The riddle of spiritual pedagogy: how is authoritative spiritual teaching possible?

Thesis

This thesis asks: can a spiritual teacher be said to teach with authority, as much of the Christian tradition holds and, indeed, requires to continue itself? To answer this question, a secondary question is pursued: what is the relationship of spiritual authority to other types of authoritative teaching? The spiritual pedagogue attempts to form others to live according to God’s will, which is mysterious in principle. Unlike most other disciplines, the spiritual teacher cannot claim authoritative knowledge of the essence of her discipline. Nevertheless, I argue that spiritual teaching authority is a legitimate though limited form of authority, and that a sign of such authority is a self-consciousness of its own limitations.

Drawing on Wittgenstein and Aquinas, I argue that spiritual teaching authority is a riddling form of prudential counsel. Wittgenstein’s account of language within shared activities provides the “rough ground” to speak of the activities associated with spiritual pedagogy while distinguishing the inarticulable mystery at the heart of such teaching. The language of spiritual pedagogy is riddling in Cora Diamond’s sense in that such language fails to make sense but lies within a cultivated, intelligible set of questions and activities. This Wittgensteinian account is joined with Thomas’s two rules for prudential human action, the eternal law of God’s own being, and human reason. The eternal law is, in principle, mysterious yet it formally orders human reason. The spiritual pedagogue becomes authoritative by becoming riddling herself, i.e., by being transformed through her engagement with scripture and tradition in community. This ongoing transformation allows her to creatively and richly speak and act around the riddle of God without ever claiming to solve that riddle.

Authors: Dunch, MI

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-dqmw26oor
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: religious language; Thomas Aquinas; Wittgenstein; Anselm; spiritual pedagogy
• Subjects: Philosophical theology