Lonergan’s Notion of the Religious Apriori

LONERGAN'S NOTION OF THE RELIGIOUS APRIORI T HE QUESTION I am treating asks whether and, if so, to what degree religion is apriori to human living. To my knowledge, Lonergan has not employed the phrase "religious apriori" in writing, but he does speak of "transcendental notion." In Insight Lonergan explains that " a notion arises only in so far as understanding discerns future function in present structure." (p. 354) In a lecture given since Insight he discusses transcendental notion and means by this the notions of being, truth, goodness and value.1 Such notions are apriori to the horizon of the human subject because in one's knowing and living one spontaneously makes judgments and decisions: a study of the structure of knowing reveals its intrinsic orientation towards being (Insight, Chapter 12) ; the structure of judgment, an intrinsic orientation towards objectivity (Chapter 13); the structure of choosing, an intrinsic orientation towards goodness and value (Chapter 18, section I). A denial that these notions are operative within the subject is met by the argument by retort. Religion, consequently, would be a transcendental notion only if it could be shown that religion arises spontaneously in human knowing, or choosing, or both. In this way the notion of religion (like the notions of being, truth, objectivity, value) would be apriori to the horizon of the subject. These notions, although present within the field of consciousness , may not be expressly known to the subject: he demonstrates in his living that he considers some things worthwhile and other things not worthwhile, yet he may never make explicit the notion of value implicit in his decision making. The transcendental notions, then, are within one's horizon, but the subject without adequate self-knowledge will not know of 1 The Subject (Milwaukee: Marquette University Press, 1968), pp. ~~-~7. 247 248 WILLIAM E. REISER their presence. Thus in Insight Lonergan argues that metaphysics is rooted in structures " immanent and operative in all human knowing" and that the process to explicit metaphysics is "primarily a process to self-knowledge." (pp. 396-397) We will proceed by attempting to show why the notion of religion arises. We will do so by considering the role of religion in human living, the problem of the meaning of human living, and why the solution to this problem cannot be philosophical but must be religious. LovE AND SELF-TRANSCENDENCE In a recent theology symposium 2 Lonergan began speaking on " The Future of Christianity " by indicating seven areas which the major world religions share in common, basing his remarks on a work by Fredrich Heiler.28 Lonergan went on to develop the theme of self-transcendence, stating that it is by transcending present limits of his growth that the human subject achieves " authentic human living." The cognitional aspect of the self-transcending process consists of learning, of passing beyond or transcending present limits of experience, of endless questioning which advances one to ever wider ranges of understanding, and of judgments which transcend the individual subject through an intentional, objective claim of what is or is not true for all subjects. In addition, there is an operational level where the knowing subject is also a doer, and self-transcendence on this level consists in doing what is good. A major element in this doing is love, doing good for oneself, family, and nation; and supreme among one's loves is love of God. Lonergan contended that love is what principally effects the self-transcendence of human growth; love of God above all fulfills the subject most completely, grounding and trans- • The symposium, entitled " The Future of Christianity," was held at the College of the Holy Cross, December 14, 1968. Lonergan's paper was published, copyrighted in his name, in The Holy Cross Quarterly, Winter, 1969. "• " The History of Religion as Preparation for the Co-operation of Religions," in The History of Religions, edited by M. Eliade and J. Kitagawa (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1959), pp. 14~-158. LONERGAN's NOTION OF THE RELIGIOUS APRIORI ~49 forming whatever else is loved in and because of God. Professor Heiler's study had shown that the high religions taught the goodness and love of God and that...