Life Conditions and Anthropological Foundations of the Vow of Religious Obedience
Keywords:
religious obedience, Thomas Aquinas, theology of religious life, evangelical counsels, virtuebased morality, heological anthropology, theological anthropology
Abstract
In the context of contemporary challenges to the vow of obedience, the article aims to offer a twofold foundation for obedience. First, in a morality of virtue, contrasted to a morality of precepts and obligations, showing how the concepts of obedience as a virtue, freedom as freedom for excellence and the idea of common good are a healthier starting point in treating the vow than law-and-will-centred legalist morality. Secondly, based on the theological an- thropology of Thomas Aquinas, it aims to point out the ways by which obedience helps all Christians and especially the religious to grow in inner freedom and love.
