Asceticism and Mystical Theology.doc         Outline.doc

asceticism. The term is derived from Gk. ἄσκησις (‘exercise’, ‘training’) already applied by the Greek philosophers to moral training, often with the connotation of voluntary abstention from certain pleasures; it denotes

(1) practices employed to combat vices and develop virtues and

(2) [2.a] the renunciation of various facets of customary social life and comfort or

[2.b] the adoption of painful conditions for religious reasons.

It is found in one form or another in many of the world’s religions, esp. those of the Indian subcontinent. In the NT the word occurs only once—as a verb, ἀσκεῖν, ‘to strive’—at Acts 24:16. In 1 Cor. 9:25 the Christian life is compared to the games in which ‘every man that striveth … is temperate in all things’.

But the idea, present already in the OT, esp. in the *Wisdom books, is prominent throughout the NT. It is summed up in the Lord’s call to His disciples: ‘If any man would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me’ (Mk. 8:34), with its emphasis on the two sides of Christian asceticism, the negative one of self-denial and the positive one of the following of Christ. This invitation to practice self-abnegation is frequently reiterated, mostly in very strong terms (Mt. 10:38 f., Jn. 12:25), being shown to involve constant watchfulness (Mt. 24:42, 25:13, etc.) and fasting (Mt. 6:16–18; Mk. 2:18–20) and, in many cases, renunciation of all earthly possessions (Mt. 19:21, Mk. 10:28, Lk. 9:57–62) and perpetual chastity (Mt. 19:12). St *Paul counsels the same ideal, repeatedly inculcating the necessity of keeping up the struggle against the inclinations of the ‘old man’ (e.g. Rom. 8:13 and 1 Cor. 9:26 f.).

In the early Christian centuries many ascetic practices seem to have become fairly widespread, the chief of them being renunciation of marriage, home, and property; some ascetics practised extreme forms of fasting and self-deprivation. In the popular mind there seems to have been an association between the abandonment of human comforts and the acquisition of miraculous powers. *Clement of Alexandria and *Origen appear to have been the first Fathers to study the theoretical foundations of asceticism. Taking over from the *Stoics the idea of ascetic action as a purification of the soul from its passions, they see in it a necessary means for loving God more perfectly and for attaining to contemplation. Origen also stresses its value as preparation for martyrdom. The Desert Fathers from the late 3rd cent. and the subsequent monastic tradition increasingly tended to favour a more temperate external asceticism and laid more stress on interior abnegation and the cultivation of the virtues. The monks came to be regarded as the leading representatives of asceticism and it is from them that the most influential ascetic treatises come, such as the ‘Conferences’ of *Cassian and of *Dorotheus.

With the growing devotion to the humanity of Christ, esp. to His Passion, in the Middle Ages asceticism underwent a certain modification in that it became increasingly inspired by the desire for conformation to the sufferings of the Redeemer. This desire, often coupled with a strongly penitential attitude and a rather pessimistic view of human life, led to the adoption of rather more violent forms of asceticism, such as flagellation and the wearing of hair shirts and chains. This devotional, penitential asceticism was popularized esp. by the *Mendicant orders, whose members produced many treatises on the ascetic life.

Early in the 15th cent. the ‘*Imitation of Christ’ developed a new doctrine of the inner life on the basis of an exacting asceticism.

At the close of the Middle Ages there appeared a twofold reaction against the late medieval ascetic ideal. On the one hand a variety of movements, some of them inspired by the humanism of the Renaissance, stressed the interior life and called into question the value of external ascetic practices; on the other hand the Protestant Reformers, with their insistence on *justification by faith, denied the propriety of many conventional works of penance, though they did allow a certain value to some works of self-discipline, such as fasting, provided these were not seen as in any way contributing to justification.

Despite these challenges the ascetical ideal, upheld by the Council of *Trent, continued to find its champions in such austere saints as *Peter of Alcántara, *John of the Cross, and later in the *Curé d’Ars, as well as in new congregations and reformed branches of old orders such as the *Passionists or the *Trappists. At the same time a more exclusively interior and hidden asceticism of complete renunciation of the will found expression in other modern Institutes, e.g. the *Jesuits and the *Visitation nuns. Among the *Puritans asceticism, in the negative sense of abstinence from particular pleasures or recreations, was widely upheld and practised. In a more positive sense it also found an important place in *Methodism and esp. among the *Tractarian divines and their successors. It led to the wide revival of religious communities in England in the 19th cent. An exaggerated asceticism has been the mark of some sects, e.g. of the *Montanists, *Gnostics, and *Manichaeans of the patristic period, and of the medieval *Cathari and *Waldenses, where it was usually combined with dualistic tendencies in theology.

Acc. to its classical Christian exponents asceticism is a necessary means of fighting the concupiscence of the flesh, of the eyes, and the pride of life, mentioned in 1 Jn. 2:16. It is also of great value as an imitation of the sacrificial life of Christ and as a means of expiation of one’s own sins and those of others, in virtue of the doctrine of the Mystical Body. It springs from the love of God and aims at overcoming all the obstacles to this love in the soul. It is thus not an end in itself but essentially a preparation for the life of union with God, since, in its positive aspect, it seeks to foster the interior tendencies that serve to develop the life of charity.

M. J. Rouët de Journel, SJ, and J. Dutilleul, SJ (eds.), Enchiridion Asceticsm (Freiburg i.B., 1930; mainly patristic); H. Koch, Quellen zur Geschichte der Askese und des Mönchtums in der alten Kirche (1933). O. Zöckler, Kritische Geschichte der Askese (1863; 2nd edn. as Askese und Mönchtum, 2 vols., 1897). H. Strathmann, Geschichte der frühchristlichen Askese bis zur Entstehung des Mönchtums (1914). M. Viller, SJ, and K. *Rahner, SJ, Aszese und Mystik in der Väterzeit (1939). P. Nagel, Die Motivierung der Askese in der Alten Kirche und der Ursprung des Mönchtums (TU 95; 1966). B. Lohse, Askese und Mönchtum in der Antike und in der alten Kirche (Religion und Kultur der alten Mittelmeerwelt in parallelforschungen, 1; 1969). W. J. Sheils (ed.), Monks, Hermits and the Ascetic Tradition (Studies in Church History, 22; Oxford, 1985). S. Elm, ‘Virgins of God’: The Making of Asceticism in Late Antiquity (Oxford Classical Monographs, 1994). V. L. Wimbush and R. Valantasis (eds.), Asceticism (New York and Oxford, 1995). E. A. Clark, Reading Renunciation: Asceticism and Scripture in Early Christianity (Princeton, NJ [1999]). A Vööbus, History of Asceticism in the Syrian Orient (CSCO 184, 197, and 500; Subsidia, 14, 17, and 81; Louvain, 1958–88). M. Black, ‘The Tradition of Hasidaean-Essene Asceticism: its origins and its influence’, in Aspects du Judéo-Christianisme (Travaux du Centre d’Études supérieures spécialisé d’Histoire des Religions de Strasbourg, 1965), pp. 19–33; G. Quispel, ‘L’Évangile selon Thomas et les origines de l’ascèse chrétienne’, ibid., pp. 35–52. R. Murray, SJ, ‘The Features of the Earliest Christian Asceticism’, in P. Brooks (ed.), Christian Spirituality: Essays in Honour of Gordon Rupp (1975), pp. 66–77. L. Gougaud, OSB, Dévotions et pratiques ascétiques du moyen âge (Collection ‘Pax’, 21; 1925; Eng. tr., 1927). J. de Ghellinck, SJ, Patristique et Moyen Age, 3 (1948), pp. 185–244 (Étude 5: Un Programme de lectures spirituelles dans les écrits des pères). O. Zöckler in HERE 2 (1907), pp. 73–80, s.v. ‘Asceticism (Christian)’; J. de Guibert, SJ, and others in Dict. Sp. 1 (1937), cols. 936–1010, s.v. ‘Ascèse, Ascétisme’. See also works cited under spirituality.

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