Being in mystery

: Henri de Lubac and the drama of human existence

Abstract

This thesis offers a critical exposition of Henri de Lubac’s theological “hermeneutic of human existence.” In so doing, it defends a particular reading of de Lubac’s theology of nature and the supernatural at variance with prevailing intrinsicist interpretations of his work. In contradistinction to those who claim to discover in de Lubac an account of human nature as always-already graced, it argues that the intrinsic relation between human being and humanity’s supernatural finality is best considered in terms of the “supernatural insufficiency of human nature.”

Chapter one locates de Lubac’s hermeneutic of human existence in relation to his hermeneutic of atheist humanism, for according to de Lubac, a theological interpretation of human existence receives its contemporary urgency from the Church’s confrontation with modern atheism. Chapter two offers a critical evaluation of de Lubac’s Surnaturel thesis, focusing in particular on the continuity of his construal of the desiderium naturae as a longing “born of a lack.” Chapter three treats de Lubac’s account of the dynamism of human existence in terms of the dynamism of human reason, arguing that for de Lubac, reason is teleologically ordered to the gift of revelation without anticipating the supernatural truths of the latter. Chapter four engages de Lubac’s construal of the irreducibly social and historical dimensions of human existence, locating the drama of human existence within de Lubac’s theology of history more generally. Finally, chapter five considers the dynamism of human existence under the conditions of grace by means of an investigation of de Lubac’s “mystical theology.” It argues that de Lubac’s account of Christian mysticism contributes to his hermeneutic of human existence by gesturing towards that “for which” human beings were created—the supernatural perfection of human being and human fellowship in the totus christus.

Date of Award	21 Jun 2016
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of St Andrews
Supervisor	John Bainbridge Webster (Supervisor)