Is Lonergan’s Method Adequate to Christian Mystery?

THE THOMIST A SPECULATIVE QUARTERLY REVIEW OF THEOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY EDITORS: THE DoMINICAN FATHERS OF THE PROVINCE OF ST. JosEPH Publishers: The Thomist Press, Washington, D. C. ~0017 VoL. XXXIX JULY, 1975 IS LONERGAN'S METHOD ADEQUATE TO CHRISTIAN MYSTERY? No.3 ( ( WHAT HAS Athens to do with Jerusalem?" Since Tertullian's question of so long ago, the two have hardly been sister cities; and the theologian who shuttles between these two centers travels a tricky road. To what degree Christian faith has been hellenized by Athenian philosophy; to what degree it has been the destruction of hellenic theology, are large historical questions that continue to tease the current theological scene. Here, as a minor variant to this great question of Tertullian, I would like to ask what Christian faith has to do with theological method. More specifically, what is the relationship of Christian faith to Bernard Lonergan's Method in Theology? St. Paul expressed his conviction that a certain madness would be associated with the faith of Christians (1 Cor 1: 2025 ) . The Gospel disconcerts our presupposition, becoming a scandal to the practised traditions of the religious and a folly 437 438 ANTHONY J. KELLY to the rounded systems of the wise. And theology, as a reflection on such a faith, is likewise vulnerable. In relation to other disciplines, theology is often caught between defending its right to exist and pushing forward its own intelligent concerns. Now theology must surely aim at being an exact science. However, this degree of exactitude is to be judged from its own inner exigencies and not by its degree of conformity to the precision of mathematics or psychology. Its method is exact in the measure it respects the unique data that are presented. For the Christian, such uniqueness is offered in the Word Incarnate when faith asks "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? " (Rom 8: 35) and when such faith states: " for God so loved the world that he gave his only Son." (Jn 3: 16) There is a scandal, indeed, of particularity at a time when we are beginning to have some inklings of the universal history of man and the galactic proportions of the universe. The tolerance of academe is affronted. If the Christian theologian succeeds in not giving offence, it is probably because he is cautiously restating what to other disciplines is obvious, or that he is regarded as something less than an astrologer. It is now a few years since Lonergan offered us his Metlwd.1 Anyone engaged in the business of doing theology today will recognize an outstanding contribution when he sees one. Such a book builds up theology's self-respect and helps it to manage its own household. It commends theology as a partner to the other human sciences, as cooperative and concerned in terms of modern culture. The obscurantist and especially the mystified academic colleague have a chance to see that the Christian community is capable of a critical self-awareness along with a sophisticated sense of history and the whole cultural enterprise . Since Lonergan has surefootedly occupied the vantage point of critical self-appropriation, he is in the position to send theology into the arena of learning, not as one of the 1 London:, Darton, Longman and Todd, 1971. Hereafter cited in the text as MT with page number added. IS LONERGAN's "METHOD" ADEQUATE? 439 dull, four-footed beasts to be tormented but as a member of the gladiatorial team. For faith shows forth a reasonableness that draws its vigor from the summons that man experiences to transcend himself in the direction of what is truly real, really good, and ultimately holy. Lonergan has differentiated his task as a methodologist. Insight has stressed that any grasp of truth is the fruit of authentic subjectivity. Method shows how this must be the case also for religious truth. In his description of the polymorphic structure of consciousness the author of this book brings some sense into the variety of .specializations that theology employs. By developing the notion of religion as the field of self-transcending love he opens the way for an appreciation of the enduring value of religion as a depth...