Love, Sexuality, Persons ................................................................................................................ 24 1.3.3 Chastity and the Person ................................................................................................................ 28 1.3.4 Continence and Chastity ............................................................................................................... 31 1.3.5 Conclusion..................................................................................................................................... 33 1.4 THE PERSON, LOVE, CHASTITY ........................................................................................................... 34 1.4.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 34 1.4.2 Love and Chastity .......................................................................................................................... 34 1.4.3 Love, Integration, Values .............................................................................................................. 37 1.4.4 Chastity, Sentiment, Values ........................................................................................................... 40 1.4.5 Conclusion..................................................................................................................................... 45 1.5 LOVE, SELF-GIVING, CHASTITY .......................................................................................................... 45 1.5.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 45 1.5.2 Purity as Reciprocal Belonging .................................................................................................... 45 1.5.3 Betrothed Love .............................................................................................................................. 50 1.5.4 The Meaning of the Gift ................................................................................................................ 56 1.5.5 Conclusion..................................................................................................................................... 62 3 1.6 CONCLUDING REMARKS ..................................................................................................................... 63 2. THEOLOGY OF THE BODY: SELF-MASTERY AND THE GIFT OF SELF .................. 64 2.1 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS ................................................................................................................. 64 2.2 CHRIST APPEALS TO THE “BEGINNING”............................................................................................... 65 2.2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 65 2.2.2 The Meaning of Original Solitude ................................................................................................. 65 2.2.3 The Meaning of Original Unity ..................................................................................................... 67 2.2.4 The Meaning of Original Nakedness ............................................................................................. 71 2.2.5 The Spousal Meaning of the Body ................................................................................................. 73 2.2.6 The Freedom of the Gift ................................................................................................................ 78 2.2.7 The Mystery of Original Innocence ............................................................................................... 83 2.2.8 Conclusion..................................................................................................................................... 89 2.3 CHRIST APPEALS TO THE HUMAN HEART ........................................................................................... 90 2.3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 90 2.3.2 Christ reveals Man to Man ............................................................................................................ 90 2.3.3 The Man of Concupiscence ........................................................................................................... 92 2.3.4 Insufficiency of the Union.............................................................................................................. 96 2.3.5 Violation of the Spousal Meaning of the Body .............................................................................. 98 2.3.6 Adultery and the New Ethos ........................................................................................................ 101 2.3.7 Conclusion................................................................................................................................... 105 2.4 ETHOS OF THE REDEMPTION OF THE BODY ....................................................................................... 106 2.4.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 106 2.4.2 The “Heart” – Accused or Called? ............................................................................................. 106 2.4.1 The Living Forms of the New Man .............................................................................................. 111 2.4.2 Eros and Ethos ............................................................................................................................ 115 2.4.3 Purity as Life “according to the Spirit” ...................................................................................... 118 2.4.4 Purity – “Abstaining” and “Keeping” ........................................................................................ 124 2.4.5 Conclusion................................................................................................................................... 133 2.5 BODY: LANGUAGE, NORMS, AND HUMANAE VITAE ......................................................................... 133 2.5.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 133 4 2.5.2 Language of the Body .................................................................................................................. 134 2.5.3 The Nature of the Conjugal Act ................................................................................................... 139 2.5.4 Virtue, Method, Fertility .............................................................................................................. 144 2.5.5 The Analysis of the Virtue of Temperance ................................................................................... 148 2.5.6 Conclusion..................................................................................................................................