Abstract / DOI
Giving the Gospel a Face. Lay Spirituality: Theological Impulses of the Second Vatican Council. The topos of the common priesthood of all believers is mostly invoked in current reform discourses in order to claim more rights of participation for the laity. This is not wrong, but it represents an incomplete reception of Vatican II. The Church Constitution Lumen gentium connected impulses for a deepened lay spirituality with the topos of the common priesthood of all believers. The general vocation to holiness aims at awakening charisms and enabling believers to give the Gospel an appealing face in the differentiated worlds of work and life. Renewal of the Church takes place where believers – clergy and laity – become active agents of evangelization and align their lifestyle with Jesus Christ.