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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 February 2014
This article explores resources within the Christian theological tradition that recognize happiness in earthly life while also preparing Christians for ultimate happiness through union with God. Two resources explored in the article are the appreciation of happiness in Jesus's ministry and its engagement with Greek philosophy. After exploring these resources, the article turns to Aelred of Rievaulx, the great medieval theologian, to investigate how moral virtue, transcendent happiness, and earthly pleasure are harmonious parts of a holistic Christian vision of happiness. Finally, after examining Aelred's contribution, the article considers how this integrated view of happiness can help us to think through the problems of happiness in our lives today.
1 Luke 6:20–26; Matthew 5:3–12. Unless otherwise noted, biblical quotations are taken from the New Revised Standard Version translation.
2 Luke 6:20–26.
3 Isaiah 25:6–8.
4 John 2:1–11; Luke 19:1–10; Matthew 26:29.
5 Matthew 9:15.
6 See esp. Matthew 25:1–13; Ephesians 5:25–32.
7 For further exploration, see Castelo, Daniel, The Apathetic God: Exploring the Contemporary Relevance of Divine Impassibility (Colorado Springs, CO: Paternoster, 2009)Google Scholar.
8 Genesis 18:22–33.
9 This section draws on Sommerfeldt, John R., Aelred of Rievaulx: Pursuing Perfect Happiness (New York: Newman Press, 2005)Google Scholar.
10 Matthew 26:41; Mark 14:38; 2 Corinthians 12:6–8.
11 Romans 7:15, 18b–20.
12 Matthew 22:37, 39.
13 J.-P. Migne, ed., Sermo de oneribus (PL 195:422c); Sommerfeldt, Pursuing Perfect Happiness, 68.
14 Augustine, , The Confessions of Saint Augustine, trans. Sheed, F. J. (New York: Sheed & Ward, 1943), 3Google Scholar.
15 Aelred of Rievaulx, De spirituali amicitia 3.79, translated in Aelred of Rievaulx: Spiritual Friendship, ed. Dutton, Marsha L., trans. Braceland, Lawrence C. (Collegeville, MN: Cistercian Publications, 2010), 107Google Scholar; Sommerfeldt, Pursuing Perfect Happiness, 116.
16 Matthew 5:48.
17 The Bible affirms this in several passages. See, e.g., Matthew 19:21 (“If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”); Romans 12:2 (“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.”); James 1:25 (“But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act—they will be blessed in their doing.”); Wisdom of Solomon 6:15 (“To fix one's thought on her is perfect understanding, / and one who is vigilant on her account will soon be free from care.”).
18 John 15:15.
19 Sommerfeldt, Pursuing Perfect Happiness, 78–79.
20 Matthew 5:48.
