Radici ed espansione della “consacrazione” nella recente teologia della vita consacrata

Abstract

The present examination of the recent history of consecration unfolds in three steps: (1) The roots of consecration as a defining category of consecrated life go back to the texts of the Second Vatican Council and its reception in papal teachings and theology; (2) The expansion of consecration is a broader phenomenon, going beyond the texts, entering into the habitual understanding of consecrated life but also beyond consecrated life; (3) Roots and expansion make this category a necessary, perhaps somewhat worn-out, non-exclusive passage for a theology of consecrated life. The need for a high theological level of thinking about every form of Christian life, thus also the life of consecration to God, is formulated in closing, along with a proposal to identify a tradition of consecrated life within the Church’s Tradition.