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The Natural Desire for God: Henri De Lubac and European Thomists of the Early Twentieth Century

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The Natural Desire for God: Henri De Lubac and European Thomists of the Early Twentieth Century THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA The Natural Desire for God: Henri de Lubac and European Thomists of the Early Twentieth Century A DISSERTATION Submitted to the Faculty of the School of Theology and Religious Studies Of The Catholic University of America In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree Doctor of Philosophy by Jacob W. Wood Washington, D.C. 2014 The Natural Desire for God: Henri de Lubac and European Thomists of the Early Twentieth Century Jacob W. Wood, Ph.D. Director: Chad Pecknold, Ph.D. Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, a controversy has arisen among Thomists concerning the theological anthropology of the French Jesuit, Henri Cardinal de Lubac (1896- 1991). Following de Lubac, many scholars continue to maintain that human nature has a “natural desire for a supernatural end,” and that the denial of this desire among scholastic Thomists contributed to the rise of modern secularism. Others allege the opposite: de Lubac’s anthropology contributes to secularism by making it impossible to show by natural reason that the knowledge of God is the end of human nature. This dissertation contributes towards the reconciliation of the present controversy through studies of the doctrine of natural desire in the works of Thomas Aquinas, scholastic Thomists, early twentieth century Thomists, and the writings of de Lubac prior to and including Surnaturel: Études historiques (Paris: Aubier, 1946). The dissertation begins by suggesting that Aquinas developed his doctrine of natural desire in response to a debate among Richard Rufus, Roger Bacon, and Bonaventure of Bagnoregio about matter’s desire for form. Unique among these figures, Aquinas held that matter desires form without any exigence for it, yet is purely passive in the reception of form; likewise, human nature desires the vision of God without any exigence for it, yet is purely passive in the reception of that vision. The dissertation continues by tracing the reception of Aquinas’s doctrine of natural desire in the originators of the four main scholastic traditions: Giles of Rome (the Aegidian tradition), John Duns Scotus (the Scotist tradition), Tommaso de Vio Cajetan (the Cajetanian tradition), and Francisco Suárez (the Suarezian tradition). Finally, this dissertation establishes a new context for the reception of de Lubac’s anthropology: an ongoing revival of the Aegidian tradition among European Thomists in the fifty years preceding the publication of Surnaturel. Inspired by the Aegidian tradition, de Lubac rightly perceived in Aquinas a doctrine of a natural desire for the vision of God. However, the Aegidian tradition’s insistence that nature cannot be purely passive in the reception of grace prevented de Lubac from seeing how nature’s passivity towards grace is essential for Aquinas’s account of nature’s receptivity to grace. The dissertation concludes by suggesting three ways in which contrasting views of de Lubac’s work might be brought closer to reconciliation without either abandoning a natural desire for the vision of God or making the teleology of human nature inaccessible to natural reason: interpreting Aquinas’s doctrine of natural desire in the context of matter’s desire for form; deepening de Lubac’s revival of the Aegidian tradition in that tradition’s most prominent form; developing de Lubac’s particular reception of the Aegidian tradition. This dissertation by Jacob W. Wood fulfills the dissertation requirement for the doctoral degree in Systematic Theology, approved by Chad Pecknold, Ph.D., as Director, and by John Ford, C.S.C., S.T.D., Nicholas Lombardo, O.P., Ph.D., and Michael Root, Ph.D., as Readers. ____________________________________ Chad Pecknold, Ph.D., Director ____________________________________ John Ford, C.S.C., S.T.D., Reader ____________________________________ Nicholas Lombardo, O.P., Ph.D., Reader ____________________________________ Michael Root, Ph.D., Reader ii To Mary, Mother of the Church iii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………………… ..1 A. The Status quaestionis 3 B. Purpose and Scope of this Work 5 C. Plan of this Work 6 D. Conventions of this Work 15 I. NATURAL DESIRE IN THOMAS AQUINAS………………………………………... 17 A. Bonaventure’s Doctrine of Natural Desire 19 B. Thomas Aquinas’s Doctrine of Natural Desire 48 The Commentary on Book II of Peter the Lombard’s Liber sententiarum The Commentary on Book IV of Peter the Lombard’s Liber sententiarum The Summa contra Gentiles The Summa theologiae C. Conclusion 114 II. NATURAL DESIRE IN SCHOLASTIC THOMISM………………………………….117 A. The Birth of a Different Thomism: Natural Desire in Giles of Rome 119 B. Natural Desire in John Duns Scotus 137 C. Natural Desire in Tommaso de Vio Cajetan 148 D. Natural Desire in Francisco Suárez 160 E. Developments in the Aegidian Tradition 172 F. Conclusion 182 iv III. NATURAL DESIRE IN THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY, PART 1 (1893-1914)………………………………………………………....... 187 A. Stage 1: Gioacchino Sestili and his Italian Critics 191 B. Stage 2: Ambroise Gardeil’s Initial Reception of Gioacchino Sestili 210 C. Stage 3: Scholastic Developments until the First World War 216 D. Conclusion 230 IV. NATURAL DESIRE IN THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY, PART 2 (1924-1939)…………………………………………………………... 233 A. Stage 1: Guy de Broglie and his Interlocutors (1924-28) 234 B. Stage 2: Responding to Laporta (1928-32) 257 C. Stage 3: The Intervention of Garrigou-Lagrange (1931-37) 273 D. Stage 4: De Broglie Re-Enters the Debate (1937-39) 291 E. Conclusion 296 V. NATURAL DESIRE IN HENRI DE LUBAC’S SURNATUREL…………………........301 A. Natural Desire in de Lubac’s Formation (1921-1929) 303 B. Natural Desire in de Lubac’s Professional Career before Surnaturel (1930-1945) 323 “Deux Augustiniens fourvoyés” (1931) “Remarques sur l’histoire du mot ‘Surnaturel’” (1934) “Esprit et Liberté dans la tradition” (1939) “La rencontre de superadditum et supernaturale dans la théologie médiévale” (1945) C. Natural Desire in the Newly Composed Sections of Surnaturel (1946) 349 Surnaturel, Part One, Chapters Four to Seven Surnaturel, Part Two, Chapters Four and Five Surnaturel, Part Four D. Conclusion 373 v CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………………………376 A. De Lubac’s Relationship to Thomas and the Thomist Tradition 377 B. The Reconciliation of de Lubac and the Commentators 386 First Suggestion: Reading de Lubac in the Light of Thomas Second Suggestion: The Development of Aegidianism Third Suggestion: The Development of de Lubac’s Thought C. Paths to Further Development 393 BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………………………396 vi INTRODUCTION Henri Cardinal de Lubac, S.J. (1896-1991), was born in Cambrai, France, on February 20, 1896.1 He entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus on October 9, 1913, at the age of 17. After serving for the French in World War I, he returned to the Jesuits to follow the customary course of formation. He studied humanities at Canterbury from 1919-20, philosophy at Jersey from 1920-23, theology at Hastings from 1924-26 and finished his theological studies at Fourvière outside Lyons, France, from 1926-28. After the completion of a tertianship at Paray-le- Monial from 1928-29, he took up the chair in fundamental theology at the Catholic Faculty of Lyons. It was while occupying that chair that he published in 1946 his most significant work on natural desire, Surnaturel: Études historiques.2 Although it met with an initial firestorm of resistance,3 Henri de Lubac’s theological thesis in Surnaturel that man has a, “natural desire for a supernatural end,” together with his historical thesis that the denial of such a desire, together with hypothesis of the possibility of a state of “pure nature,” in which man’s natural desire only concerns a naturally achievable end, lies at the heart of modern secularism, became the generally accepted Thomist consensus until 1 For a basic outline of de Lubac’s life and work, see Georges Chantraine, Henri de Lubac, t. 1: De la naissance à la démobilisation (1896-1919) (Paris: Cerf, 2007), 9-14. This is the first in what was planned as a four volume biography of de Lubac’s entire life. Unfortunately, Chantraine died unexpectedly after the completion of the second volume, and so was only able to publish material covering the period up to 1929. 2 Henri de Lubac, Surnaturel: Études historiques (Paris: Aubier, 1946). 3 For an account of de Lubac’s troubles both with the Roman Curia and within the Jesuit Order, see Joseph A. Komonchak, “Theology and Culture at Mid-Century: The Example of Henri de Lubac,” Theological Studies 51, no. 4 (December 1990): 579–602. 1 2 the close of the twentieth century.4 Recently, however, that consensus has begun to wane in some scholarly circles. Few disagree that de Lubac’s thought on the natural desire for God remains significant for contemporary theology; after all, it bears a striking similarity to, if not influence on, the thought of Joseph Ratzinger,5 as found throughout curial documents published under Ratzinger’s tenure as prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and then as Pope Benedict XVI.6 The question posed to contemporary theology is whether, in saying with de Lubac that the final end of human nature is the vision of God in all hypotheses, it becomes impossible to give an adequately teleological account of human nature and the natural law in philosophy, as well as a sufficient account of the gratuity of the gifts of grace and glory in theology, such as the Thomistic commentators of the fifteenth-seventeenth centuries were able to do.7 4 For a summary of this consensus, see Edward T. Oakes, “The Surnaturel Controversy: A Survey and a Response,” Nova et Vetera (English Edition) 9, no. 3 (2011): 627-34. 5 For brief account of their mutual influence, see my forthcoming, “The New Evangelization and the Loss of the Sense of the Sacred: Henri de Lubac and Joseph Ratzinger on the Awareness of God in a Post-Christian Society,” The Sower 33, no.
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