Abstract
There has been an ebb and flow of interest and regard in relation to the works of Henri de Lubac SJ (1896–1991), both in his lifetime and since his death. Superficial estimates saw his work as mere apologetics; others viewed him merely as an historian of theology. In recent years he has been given his rightful place as a creative theologian in the Ressourcement tradition, indeed as one of its architects. All his works are being republished by Cerf in Paris. Many of his books have been translated into English and several other languages. We owe an enormous debt to Ignatius Press and to theologians like David Grumett for keeping his work alive in the English-speaking world. This review concerns the latest in a long line of articles and books from Grumett. It is a collection of extracts from some of de Lubac’s main writings on subjects that are particularly associated with the French Jesuit: faith and reason, nature and grace, ecclesiology, scripture, Buddhism and the renewal of theology. These extracts are taken from the English translations of the de Lubac corpus. In addition, Grumett gives an extensive introduction to the book revealing a wide range of Lubacian reading and analysis. The book concludes with an interpretative postscript which reviews several secondary sources, consisting of doctoral theses and other writings on de Lubac. Of particular value, especially to the non-specialist, is a resumé of the patristic and medieval authors cited, including a short biographical note on each.
It is a particularly challenging task for someone to choose what one considers the key texts of a theological giant like Henri de Lubac and then to pick out part of a text from among several texts on a particular subject. This is especially true of the section entitled ‘Grace and Nature’ (pp. 195–236); the de Lubac material is vast and the consequent controversies were intense. De Lubac’s extensive writings on the Surnaturel led to his suspension from teaching at the university of Lyon and his books were removed from seminary shelves. He was accused of compromising the gratuity of grace based on his interpretation of the desiderium naturale videndi Deum of St Thomas. In his introduction Grumett goes to the heart of the Surnaturel question with this perceptive comment: ‘De Lubac sees the idea of “pure nature” as leaving an ungraced territory open to occupation by modern secularism’ (p. 12). This issue receives further elaboration later in the introduction (pp. 37–44) and in the postscript where several writings on this critical question are reviewed (pp. 355–66). The extracts chosen from three de Lubac sources, originally published in 1946, 1949 and 1965 respectively, are inevitably brief and, for that reason, of limited value to the reader. This limitation is less evident in the extracts chosen to illustrate some of the other subjects in the de Lubac corpus; extracts can be taken from these writings and prove useful while the Surnaturel question is much too complex for such a treatment.
In his introduction, Dr Grumett highlights the importance of the faith–reason question in de Lubac’s writings. He comments as follows: ‘De Lubac draws on a rich tradition of patristic and medieval thought in which faith is proven by the reflective use of reason’ (p. 14). This comment surely requires some elaboration, as faith cannot be proven.
In his analysis of the inaugural lecture delivered by de Lubac in 1929, ‘Apologétique et théologie,’ Grumett claims that de Lubac presents fundamental theology as a form of apologetics (p. 24). In fact, this lecture called for the prioritizing of fundamental theology over apologetics; de Lubac was particularly critical of classical apologetics which tried to ‘prove’ the faith to believer and non-believer alike and in the process belittled faith.
Some further issues are also worthy of comment. While I understand that this book is aimed at the English-speaking world, it would be helpful to give a full list of de Lubac’s writings in French with the original publication dates. This is all the more necessary as some of the English titles are far removed from the original; de Lubac’s first published book, Catholicisme: les aspects sociaux du dogme (1938) is published in English as: Catholicism: Christ and the Common Destiny of Man (1988). In addition, the pattern of referencing the book in which a particular article was published without giving the title of that article is a lacuna, e.g., the above-mentioned inaugural lecture is referenced to Theological Fragments and the title of the article is not given. Grumett’s own text would also benefit from a clearer distinction between Scholasticism and Neo-Scholasticism and between secularization and secularism.
The main interpretative key to de Lubac’s whole output is dogma, in particular the Trinity and the mystery of Christ. For that reason a more judicious choice of reading from Catholicism would be from parts I and II rather than from part III, which is what we find in the book under review. This first Lubacian book establishes the social and historical nature of Christianity on the basis of these dogmas. Furthermore, de Lubac opens up the question of the salvation of non-Christians and the need for mission, radical questions in 1938, three decades before Nostra Aetate.
In conclusion, Dr Grumett must be commended for undertaking such a herculean task and we should be grateful that he has made available such a valuable resource. Most de Lubac scholars are proficient in one aspect of his work, but Dr Grumett is expertly acquainted with the entire corpus, together with the vast secondary literature. I am pleased to recommend his latest publication.