Matter matters? Extending Christian materialism and theology of work of St Josemaría Escrivá to ecotheology

Thesis

Theological appreciation of the natural world has commonly been based on systematic and moral theology. Acknowledging the importance of argu-ments derived from such analysis, this dissertation proposes an alternative way to care for nature based on a specific practical theology. My dissertation develops a novel approach to ecotheology based on the concept of Christian Materialism (ChM), as proposed by St Josemaría Escrivá (1902-1975), a Spanish spiritual writer and leader, which aimed to overcome dualisms that neglect the spiritual value of material realities by encouraging a loving atti-tude towards the world which is God's creation and Christ's home after the Incarnation. I focus on his theology of work which he considered the ‘hinge’ of the Christian vocation for the laity, by proposing a three-dimension ap-proach aiming to sanctify work, sanctifying oneself at work and sanctifying others through work which I termed intrinsic, subjective and relational, re-spectively. I develop a new framework that apply these three dimensions to-wards ecotheology, emphasising the connection between work and care, de-rived from Gen. 2:15. My scheme includes six theological concepts: three from a metaphorical consideration of sanctifying nature as an extension of sanctifying work, and three from linking the sanctification of work with an earthcaring attitude. The first section of the dissertation presents an intro-duction to Escrivá's ChM and spirituality in the context of the various his-torical dualisms that have emerged in Christianity. The second section, key to this dissertation, includes a critical examination of Escrivá's ideas on work and presents the ecotheological framework I have built around them, based on reflection on his original writings in dialogue with other theologies of work and ecotheologies.

Authors: Chuvieco, E

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-nrbogemnq
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: ecotheology; environmental theology; theology of work; Josemaría Escrivá
• Subjects: Work; Ecotheology