to the Lay Life
By
George A. Blair
Copyright © 1987
By
George A. Blair
Description
This is a book on ascetical theology in the lay state: that is, about "the practice of perfection and Christian virtue" (as St. Alphonsus Rodriguez wrote about the religious life)only as a layman.Contents
Preliminary notice
Preface to the Preface
Chapter 1: The Christian Vocation
The emergence of the layman
The Christian vocation
Christian humility
Christian love
Chapter 2: Loving as God Loves
God's independence from his
world
Goodness and badness
How God looks at things
God's "plan" and what actually
happens
God's will and his law
Loving as God loves
Life as fun
Loving as Jesus loves
Jesus' love and the Beatitudes
Jesus' love and obedience
Self-love and love of self
Chapter 3: The Lay Vocation
God's love and prayer
Sanctity
The three states of life
Discerning a vocation
Chapter 4: The Layman at Home
Sexual ethics
Marital ethics
The phenomenology of sexuality
Christianizing sexuality
The Christian homosexual
Christianizing marriage
Chapter 5: The Layman and his Money
The poverty beatitude
The Christian and others'
poverty
The phenomenology of money
The Christianization of money
Avoiding materialism
Money and the "value of a
person"
Values and necessities
Chapter 6: The Layman at Work
The phenomenology of work
Christianizing work
The Christian scientist
The Christian scientist and
dogma
Submission to the facts
The Christian engineer
The Christian artist
The Christian entertainer
The Christian advertiser and
laborer
The Christian at play
Chapter 7: The Layman in Society
The phenomenology of society
The common good
Social justice
The Christian and law
The Religious and the layman
Responsibility in a group
The Christian bureaucrat
The Christian politician
The Layman in the Church
Chapter 8: The Training of the Layman
Intellectual training
Training in prayer
Ascetical training