Natura Pura: On the Recovery of Nature in the Doctrine of Grace
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Introduction Introduction
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Dimensions of the Controversy Dimensions of the Controversy
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The Immediate and Proximate Context: Error Regarding Obediential Potency The Immediate and Proximate Context: Error Regarding Obediential Potency
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Behind It All: The Loss of Natural Order as a Theonomic Principle Behind It All: The Loss of Natural Order as a Theonomic Principle
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Conclusion: The Protean Implications Conclusion: The Protean Implications
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One On The Loss, And The Recovery, Of Nature As A Theonomic Principle: Reflections On The Nature/Grace Controversy
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Published:28 April 2009
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Abstract
This chapter intends to contribute to the project of facilitating a renewed appreciation of St. Thomas Aquinas's profound teaching on the character of the relation between the natural and the supernatural. First, it surveys the general speculative dimensions of the controversy about the character of the natural desire for God, so closely related to the question of the natural end. Second, it explores in particular the contours of what is believed to be the common error of Henri de Lubac and Etienne Gilson respecting the obediential potency for grace and glory. Third, it argues that de Lubac's account of the natural desire for God, despite its doctrinal deficiency, is rooted in a genuinely profound theological need to overcome the loss of natural order as a theonomic principle. The chapter concludes by observing the protean implications of these issues for the effort to understand, and to transcend, an invertebrate postmodern theological pluralism that itself presupposes the loss of natural order as a theonomic principle.
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