The Salvation of Souls and the Religious Apostolate: A Theological Reflection on the Religious Apostolate Today

This research is concerned with the theological motivations of the religious apostolate, in particular, the concepts of ‘contemplation in action’, ‘the salvation of souls’, and ‘the fullness of life’. The need for this research arose from the challenges faced by the consecrated women and men regarding their apostolic work due to the changes in the current socio-cultural, economic, and political context. In the contemporary literature on the subject, there is less attention paid to the theology of the apostolate as compared to other aspects of religious life. This research aims to reformulate the concepts of contemplation in action, the salvation of souls, and the fullness of life in view of the challenges of the twenty-first century. It involves a critical, systematic analysis of the literature on the concerned topics, and also an archival study of the nineteenth-century writings of Mathias Wolff, the founder of one of the apostolic congregations, the Congregation of Jesus Mary Joseph (JMJ). I expect that this will contribute to a renewed understanding of the theology of the religious apostolate. On the whole, the specific focus on the apostolate and the salvation of souls helps to differentiate from the sociological and ethical understanding of the religious apostolate and points to its theological rootedness and participation in the mission of the Church.