A Brief Catechesis on Nature and Grace

by Henri de Lubac

Publisher:

Ignatius

, 1984

Overview

The great twentieth-century theologian Henri de Lubac sought in this work to clarify the relationship between nature and grace, a relationship he thought had been greatly misunderstood by certain theologians. De Lubac’s insights revolutionized the modern discussion of nature and grace, and they influenced thinkers such as John Paul II and Benedict XVI, as well as Hans Urs von Balthasar.

This book, written after the Second Vatican Council and toward the end of de Lubac’s long life, summarizes and extends key ideas he sought to recover from the classical sources of early and medieval Christianity. Confronted with distortions of Christian teaching, de Lubac repudiates on the one hand the extreme of radically opposing nature and grace, as if grace were entirely alien to nature, and on the other hand, the extreme of radically confusing them.

A Brief Catechesis on Nature and Grace also contains appendices, including de Lubac’s famous “The Council and the Parachurch”, in which he examines widespread misinterpretations of the Second Vatican Council.

Key Features

• Clarifies the relationship between nature and grace, addressing historical misunderstandings
• Summarizes and extends key ideas from classical Christian sources
• Repudiates extreme views that either radically oppose or confuse nature and grace

Contents

• PREFACE
• I. Natural and the Supernatural
• 1. Two Correlative Terms
• 2. The True Supernatural
• 3. Adjective or Noun?
• 4. Admirabile Commercium
• 5. A Distinction Which Remains
• II. Consequences
• 1. Humility
• 2. Mystery
• 3. Ascesis, Transformation, Synthesis
• 4. Transcendence
• 5. The Role of the Church
• III. Nature and Grace
• 1. Conversion
• 2. Allergy to Sin
• 3. Evil and History
• 4. Realism
• 5. Liberation and Salvation
• CONCLUSION
• APPENDICES
• A. The “Supernatural” at Vatican II
• B. The “Sacrament of the World”?
• C. The Council and the Para-Council
• D. The “Cult of Man”: In Reparation to Paul VI

Product Details

• Title: A Brief Catechesis on Nature and Grace
• Author: Henri de Lubac
• Publisher: Ignatius
• Print Publication Date: 1984
• Pages: 308
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
• ISBNs: 9780898700350, 0898700353
• Resource ID: LLS:BRFCTCHSSNTRGRC
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2025-03-27T15:47:36Z

About Henri de Lubac

Cardinal Henri de Lubac (February 20, 1896–September 4, 1991) is considered one of the outstanding theologians of the twentieth century. He was born in France and became a Jesuit priest in 1927. He taught theology at the Catholic University of Lyon from 1929 to 1961. His courses were interrupted twice, once by World War II and again from 1950 to 1958 over a disagreement with Pope Pius XII on certain points of dogma. After these “dark years” ended de Lubac was returned to teaching and grew in influence as a theologian. He was instrumental in shaping the Second Vatican Council and admired by successive pontiffs, eventually accepting an appointment to the cardinalate from Pope John Paull II. He wrote numerous books on spiritual and theological topics including The Christian Faith, Aspects of Buddhism, Catholicism, Corpus Mysticum, and The Eternal Feminine: A Study on the Poem by Teilhard de Chardin.