What do you think?
Rate this book
Ressourcement
The Discovery of God
In this important volume one finds the ultimate justification for de Lubac's positions against the atheisms of East and West. The book stands as a gloss on this dictum of Thomas Aquinas: 'In every act of thought and will, God is also thought and willed implicitly.' Although this book provoked much controversy at the time of its original publication, de Lubac insisted that its intention was simply to draw on the double treasure of the philosophia perennis and Christian experience in order 'to lend a helping hand to a few people in their search for God.'
- GenresTheologyChristianity
Paperback
First published January 1, 1959
4 people are currently reading
149 people want to read
About the author
Henri de Lubac
97 books100 followersHenri-Marie de Lubac, SJ (1896-1991) was a French Jesuit priest who became a Cardinal of the Catholic Church, and is considered to be one of the most influential theologians of the 20th century. His writings and doctrinal research played a key role in the shaping of the Second Vatican Council.
De Lubac became a faculty member at Catholic Faculties of Theology of Lyons, where he taught history of religions until 1961. His pupils included Jean Daniélou and Hans Urs von Balthasar. De Lubac was created cardinal deacon by Pope John Paul II on February 2, 1983 and received the red biretta and the deaconry of S. Maria in Domnica, February 2, 1983. He died on September 4, 1991, Paris and is buried in a tomb of the Society of Jesus at the Vaugirard cemetery in Paris.
De Lubac became a faculty member at Catholic Faculties of Theology of Lyons, where he taught history of religions until 1961. His pupils included Jean Daniélou and Hans Urs von Balthasar. De Lubac was created cardinal deacon by Pope John Paul II on February 2, 1983 and received the red biretta and the deaconry of S. Maria in Domnica, February 2, 1983. He died on September 4, 1991, Paris and is buried in a tomb of the Society of Jesus at the Vaugirard cemetery in Paris.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 17, 2014
I read this in order to lay the foundations down for my thesis in Theological Studies, which involves putting de Lubac's negative theology, which leads to mystery, as the foundation of his whole theological project. But I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. It moves a lot like Pascal's Pensées, going back and forth between his thought as a theologian and his resources, from the Church Fathers to the Medieval Mystics. If one really wants to understand Vatican II and how it changed the terrain of Church teaching and action, this is a must.
August 6, 2019
This is an interesting mix of Thomism, transcendental philosophy, and mystical theology. DeLubac's main contention is that knowledge of God is prior to judgement and intentional action, prior to the employment of quotidian concepts.
Unfortunately, the logical connections needed to make this claim are often not spelled out but one can imagine how the argument might go. First, knowledge of God is, according to the author, implicit. It is not clear what form this implicit knowledge might take and why it is presupposed to other uses of concepts. One option would be to parse this in terms of a Aristotelian notion of habitual knowledge - and DeLubac doe speak of a 'habit of God' - but this does not explain why this habit would be presupposed by other applications of ordinary concepts. Another option would be to think of knowledge of God as a presupposition that may not be explicitly avowed by a given concept user. In Brandom's terms the use of ordinary concepts would also commit one to the existence of God. In substance, this is what is claimed by Aquinas's proofs and in a different way by proofs of Augustine, Anselm, and Descartes.
But DeLubac wishes to make a stronger claim. In effect, he is arguing that the idea of God plays a fundamental role in human experience, and that this experience of transcendence provides the impetus behind various manifestations of religion, as well as philosophical explorations of the divine. As a phenomenological claim about the role of transcendence in human experience, DeLubac's view has much in common with that of Taylor in Sources of the Self and A Secular Age.
His short book obviously cannot fully substantiate these claims but it provides a framework for thinking about how theism might be given a rational justification. In this connection, one could compare DeLubac's claims about knowledge of God as presupposition of ordinary conceptual use with Rahner's similar claims (in his earlier philosophical books and papers). Rahner's approach is similar though somewhat more orientated by the Kantian problematic of how concepts can have representational content. Similarly one might compare DeLubac's claims with recent claims by Sebastian Rödl concerning absolute idealism. Rödl's argument is essentially that a priori knowledge of being, i.e., the categories and principle of non-contradiction, is presupposed by and known in ordinary empirical judgements. It is only a short step from this claim to DeLubac's concerning the knowledge of God as a presupposition of empirical judgements.
Unfortunately, the logical connections needed to make this claim are often not spelled out but one can imagine how the argument might go. First, knowledge of God is, according to the author, implicit. It is not clear what form this implicit knowledge might take and why it is presupposed to other uses of concepts. One option would be to parse this in terms of a Aristotelian notion of habitual knowledge - and DeLubac doe speak of a 'habit of God' - but this does not explain why this habit would be presupposed by other applications of ordinary concepts. Another option would be to think of knowledge of God as a presupposition that may not be explicitly avowed by a given concept user. In Brandom's terms the use of ordinary concepts would also commit one to the existence of God. In substance, this is what is claimed by Aquinas's proofs and in a different way by proofs of Augustine, Anselm, and Descartes.
But DeLubac wishes to make a stronger claim. In effect, he is arguing that the idea of God plays a fundamental role in human experience, and that this experience of transcendence provides the impetus behind various manifestations of religion, as well as philosophical explorations of the divine. As a phenomenological claim about the role of transcendence in human experience, DeLubac's view has much in common with that of Taylor in Sources of the Self and A Secular Age.
His short book obviously cannot fully substantiate these claims but it provides a framework for thinking about how theism might be given a rational justification. In this connection, one could compare DeLubac's claims about knowledge of God as presupposition of ordinary conceptual use with Rahner's similar claims (in his earlier philosophical books and papers). Rahner's approach is similar though somewhat more orientated by the Kantian problematic of how concepts can have representational content. Similarly one might compare DeLubac's claims with recent claims by Sebastian Rödl concerning absolute idealism. Rödl's argument is essentially that a priori knowledge of being, i.e., the categories and principle of non-contradiction, is presupposed by and known in ordinary empirical judgements. It is only a short step from this claim to DeLubac's concerning the knowledge of God as a presupposition of empirical judgements.
July 12, 2014
Prayerful Engagement with Struggle of the Faith
Addressing some of his friends who struggled with issues of faith, DeLubac takes challenges to faith in God seriously by engaging them in a thorough, yet prayerful way. While he uses philosophical and theological language, I found this book to touch me in a deeply personal way, exploring some of the great struggles of the soul I have known in my own faith. There are almost two kinds of books at work here. First and primary, De Lubac works through a series of ideas related to faith, loss of faith, and revelation. Rather than writing a formal argument, he writes in fragments, quoting and alluding to a range of other writers across time through a range of thoughts centered on specific themes for each chapter.
At a later point, DeLubac returned to this initial text and heavily footnoted his references and arguments. These footnotes serve almost as a running commentary alongside the original text. You could read the book without footnotes and then come back a second time to reflect through the extensive footnote sections for extended insights. I have found this book helpful for my own walk of faith in a late-modern world where faith is often treated irrelevant for daily living.
Addressing some of his friends who struggled with issues of faith, DeLubac takes challenges to faith in God seriously by engaging them in a thorough, yet prayerful way. While he uses philosophical and theological language, I found this book to touch me in a deeply personal way, exploring some of the great struggles of the soul I have known in my own faith. There are almost two kinds of books at work here. First and primary, De Lubac works through a series of ideas related to faith, loss of faith, and revelation. Rather than writing a formal argument, he writes in fragments, quoting and alluding to a range of other writers across time through a range of thoughts centered on specific themes for each chapter.
At a later point, DeLubac returned to this initial text and heavily footnoted his references and arguments. These footnotes serve almost as a running commentary alongside the original text. You could read the book without footnotes and then come back a second time to reflect through the extensive footnote sections for extended insights. I have found this book helpful for my own walk of faith in a late-modern world where faith is often treated irrelevant for daily living.
January 8, 2022
for the purpose of assignment
Want to read
December 14, 2009Recommended by James Schall in Another Sort of Learning, Chapter 19, as one of Sixteen Books on Belief and Disbelief.
June 29, 2014
The contemplative will appreciate this book. Though on the verge of the metaphysical, it is a wonderful read.
Read
June 23, 2015Human acts implicitly reveal God's presence.
April 3, 2017
Easily one of the best books I have ever read! There is a very exquisite pleasure in the de Lubac's poetic prose. A masterpiece of Christian theological writing. As Artur Rosman writes, it has the ability to induce quasi-mystical states at times.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews