A Second Collection: Volume 13

by Bernard J.F. Lonergan, Robert M. Doran (Editor), John D. Dadosky (Editor)

For the edition of A Second Collection prepared for the Collected Works of Bernard Lonergan, editors Robert M. Doran and John D. Dadosky have added archival materials directly related to almost every one of the papers, bringing the reader closer to the original compositions. The papers date from 1966 to 1973, and span the most creative period in Lonergan's development. Two major themes run through these papers: the primacy of the fourth, existential level of human consciousness, and the significance of historical mindedness with all its implications for culture, hermeneutics, and phenomenological thinking. The theme of conversion makes a grand entrance in 'Theology in Its New Context, ' a paper that charted the course for the unfolding of Method in Theology. This new edition makes extensive use of original manuscripts, variants in drafts of the essays, and hand-written corrections.

Genres: Theology, Philosophy

272 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

Fr. Bernard Joseph Frances Lonergan, SJ, CC (Ph.D., Theology, Gregorian University (Rome), 1939; B.A., University of London, 1930), was an ordained Roman Catholic priest of the Jesuit order. As an economist and philosopher-theologian in the Thomist tradition, he taught at Loyola College (Montreal) (now Concordia University), Regis College (now federated within the University of Toronto), the Pontifical Gregorian University, Harvard University, and Boston College. He was named by Pope Paul VI one of the original members of the International Theological Commission.

He is the author of Insight: A Study of Human Understanding (1957) and Method in Theology (1972), which established what he called the Generalized Empirical Method (GEM). The University of Toronto Press is in process of publishing his work in a projected 25-volume collection edited by staff at the Lonergan Research Institute at Regis College.

"Lonergan is considered by many intellectuals to be the finest philosophic thinker of the 20th century."
—TIME Magazine

Reviews

[Ejansand · Rating 3 out of 5]

Closer to 3.5 for me, if we’re really sticking close to the rating.

This set of essays gives a decent introduction to the trajectory of Lonergan’s thought, and so it was recommended to me as the best way to begin reading Lonergan’s corpus. He’s brilliant, no doubt, but I do find myself at odds with his modern bent.

But the value lies in his ceaseless struggle to actually figure out the problems of modernism and Catholic thought, to clarify them and the planes they operate on, and so to (hopefully, painstakingly) discovery some sort of platform for dialogue and discussion between the two. So, while these essay might feel very modern, they actually try to be “meta” in the sense that they come after modern culture and peer beyond divisiveness therein towards its core.

Oddly enough, Lonergan’s thought seems to flirt with a semiotic approach to the real, though I might be reading into it too much.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

These essays and lectures (along with one interview) provide vital background information to the immediate context of Method in Theology. In addition, the last essay gives a lot of personal history on how Insight came to be. In general, the information on Lonergan's life and development alone makes this volume useful to anyone with a strong interest in Lonergan. Also, these essays allow for a way into Lonergan's thought in that some of them were lectures to audiences that weren't all familiar with his ideas. Although they are a bit repetitive, as always, Lonergan's nuances in one direction or the other are deeply rewarding in that he was always discovering and disclosing new probable insights into both humanity and theology. Lastly, I would note that a recurring (and valuable) theme in this volume is the way in which Insight was oriented toward Lonergan's later work on theological method, work that was only cut short when he was called back to Rome to teach in 1953.

[Justin · Rating 5 out of 5]

You need to read this to better understand Method in Theology.