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Reviewed by:
  • Engaging the Thought of Bernard Lonergan by Louis Roy
  • Michael Shute
Louis Roy. Engaging the Thought of Bernard Lonergan. McGill-Queen's University Press. viii, 240. $34.95

This collection is a series of introductory articles on aspects of Bernard Lonergan's thought taken from lectures and articles written over the course of the author's academic career. As such, the articles are "less for Lonergan insiders and more for a larger, more novice readership." The book was not intended to be a comprehensive introduction to Lonergan's thought. Instead, themes reflecting the author's own interests inform the selection. There is a distinct Catholic cast to the articles that reflects both the author and the audience he addresses.

The articles are well organized. Despite the inevitable repetition you might expect in a series of introductory essays, these articles have been re-edited and augmented such that each article prepares the reader for what follows. Part One takes up where Lonergan's book Method in Theology begins, with the question of method. The two articles in this part provide the scaffolding for the remaining chapters. The second part, "Religious Experience, Faith and Belief," takes up the themes of chapter four of Method in Theology. Louis Roy handles this material with an expert touch. I would note positively his exploration of religious experience in the context of an understanding of the levels of conscious intentionality. He stresses the universal nature of Lonergan's account, establishing its efficacy for the challenge of interreligious dialogue. In the third part, Roy takes up the implications of transcendental method for theology, mysticism, liturgy, and education. I would recommend "Some Implications for Theology" for its handling of the differences between Karl Rahner and Lonergan. This is a subject that can easily get mired in obfuscating detail. Roy neatly stickhandles the difficulties. As a "Lonergan insider," I found the two articles on mysticism and liturgy rewarding. Taking his clue from Lonergan's late essays, Roy affirms both a horizontal and a vertical vector in religious experience. This balanced understanding [End Page 300] of mystical consciousness and liturgy allows for the exploration of our subjective religious self while retaining its objective transcendental features. It is in these three articles that the work put into the two articles in the first part of the book pay off for the reader. Roy shows that Lonergan's innovation in methodology has a significant and positive implication for our understanding of religious expression and spiritual development.

Perhaps less attention than should be has been paid to Lonergan as a social thinker. Part Four, "Ethics," addresses this issue. The approach is neatly eclectic. Lonergan is compared to the under-appreciated Scottish philosopher John Macmurray and to Gandhi. In each case, Roy brings out the interpersonal core of that which informs Lonergan's social philosophy. Roy then takes up the question of human rights, stressing that their foundation is to be discovered in understanding the meaning of responsibility. The collection ends with a meditation on providence, that explores the larger issues of evil and world order and, in doing so, introduces the world view of emergent probability.

Roy translated Lonergan's book Method in Theology into French, and the warmer style of that translation, especially the first four chapters, rather than the denser and more doctrinal approach of Lonergan's Insight, pervades Roy's collection. Engaging the Thought of Bernard Lonergan is a well-written and well-organized introduction to the first four chapters of Method in Theology, which are the background for Lonergan's explanation of the method of functional specialization. Roy's chapters provide an appealing jumping-off point for those who eventually want to explore Lonergan's more demanding theological treatises, his studies of Aquinas, his original work in economics, and his magnum opus Insight. One would also hope that the volume piques the reader's interest to explore beyond the themes of the first four chapters of Method in Theology and take up the challenge of functional specialization.

Michael Shute
Department of Religious Studies, Memorial University of Newfoundland
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