De Lubac: A Guide for the Perplexed by David Grumett (review)

166 BOOK REVIEWS De Lubac: A Guide for the Perplexed. By DAVID GRUMEIT. Edinburgh: T&T Clark Ltd., 2007. Pp. 192. $26.95 (paper) ISBN: 9780826493156. There are two ways one might go about writing an introduction to the work of de Lubac. The first way is to look at the underlying structure of his thought and show how the particular affirmations and arguments are related to his fundamental philosophical and dogmatic commitments. A useful exposition of de Lubac will look at the interior form, the logos of the mind, the "spirit" that animates the writing. This is the method de Lubac used in his own writing and that Hans Urs von Balthasar used in his Introduction to the Theology ofHenri de Lubac. The second approach is to simply analyze the texts on the level of the clear, discursive meaning of the words and to articulate, to restate the basic insights and the various connections between them and the distinction between the thought of the writer and the thought of others. It is this approach that de Lubac saw as one of the defects in the approach of the neo-Scholastics to St. Thomas-a Cartesian attachment to clear and distinct ideas that misses the heart and mystery of the truth of the reality that the words are trying to convey. In the present work, David Grumett obviously intends to present the first type of analysis, but with mixed success. Some of the work appears to be more consistent with the second type of analysis. There are many strong points in Grumett's book. He begins with the topic with which de Lubac is most often associated-the theology of the supernatural. He then follows with two chapters on de Lubac's social thought ("spiritual resistance to Nazism," "Person, World and History"), one on ecclesiology and sacramental theology, two on fundamental theology (scripture interpretation, faith and reason), and one on interfaith dialogue. Each chapter is for the most part structured well and includes the most important points. Some of the chapters, such as "Scripture," are more tightly and systematically argued. Others are a more loose collection of subtopics, such as the chapter on the Church. Some are structured as an argument for a controversial position, such as the one on Buddhism, which seeks to propose a reading of de Lubac alternative and contrary to that of Balthasar. Along the way, it comes out clearly that the Incarnation and the sacramental principle are at the heart of de Lubac's dogmatic substructure and are the real basis for all his thought. For instance: the thesis that ever greater unity is accompanied by ever greater distinction, which comes from the Incarnation, shows up in his affirmation of the concrete manifestation in the material of the spiritual. Grumett succeeds in showing how the theology of natural desire penetrates all of de Lubac's thought, including his sympathy for Teilhard. He emphasizes rightly the potentially cosmic and liturgical scope of de Lubac's theology of nature, which is understated in de Lubac's own theology. Grumett highlights the social significance of de Lubac's thought. The value of de Lubac for an interpretation of Gaudium et spes has often been denied. Yet Catholicism, his first book, is the source of what John Paul II thought, at any rate, is the central affirmation of Gaudium et spes, that "Christ, the final Adam, BOOK REVIEWS 167 by the revelation of the mystery of the Father and His love, fully reveals man to man himself and makes his supreme calling clear" (GS 22). Grumett puts the chapter on Nazism second precisely to emphasize the social significance of the theology of the supernatural. He also highlights the social significance of other aspects of de Lubac's thought, such as the theology of the supernatural (23) and the four-fold interpretation of Scripture (91). The transpolitical nature of de Lubac's social thought receives proper attention here, as well as the spiritual transcendence of culture over the political (65) and the priority of personal relations in social action (107) because of the community of persons that makes up the Trinity. A man who does not tend to his spiritual life-his...