According to the classic definition of Anselm, theology is "faith seeking reason". That's a good technical definition, but Catholicism is not a technical religion — it is after all a religion, it is not a philosophy.
A better definition, I think, comes via Luke from Our Lady: "But Mary kept all these words, pondering them in her heart" (Luke 2:19). This seems more in line to me with the object of theology, which for the Catholic is Revelation. And more in line with the process of theology which, without the heart, can become merely an intellectual exercise. If the mind infers knowing, the heart infers loving. The heart is the engine of love. What one loves defines who one is, whereas what one knows defines, well, just what one knows.
And Christianity is, above all, a way of love.
At the Maryvale Institute, where I studied for my BA(Divinity) on their distance learning programme, and which by the way I cannot recommend highly enough, Our Lady gets mentioned a lot. Before almost every lecture, in fact, she is recalled in our prayers. And for good reason. Like her, we are all there, trying to put it all together. That seems to be the way of it, with theology.
So the way of this blog might well seem the random musings of a contemplative Catholic, but really, the idea is to put them all together, and create a picture, a unified whole. Bits and pieces first then, but hopefully, as I go forward, a picture will start to emerge.
If you've bothered to read this far, I hope you enjoy this little journey, my wanderings in the byways of theology.
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