THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA The Incarnation’s Impact on Grace: The Economy of Divine Salvific Action in Human History According to the Thought of Cardinal Charles Journet 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 © Copyright All Rights Reserved By Robert Wenderski Washington, D.C. 2020 The Incarnation’s Impact on Grace: The Economy of Divine Salvific Action in Human History According to the Thought of Cardinal Charles Journet Robert Wenderski, Ph. D. Director, Reinhard Hütter, Dr. theol., Dr. theol. habil. Cardinal Charles Journet’s theology of the history of salvation Essai de Théologie de l’Historie du Salut, Volume IV of his L’Église du Verbe incarné (EVI), prioritized the divinity of Christ and illustrated a strong Christological focus, both of which serve as a basis for his theology of grace. The internal, theological logic of EVI IV is this: Christ’s Incarnation and redemption caused a development in sanctifying grace; the change in grace caused a development of the Church; these two developments defined the way in which salvation history unfolds in the world. Journet’s overarching organizing theological principle is that all things are ordered to the glory of Christ. The Father glorifies Christ for His objective redemption of fallen man, wherein a new order of grace (Christic grace) is inaugurated. In addition, man actually reaching beatitude subjectively (via a graced love of preference) results in man rendering a twofold glory to God. Journet’s theology of grace is based on two principles: i) the interchange of divine grace and human free will occurs in a relationship of First Transcendent Causality and secondary causality, and ii) the freedom of the creature is consistently respected by God. This dissertation maintains that it is Journet’s theological emphasis on the constant availability of Christic sanctifying grace that: i) provides an umbrella under which God’s redemptive action in the world can be seen as intelligible, and ii) elucidates how the rational creature attains (or fails to attain) salvation. This dissertation argues, furthermore, that Journet’s understanding of recapitulation emphasizes that the world of redemption is better, in total, than the universe of innocence, precisely because the change in sanctifying grace brought about by the Incarnation and redemptive act (the divine response to sin) permits man to be conformed to the suffering Christ. This dissertation, finally, draws out the ecclesiological implications of Journet’s Christocentric theology of grace. Since the Church is the Mystical Body of Christ and the City of God, it is equivalent to the “world of redemption,” and is the visible vehicle through which grace is communicated to mankind, most efficaciously through the sacraments. This dissertation by Robert Wenderski fulfills the dissertation requirement for the doctoral degree in Systematic Theology approved by Reinhard Hütter, Dr. theol., Dr. theol. habil., as Director, and Chad C. Pecknold, Ph. D. and Michael Root, Ph. D., as Readers. _____________________________________________ Reinhard Hütter, Dr. theol., Dr. theol. habil, Director _____________________________________________ Chad C. Pecknold, Ph. D., Reader _____________________________________________ Michael Root, Ph. D., Reader ii Contents Chapter One – Setting the Stage.................................................................................................. 1 Part One – A Brief Overview of Swiss Political and Religious History since the Protestant Reformation ............................................................................................................................... 3 A. The Reformation: Confessional Conflicts .......................................................................... 3 B. Oligarchical Families Holding Political Power .................................................................. 5 C. French Revolution and Aftermath: End of the Ancien Regime; Confessional Hostilities . 6 Part Two – Journet’s Early Biography ................................................................................. 13 A. Special Situation of Geneva .............................................................................................. 13 B. Early Life – Collège Saint-Michel and the Grand Seminary of Fribourg......................... 14 C. Priestly Life; Life of Humility; Role of a Theologian; Central Place of the Incarnation . 20 Part Three – Journet’s Battle against Liberal Protestantism ............................................. 24 A. Polemics ............................................................................................................................ 24 B. Liberal Protestantism’s Denial of the Supernatural .......................................................... 25 C. Religious Experience Replaces Defined Dogma .............................................................. 28 D. Rationalism – Evolution of Protestant Thought ............................................................... 30 E. Basis of Liberal Protestantism’s Tenets Flawed due to Incorrect Metaphysics................ 30 Part Four – L’Église du Verbe incarné: The Theological Position and Purpose of Volume IV of Journet’s opus magnum ................................................................................................ 38 A. The Church and the Four Causes ...................................................................................... 39 B. The Contribution of Volume IV to Ecclesiology .............................................................. 40 Chapter Two – The Creation and Fall of Rational Creatures and the Divine Permission of Sin ................................................................................................................................................. 51 Part One – Time: Christian v. Non-Christian Views of Time ............................................. 53 Part Two – Creation in General............................................................................................. 56 A. Creation and Divine Glory ................................................................................................ 56 B. Three Mysteries of the Divine Presence with Respect to Creation .................................. 59 C. Creation of Rational Creatures .......................................................................................... 60 D. The Rational Creature Attains Perfection when its Free Will Acts in Dependence on the Creator ................................................................................................................................... 65 Part Three – Creation (and Fall) of the Angels .................................................................... 73 A. Three Preliminary Items ................................................................................................... 73 B. On Angelic Will and Choice ............................................................................................. 78 Part Four – Creation (and Fall) of Man ................................................................................ 99 A. Man as a “Horizon Between Two Worlds” ...................................................................... 99 B. The Preternatural Gifts .................................................................................................... 100 iii C. The Three Cities .............................................................................................................. 103 D. On the Origin of Human Sin: Nonconsideration of the Divine Rule ............................. 107 E. Bañezian Thomism on the Divine Permission of Sin ..................................................... 125 F. Critique of the Antecedent Permissive Decree / Neo-Bañezian Position by Journet/Maritain and Their Alternative Interpretation of Aquinas ...................................... 132 Part Five – A Discussion of Sufficient Grace and Efficacious Grace ............................... 152 A. Charles Journet on Sufficient Grace and Efficacious Grace ......................................... 152 B. The Importance of Sufficient Grace in the Theology of Journet ................................... 159 Chapter Three – The Incarnation and Redemptive Act Modify Sanctifying Grace .......... 164 Part One – The Economies of Salvation Prior to the Incarnation .................................... 166 A. The Progressive Nature of Revelation ............................................................................ 166 B. The Two Economies of Salvation Before the Incarnation .............................................. 168 C. Three Ages of the World ................................................................................................. 182 Part Two – Sanctifying Grace .............................................................................................. 190 A. Similarity in Essence between Prelapsarian Sanctifying Grace (Transfigurative) v. Postlapsarian Sanctifying Grace (Christic / Redemptive); but Difference in Effect and Source .................................................................................................................................. 191 B. Superiority of Christic Sanctifying Grace over Transfigurative Sanctifying Grace ....... 194 C. Why Christic Grace is So-Denominated: It is Derived from the Incarnation and Ordered to Man’s