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Document Details : Title: Marriage as a Vocation? Author(s): ZEELEN, Tim Journal: Marriage, Families & Spirituality Volume: 30 Issue: 2 Date: 2024 Pages: 226-241 DOI: 10.2143/INT.30.2.3293777 Abstract : In preaching, prayers, and Church documents, talking about vocation or calling is quite common. Since Vatican II, it has increasingly been applied to marriage as well. In contrast, there is relatively little systematic theological reflection on a theology of vocation. When marriage is considered a vocation, it is usually in regard to the religious facets of marriage, or the classical conception of priesthood or religious life is merely expanded without critical revision. This article offers an alternative proposal for a theology of marital vocation. In a first step, a biblical foundation is examined. God’s call is Christ himself. To this personal call the Christian responds in his life. Against this backdrop, the decision for a state of life is to be secondarily and non-deductively considered. As can be shown with Eph 5,21-33, marriage has a solid biblical foundation for being regarded as an excellent way of living out one’s vocation in Christ. In a second step, Vatican II and some recent documents are consulted to outline the vocation of the human person and the teleologically related universal call to holiness. Subsequently, particularly by referring to the transcendental structure of the conciliar understanding of the call of the human person, some requirements for a theology of marital vocation are discussed. THis includes recognizing the importance of the subjective perspective and thereby seeing the spouses as competent agents in a relationship with an inherently religious dimension, as well as the individual in their living out of their personal response to God’s call. Therefore, a hermeneutical approach is advocated in contrast to a deductive one. Following this, the spouses are presented as agents of both an individual and shared history of vocation, and some implications and benefits of this perspective are discussed. The starting point here is a brief consideration of human freedom and the theory of fundamental option. Based on this nuanced understanding of human agency, on the one hand, a deterministic perspective is criticized. On the other hand, it is emphasized that the preferred dynamic approach neither marginalizes the role of God nor diminishes the responsibility of the individual. In summary, if the underlying theology of vocation is critically examined, considering marriage as a vocation can be a promising approach for a theology of marriage. |
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