Sacrament and Eschatological Fulfillment in Henri De Lubac's Theology of History Joseph Flipper Marquette University
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Marquette University e-Publications@Marquette Dissertations (2009 -) Dissertations, Theses, and Professional Projects Sacrament and Eschatological Fulfillment in Henri de Lubac's Theology of History Joseph Flipper Marquette University Recommended Citation Flipper, Joseph, "Sacrament and Eschatological Fulfillment in Henri de Lubac's Theology of History" (2012). Dissertations (2009 -). Paper 227. http://epublications.marquette.edu/dissertations_mu/227 SACRAMENT AND ESCHATOLOGICAL FULFILLMENT IN HENRI DE LUBAC'S THEOLOGY OF HISTORY by Joseph Simeon Flipper, B.A., M.A. A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School, Marquette University, in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Milwaukee, Wisconsin December 2012 i ABSTRACT SACRAMENT AND ESCHATOLOGICAL FULFILLMENT IN HENRI DE LUBAC'S THEOLOGY OF HISTORY Joseph Simeon Flipper, B.A., M.A. Marquette University, 2012 Henri de Lubac, S.J. (1896-1991) led one of the most important developments within twentieth-century Catholic theology, the movement known as the nouvelle théologie. De Lubac’s signature move was to return to early church sources to renew contemporary theology. This dissertation explores de Lubac's recovery of patristic eschatology for the contemporary age. While certainly responding to secularization, de Lubac also sought to respond to the “messianic” and apocalyptic shape of modern religious experience and political ideology. He argued that the source of secular messianisms was a dictotomy within Christianity between mysticism and the apocalyptic. The nouvelle théologie movement of the 1940s—from the wartime underground journal Cahiers du Témoignage chrétien (The Christian Witness Journals) to the post-war controversy over Christianity and communism—witnesses to the clash of differing eschatologies at the heart of twentieth-century Catholicism. De Lubac’s response—his recovery of a patristic exegetical hermeneutics—must therefore be examined with an eschatological lens. De Lubac borrowed from Origen to recover an eschatology that synthesizes a transcendent- oriented mysticism with a future-oriented hope. De Lubac then showed how two historical developments—Pseudo-Dionysian spirituality and Joachimite history— diverged from the traditional patristic eschatology. Dionysian mysticism ejected the historical, while Joachimism’s apocalyptic theology of history evacuated authentic transcendence. Both lost a dynamic tension inherent in patristic thought. De Lubac argued that the dichotomy between the invisibilia Dei and the futura lay at the origins of rationalistic and apocalyptic ideologies in the twentieth century. In the end, this study argues, de Lubac creatively appropriated patristic “anagogy” and made eschatology the fundamental structure for his sacramental thinking, his understanding of the church, his Christology, and his mysticism. The dissertation shows that de Lubac’s “anagogical” imagination effected a rapprochement between eschatological impulses within the twentieth century and responded to the needs of a divided Catholicism. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Joseph Simeon Flipper, B.A., M.A. This project would never have come to completion without the support of mentors, friends, and family. I am grateful for my adviser, Susan K. Wood, SCL, who has encouraged me throughout my time at Marquette University and whose support of this project has been constant. Rev. David G. Schulenover, S.J. introduced me to historical research on modern Christianity and has consistently made me aware of resources and interdisciplinary directions for my work. D. Stephen Long, Rev. Joseph G. Mueller, S.J., and M. Therese Lysaught have graciously given me their time and advice. I am indebted to many at Marquette University whose friendship is invaluable. Finally, I am grateful for my wife, Karen, who has been unwavering in her patience and sacrifice on this long journey. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...............................................................................................ii INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................1 I. Difficulties for the Interpretation of de Lubac's Corpus.....................................5 II. Discovering an “Organic Unity”.......................................................................9 A. Hans Urs von Balthasar: Natural Desire for the Supernatural............10 B. Susan K. Wood: Sacrament and History.............................................11 C. Aidan Nichols: Unite in Order to Distinguish.....................................12 D. Brian Daley: Spiritual Interpretation in the nouvelle théologie..........13 E. Hans Boersma: Sacramental Ontology................................................15 F. Conclusions..........................................................................................17 III. Toward an Eschatological Unity....................................................................18 CHAPTER ONE: TIME AND ETERNITY IN LA NOUVELLE THÉOLOGIE...........23 I. Eschatology as the “Storm Center”..................................................................23 II. Temporality and an Eschatological Modernity..............................................25 A. Representing Time in a Changing World............................................27 B. Representing the Future......................................................................31 III. A Return of Eschatology in Nineteenth- to Twentieth-Century Catholicism.33 A. Eternalism in Catholic Anti-Modernism and Neo-Scholasticism.......34 B. The Consciousness of History: The Return of the Apocalyptic within Roman Catholicism..............................................................................38 IV. Theology of History in the nouvelle théologie...............................................47 iv A. The Socio-Political Context of a Debate.............................................48 B. The Debate over the 'théologie de l'histoire'.......................................54 1. The Exchange Between Henri-Marie Féret and Joseph Huby.54 2. Gaston Fessard's Dialectic of History......................................61 3. Jean Daniélou's Fulfillment Theology.....................................67 V. Conclusion.......................................................................................................73 CHAPTER TWO: EXEGESIS AND THE STRUCTURE OF HISTORY .....................77 I. Spiritual Meanings and the Hellenistic View of History..................................80 A. Spiritual Meanings and the Fourfold Sense of Scripture....................80 B. Hellenistic Allegory and Greek History.............................................83 C. De Lubac's Assessment of Hellenism within Christian Theology......86 D. Christian Allegory as a Subversion of Hellenism...............................91 II. Spiritual Interpretation and the Structure of History.....................................97 A. Spiritual Meaning as the Depth of the Historical Event.....................98 B. The Fourfold Sense and the Ontology of History ..........................102 1. A Progressive and Unified Historical Revelation..................103 2. The Ontological Bond between Events..................................106 III. Origen and “Infinite Ontological Difference”............................................108 A. Allegory and Typology According to de Lubac................................109 B. Christian Newness and the Transcendence of Allegory....................114 C. Symbolism and History in Origen's Exemplarism............................118 IV. History and Christological Fulfillment........................................................122 v A. The Unity of Revelation and Salvation in Christ..............................124 1. A Unified Economy of Revelation and Economy of Salvation ................................................................................................124 2. The “Christological” Concentration of Revelation and Salvation................................................................................127 B. The Convergence of Signs in the Word.............................................130 1. Christ Objectively Re-Orients His Figures............................130 2. The Convergence of Signs in Christ......................................133 V. Conclusion.....................................................................................................135 CHAPTER THREE: ANAGOGY AND ESCHATOLOGY..........................................138 I. Anagogy and Anagogies.................................................................................140 II. Anagogia in Origen.......................................................................................146 A. Objective and Subjective Aspects of “Spiritual Understanding”......147 B. Heavenly and Future Aspects of Origen's Anagogy..........................150 III. The Specialization of the Spiritual Senses...................................................156 A. The Specialization of Mysticism ......................................................157 1. The Separation of Doctrine from Mysticism (The Fate of Allegory)................................................................................157 2. The Separation of Spirituality from Exegesis (The Fate of Tropology).............................................................................160 B. The Victorine School and Scholasticism...........................................163 IV. A Narrowing of Mystical Ascent: The