Vol. XXXVIII / 1 - Studia Moralia

MODELS AND MULTIVALENCE 47
post-Tridentine era. According to this rendering of the
relationship, moral theology is concerned with the analysis and
application of the divine precepts, while spiritual theology
focuses on the life of perfection. Spiritual theology, in turn, is
further divided into ascetical theology, which studies the process
of detachment people must go through in order to deepen their
relationship with God, and mystical theology, which examines
the process leading them to an ever-deepening union with God.
All of these disciplines look to dogmatic theology to provide
them with the foundational truths of the Catholic faith. Their
specific concerns, however, have to do with the implications of
these truths in the life of the believer, who journeys to God along
the purgative, illuminative, and unitive ways. As such, they are
eminently practical in scope and are concerned with the person’s
sanctification. What is more, they relate to each other in a
clearly worked-out hierarchical fashion. Ascetical theology
presupposes moral theology; mystical theology, in turn,
presupposes ascetical. The image they convey is that of a threetiered
pyramid. Moral theology is at the base and outlines the
details of a believer’s responsibility to God and neighbor in light
of the commandments. Ascetical theology occupies the middle
position and leads the believer through a process of purgation to
the point where he or she comes to a deeper awareness of the
illuminating presence of God’s Spirit. Mystical theology rests at
the summit and brings the believer from the point of
illumination to varying degrees of union with God. When seen
in this light, moral, ascetical, and mystical theology, while
independent disciplines in their own right with their own proper
principles and objects of study, are also intimately related.
Mystical theology cannot exist without ascetical theology, nor
can ascetical exist without moral. None of them can exist,
moreover, without the insights into the foundational truths of
the faith given them by dogmatic theology.
Strengths. This model has many obvious strengths. It draws
clear distinctions among the various disciplines yet allows them
to interact within the general heuristic framework of the
purgative, illuminitive, and unitive journey. When properly
understood, the hierarchical structure of that journey is
fundamentally participatory in nature and allows for a two-way
exchange at each disciplinary interface. The moral life, in other