THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA Truth and Politics: A Theological Comparison Of Joseph Ratzinger and John Milbank 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 Sacred Theology By Peter Samuel Kucer Washington, D.C. 2012 Truth and Politics: A Theological Comparison Of Joseph Ratzinger and John Milbank Peter Samuel Kucer, S.T.D. Director: Chad C. Pecknold, Ph.D. Joseph Ratzinger and the Anglican scholar John Milbank have written extensively on the social and political order from a theological perspective. The main aspect which distinguishes Ratzinger’s theology of politics from Milbank’s political theology is how each theologian orients his thought on the question of truth, and most specifically how each theologian understands and relocates Vico’s claim that verum est factum (the truth is made). While Ratzinger is critical of Vico’s account of the socially constructed nature of truth, Milbank, on the other hand, embraces Vico in a way which validates it. The political consequences which logically follow these two philosophical approaches to Vico illustrate a central difference between Ratzinger and Milbank. As a result of these differing responses to Vico on truth, the dissertation argues that Ratzinger and Milbank take up different ways of relating socialism to the Trinitarian faith. Ratzinger’s critical appreciation of socialism, but rejection of all political models as expressive of Trinitarian faith, and Milbank’s promotion of socialism as integral to Trinitarian faith in practice are rooted in their reactions to Vico. In demonstrating these differences this study will show how their approaches to truth shape their philosophical and theological approaches to politics. This dissertation by Peter Samuel Kucer fulfills the dissertation requirement for the doctoral degree in Systematic Theology approved by Chad C. Pecknold, Ph.D., as Director, and by Brian V. Johnstone, C.SS.R., Ph.D., and Christopher Ruddy, Ph.D. as Readers. ____________________________________ Chad C. Pecknold, Ph.D., Director ____________________________________ Brian V. Johnstone, C.SS.R., Ph.D., Reader ____________________________________ Christopher Ruddy, Ph.D., Reader ii TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................................1 PRÉCIS ON GIOVANNI BATTISTA VICO’S CONCEPT OF TRUTH…….………………………………………………………………………......4 Chapter 1. RATZINGER ON TRUTH AS ESSENTIALLY UNCREATED: CORRESPONDENCE AND THE ANALOGY OF BEING …………………...26 Introduction ……………………………………………………………...26 1. Truth in God both One and Triune …………………………………..26 1.1 Greek Ontology ………………………………………………….......27 1.2 Essential Elements of Greek Ontology Wedded to Faith ….…..........29 1.3 The Mystery of Ultimate Truth as Constant and Dynamic ……….....33 2.0 Man’s Correspondence to Divine Truth within the Context of Twentieth Century Debates on the Analogy of Being ………………36 2.1 Przywara and the Analogy of Being ………………………...............39 2.2 Söhngen and the Analogy of Being ………………………………....41 3.0 Ratzinger’s Use of Analogy of Being, contra Vico, in Relationship to Truth as Correspondence…………………………………………….47 3.1 Like Przywara Ratzinger Views Analogy as a Fundamental Law of Being …………………………………………………………………….47 3.2 Man’s Correspondence to the “above-beyond” Dimension of Truth..51 3.3 Analogy of Attribution, Przywara’s ἀνá, and Faith ………………....55 3.4 Analogy of Being with Respect to the Analogy of Faith ………........57 3.5 Man’s Christological Correspondence to Moral Truth ……………...58 3.6 Man’s Christological Correspondence to Truth in Faith ……………60 Conclusion: ……………………………………………………………...62 2. RATZINGER ON TRUTH AS ILLUMINATED AND MEDIATED……...…...66 Introduction…………………………………………………….………...66 1.0 Truth as Illuminated………………………………………………….66 1.1 Illumination in Reason…………………………………………….…66 1.2 Illumination of Natural Law ………………………………………...70 1.3 Illumination through Beauty ………………………………………...75 1.4 Illumination of Faith ………………………………………………...77 1.5 Natural Light Distinguished from the Light of Faith ………………..80 1.6 Ultimate Truth Not to be Equated with Formless Light …………….82 2.0 Truth as Mediated …………………………………………………...83 2.1 The Church Mediates Truth Sacramentally …………………………84 iii 2.2 Individual Indwelling of Christ and the Corporate and Hierarchical Body of Christ ……………………………………………………….87 2.3 What and How the Church Mediates ………………………..……....92 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………..102 3. MILBANK ON TRUTH AS CREATED: CORRESPONDENCE AND THE ANALOGY OF CREATION …………..............................................................107 Introduction …………………………………………………………….107 1.0 Milbank’s defense of Vico ………………………………................107 1.1 Divine Truth is Created …………………………………………….107 1.2 Vico’s Hylozoism in Relationship to the Divine Conatus Principle ……………………………………………………………111 1.3 Milbank’s Development of Vico’s Hylozoism ………………...…..113 2.0 Man’s Correspondence to Truth …………………………...……....114 2.1 Analogy of Creation ………………………………………………..114 2.2 Analogy of Creation and Cause and Effect ……………………..….116 2.3 Vico’s Analogy of Creation as between Skepticism and Rationalism ……………………………………………………118 2.4 Analogy of Creation and Essence and Esse ……………………......119 2.5 Analogy of Creation and Language …………………………..……121 2.6 Analogy of Creation with respect to Law and Virtue ……..……….125 2.7 Analogy of Creation and Virtue ……………………........................128 3.0 Milbank’s Development of the Analogy of Creation in Theology and Social Theory (1990) …………………………………………..130 3.1 Eriugena’s and Nicholas of Cusa’s Analogy of Creation ……….....131 3.2 Analogy of Creation Defined with Respect to Difference ………....133 3.3 Difference within God …………………………………………..…135 3.4 Difference within Creation in Relationship to God …………...…...136 3.5 Differences within Created Beings in Relationship to One Another …………………………………………………………….137 3.6 A Christian Alternative Version of Postmodern Ontology ……..….139 3.7 A Correspondence Theory in which Truth is Created and not Mirrored …………………………………………………………....141 Conclusion ………………………………………….………………….143 4. MILBANK ON TRUTH AS ILLUMINATED AND MEDIATED …………...146 Introduction ......................................................................................…...146 1.0 Truth as Illuminated ………………………………………………..146 1.1 Vico and Illumination ……………………………………………...146 1.2 Illumination as Further Developed by Milbank ……………….…...148 1.2.1 Truth is Created within the City of God ………………………....149 1.2.2 Outside the City of God There is No Truth ………………….…..150 iv 1.2.3 Faith is Reason and Reason is Faith ……………………….…….158 2.0 Truth as Mediated ………………………………………………….160 2.1 Mediation of Christ ………………………………………………...161 2.2 Mediation of the Church …………………………………………...165 2.3 The Church is Democratic, Aristocratic and Monarchic ….……….166 2.4 What is Taught ……………………………………………………..168 2.5 The Church is Political …………………..........................................171 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………..175 5. RATZINGER AND MILBANK COMPARED ………………….....................181 Introduction …………………………………………………………….181 1.0 Ratzinger and Milbank on Truth …………………………………...181 2.0 Analogy of Being vs. Analogy of Creation ………………………..184 2.1 Ratzinger and Milbank on Man’s Analogous Correspondence to Truth ………………………………………………………………..187 3.0 Ratzinger and Milbank on Truth as Illuminated …………………...190 4.0 Ratzinger and Milbank on Truth as Mediated ……………………..195 5.0 Ratzinger and Milbank in Light of the Twentieth Century Nature and Grace Debates …………………………………………………...…201 5.1 Henri de Lubac …………………………………………………….202 5.2 Early Debates Over de Lubac’s Nature-Grace Position ……….......204 5.3 Contemporary Debates Over De Lubac’s Nature and Grace Position …………………………………………………………….205 5.3.1 Lawrence Feingold on Nature and Grace ………………………..206 5.3.2 Reinhard Hütter’s Development of Feingold’s Position ………....209 5.3.3 Steven A. Long’s Development of Feingold’s Position …………211 5.3.4 Nicholas J. Healy’s Defense of de Lubac ……………………......212 6.0 Milbank and Ratzinger on Nature and Grace ……………………...215 6.1 Nature and Grace as Radically Integrated …………………………215 6.2 Nature and Grace as Relatively Autonomous ……………………...218 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………..220 6. RATZINGER’S THEOLOGY OF POLITICS AND MILBANK’S POLITICAL THEOLOGY ……………………………………......................................................223 Introduction …………………………………………………………….223 1.0 Faith and Political Reason According to Ratzinger ………………..224 1.1 De Lubac’s Views on Nature and Grace Does Not Lead to Political Theology …………………………………………………………...224 1.2 The Church Preaches Moral Norms not a Political Norm …………231 1.3 Ratzinger’s Concept of Democratic Socialism …………………….234 1.4 The Primacy of Individual Conversion Over Structural Change …..238 1.5 Individual Conversion Leads to the Formation of a Supra-National v Ethic ………………………………………………………………..241 1.6 A Supranational Ethic Fostered by the Faith Upholds Freedom and Resists Tyranny …………………………………………………….243 2.0 Faith and Political Reason According to Milbank …………………247 2.1 De Lubac’s Views on Nature and Grace Lead to Political Theology…………………………………………………………....247 2.2 The Church as a Political Norm ……………………………………251 2.3 The Church is not to Encourage a Supra-National Ethic Shaped by Specific Moral Laws but Rather is to Promote such an Ethic Determined by the Practice of Ecclesial Socialism ………………..253 2.4 Milbank’s Ecclesial Socialism …………………………………….255