No one in the earliest Christian communities thought in terms of a ‘theology’ developing alongside a ‘spirituality.’ What we see is an evolving practice (both communal and personal) that generated a variety of challenges to language, imagination and self-understanding. As has often been said, Christian doctrine took its distinctive shape only through reflection on the distinctiveness of how Christian woman and men actually prayed.
Rowan Williams, Passions of the Soul. I’m appreciating his effort to unpack the language of the early Fathers for a modern audience. No small job: we tend to translate important concepts into off-putting terms like ‘intellect’ and ‘dispassion,’ and the fiery, eye-opening teaching gets lost.