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Theologian · Contemporary

Henri de Lubac, SJ

1896–1991 · Nouvelle théologie; ressourcement

Catholic Latin

Silenced and removed from teaching 1950–1958 after Humani Generis; peritus at Vatican II; cardinal 1983.

The French Jesuit whose “Catholicism” (1938) recovered the social and historical character of dogma from the Fathers, whose “Surnaturel” (1946) argued that the concept of “pure nature” was a sixteenth-century innovation and that human nature as created bears a natural desire for the vision of God, and whose “Medieval Exegesis” and “Corpus Mysticum” restored the spiritual senses and the Eucharistic making of the Church. Founder of Sources Chrétiennes; critic of atheist humanism.

Why he matters: The central figure of ressourcement and the most influential Catholic theologian on Vatican II's Lumen Gentium and Dei Verbum; the nature–grace debate he opened is still the fault line of Catholic theology.

Where to be careful

Humani Generis (1950) warned against views that “destroy the gratuity of the supernatural order”; de Lubac maintained that he was not its target and clarified his position in “The Mystery of the Supernatural” (1965). Thomists of the strict school still hold that his reading of St. Thomas is mistaken. He himself opposed the “paraconciliar” excesses of the 1970s.

Reading

  • Catholicism: Christ and the Common Destiny of Man
    Henri de Lubac, SJ · The book Balthasar said contained all the rest.
    Journal
  • The Mystery of the Supernatural
    Henri de Lubac, SJ · The natural desire for God, restated after Humani Generis.
    Journal
  • The Drama of Atheist Humanism
    Henri de Lubac, SJ · Feuerbach, Nietzsche, Comte and Dostoevsky.
    Journal

Documented positions

Where this thinker stands on each dispute the test covers.

Settled teaching Its center Open question Beyond teaching, not condemned Condemned error
I

God and Being · What is, and whence it is.

Can reason know that God exists? Natural theology
Fideism or agnosticism Natural theology
How is God related to the world? Creation from nothing
Pantheism or emanation Creation from nothing
Is the world governed by purpose? Providence and final causes
Chance and mechanism Providence and final causes
Do natures and essences really exist? Realism
Nominalism Realism
God's essence and His energies Absolute simplicity
Essence–energies distinction Absolute simplicity
How should we speak of God? Apophatic (negative) way
Apophatic (negative) way Cataphatic (analogical) way
How does creation speak of God? A book of signs and vestiges
Natures studied in their own right A book of signs and vestiges
II

Faith, Reason and Truth · How we know, and whom we trust.

Faith and reason: who has the last word? Fideism
Rationalism Fideism
Where does knowledge begin? Illumination and innate ideas
Senses and abstraction Illumination and innate ideas
Is truth objective? Objective truth
Relativism and pragmatism Objective truth
Who interprets revelation? Living Tradition and Magisterium
Private judgment Living Tradition and Magisterium
How should Scripture be read? Fundamentalist literalism
Critical reductionism Fundamentalist literalism
What is theology for? A wisdom ordered to loving
A science ordered to knowing A wisdom ordered to loving
Does doctrine develop? A living development
Always the same, in the same words A living development
Are the world's learning and arts a danger or a gift? A gift to be baptized
A danger: Athens has nothing to do with Jerusalem A gift to be baptized
III

The Human Person · Soul, body, freedom and the Fall.

Is there a spiritual soul? Immortal spiritual soul
Mind is brain Immortal spiritual soul
Is the body really you? Body–soul unity
Dualism Body–soul unity
Are you free? Free will
Determinism Free will
How fallen is human nature? Between
Totally depraved Basically good
Does nature desire God? Natural desire for the vision of God
Pure nature Natural desire for the vision of God
Person and community Collectivism
Individualism Collectivism
Marriage, sex and the body's meaning Given by nature and grace
Given by nature and grace Defined by consent and identity
What is suffering for? A share in the Cross
An evil to be relieved A share in the Cross
IV

The Moral Life · Law, virtue, conscience and the good.

Is morality objective and knowable? Natural law
Relativism Natural law
Rules or character? Morality of virtue and beatitude
Morality of obligation Morality of virtue and beatitude
What is conscience? Conscience bound to truth
Autonomous conscience Conscience bound to truth
What is happiness? Beatitude in God
Earthly flourishing Beatitude in God
What is heaven's happiness, at its heart? Between
The intellect's vision of God The will's love and enjoyment of God
V

Grace and Salvation · How God saves, and whom.

How are we made right with God? Infused, transforming grace
Forensic imputation Infused, transforming grace
Who can be saved? Between
Strict exclusivism Indifferentism
What is salvation for? Deification
Pardon and escape Deification
Hell and hope All will be saved
The many are lost All will be saved
Would the Word have become flesh had Adam not sinned? Christ was willed first (absolute primacy)
Christ came to redeem sinners Christ was willed first (absolute primacy)
Where does your eye rest in Christ: His divinity or His humanity? Between
The eternal Word made flesh The man Jesus of Nazareth
VI

Church and Society · Authority, the state, wealth and the nation.

Church and state Social kingship of Christ
Laicism Social kingship of Christ
Reform or tradition? Guided by tradition
Remake by reason Guided by tradition
The nation and the Church Nation does not matter
Nation or race first Nation does not matter
May the state restrain false religion? Civil liberty for every religion
The confessional state: error has no rights Civil liberty for every religion
Which form of government best suits a Christian people? Democracy and participation
Monarchy and hierarchy Democracy and participation
May a Christian take up the sword? Between
Never: the way of the Cross is nonviolence Yes: war can be just and sometimes a duty
VII

Worship, Prayer and the Two Lungs · Liturgy, icons, the Spirit, and the See of Peter.

Liturgical development Receive and develop organically
Reconstruct and innovate Receive and develop organically
The office of Peter Universal and immediate primacy
Conciliarism Universal and immediate primacy
What do the sacraments do? Efficacious ex opere operato
Signs only Efficacious ex opere operato
The Second Vatican Council Between
Reject the Council A new beginning
When the Pope speaks Every word binds
Resist and judge Every word binds
Holy Orders and the Church's constitution Between
A clerical Church Reformable by the people
Should the faith take the forms of each culture it enters? The Gospel in each people's own forms
One form everywhere The Gospel in each people's own forms
What are the Eastern Catholic Churches? Sister Churches with their own rights and theology
Rites of the one Roman Church Sister Churches with their own rights and theology
Contemplation or action? Between
Action: the apostolate and the works of mercy Contemplation: the one thing needful
Where does the Roman liturgy stand at its fullest: the old rite, the reformed, or both? The reformed rite alone
The old rite alone The reformed rite alone

A profile of your philosophical and theological leanings, measured against the settled teaching of the Catholic Church, East and West. It is a tool for examination and reading, not an instrument of judgment.

Ad maiorem Dei gloriam.