Appropriating the Lonergan Idea

428 Pages·2006·46.78 MB·English

by  Frederick E. Crowe

APPROPRIATING THE
LONERGANIDEA

www.utppublishing.com
University of Toronto Press Incorporated 2006
Toronto Buffalo London
Printed in Canada
ISBN-I}: 978-0-8020-9117-8
ISBN-IO: 0-8020-9117-2
Lonergan Studies
This book was first published in 1989 by The Catholic University
of America Press.
Printed on acid-free paper
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Crowe, Frederick E.
Appropriating the Lonergan idea / Frederick E. Crowe ; edited
by Michael Vertin.
(Lonergan studies)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
iSBN-13: 978-0-8020-9117-8
ISBN-IO: 0-8020-9117-2
1. Lonergan, Bernard J.F. (Bernard Joseph Francis), 1904-1984.
2. Theology. I. Vertin, Michael, 1939- II. Title. III. Series.
8x4705x75076 2006 230'. 2092 02006-904961-0
Unviersity of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial assistance to its
publishing program of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario
Arts Council.
University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial support for its
publishing activities of the Government of Canada through die Book
Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP).
Contents
Editor's Introduction to the 2006 Edition vii
Editor's Introduction ix
Preface xiii
Abbreviated Titles of Certain Works of
Bernard Lonergan xv
I. Exploring
1. The Growing Idea 3
2. The Origin and Scope of Bernard Lonergan's
Insight 13
3. Neither Jew nor Greek, but One Human Nature
and Operation in All 31
4. An Exploration of Lonergan's New Notion
of Value 51
5. Bernard Lonergan's Thought on Ultimate
Reality and Meaning 71
6. The Human Mind and Ultimate Reality 106
7. Bernard Lonergan and Liberation Theology 116
8. Bernard Lonergan as Pastoral Theologian 127
9. The Task of Interpreting Lonergan 145
II. Expanding
10. Jerusalem at the Heart of Athens:
The Christian University 163
11. The Responsibility of the Theologian, and
the Learning Church 172
12. Eschaton and Worldly Mission in the Mind and
Heart of Jesus 193
13. Dialectic and the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises 235
14. Theology and the Past: Changing Views on
the Sources 252
15. Theology and the Future: Responsible Innovation 265
V
VI CONTENTS
16. The Janus Problematic: Tradition versus
Innovation 277
17. Son and Spirit: Tension in the Divine Missions? 297
18. A Threefold Kenosis of the Son of God 315
19. Son of God, Holy Spirit, and World Religions 324
20. An Expansion of Lonergan's Notion of Value 344
21. The Life of the Unborn: Notions from
Bernard Lonergan 360
22. The Church as Learner: Two Crises, One Kairos 370
Epilogue: Homily at the Funeral of
Bernard Lonergan 385
The Writings of Frederick E. Crowe 391
Index 403
Editor's Introduction
to the 2006 Edition
Although seventeen years have now passed since its initial publication,
Appropriating the Lonergan Idea is being reissued because virtually all
of its essays remain potentially helpful to a wide spectrum of readers. In
various ways, the keen and penetrating ideas Frederick Crowe pre-
sented in 1989 can still lead people to discover important things about
themselves, the human community, and ultimate reality. While twenty-
two examples would be possible, one for each of the volume's essays,
perhaps three will suffice to illustrate the point.
"The Task of Interpreting Lonergan," for instance, is a nuanced
account of the way in which aptly determining the meaning of Loner-
gan's writings involves an interplay between understanding major
themes and understanding even apparently insignificant details, both
academic and non-academic. This account would seem to have endur-
ing validity not only for those who would interpret Lonergan but more
broadly for those who would interpret any major thinker.
"The Church as Learner" meanwhile elucidates a truth that, though
well-nigh indisputable when spelled out, has often been neglected by
Roman Catholic Christians: in the church, just as everywhere else,
teaching presupposes learning. Neglect of this truth has fostered the
illusion that authentic church teachings are permanent in every
respect. It has allowed Catholics to overlook the fact that curiosity is a
basic human feature, that new questions keep emerging, that such
questions can lead to deeper understandings, and that deeper under-
standings have produced doctrinal developments in the past and will
undoubtedly keep doing so in the future. Crowe's careful portrait of
the dynamics of ecclesial learning and teaching has continuing perti-
nence for present-day Catholics as they struggle with such doctrinal
issues as whether women can be validly ordained to the priestly minis-
try, whether a Catholic who holds public office may support policies
that run counter to church teaching, and whether same-sex marriages
could sometimes be morally praiseworthy.
"Son of God, Holy Spirit, and World Religions," another example,
elaborates a refined Christian theological rationale for pursuing inter-
religious dialogue. The events of September n, 2001, and their after-
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viii EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION TO THE 2006 EDITION
math, however, have given new urgency to the task of overcoming
longstanding antipathies between people of different cultures; differ-
ing religious beliefs and practices commonly are a key element of those
antipathies. Consequently, the long-term goal of addressing religious
differences through interreligious dialogue has much greater immedi-
acy now than before 2001. It follows that this essay is even more timely
today for the community of Christians than when it first was published.
I indicate my deep appreciation to Ronald Schoeffel, former editor-
in-chief of the University of Toronto Press, for his enthusiastic support
of this republication, and for his insightful suggestions and skilled assis-
tance in seeing it through. The extent and vigor of his contributions
give new meaning to the expression "semi-retired."
Since 1989 the total number of Crowe publications has grown by
more than 45 percent. The bibliography at the end of the original vol-
ume had 134 items; the one at the end of this volume has, 196, includ-
ing four additional published books plus a projected one. Let me
express my profound gratitude to Fr. Crowe for the ongoing example
he provides, in his ninety-first year, of remarkable scholarly acuity,
uncommon personal generosity, and radical Christian hopefulness.
Michael Vertin
St. Michael's College
University of Toronto
i June 2006
Editor's Introduction
Frederick Ernest Crowe was born on 5 July 1915 in Jeffries Corner, a
hamlet in the eastern Canadian province of New Brunswick, third of
the six children of Jeremiah and Margaret Crowe. He received his pri-
mary education in the local one-room schoolhouse; he attended high
school in nearby Sussex, New Brunswick; and he spent a good many
of his after-school hours measuring out sugar and flour, wrapping pack-
ages, and listening intently to stories in the general store that was run
by his parents. At the end of high school he did extremely well in the
province-wide exams—so well, in fact, that he received a Beaverbrook
scholarship to the University of New Brunswick. He spent his college
years in the study of electrical engineering and graduated with a Bach-
elor of Science degree in 1934, at the advanced age of eighteen.
In the months following graduation, two things conspired to move
the young Fred Crowe toward a crucial, life-shaping decision: his efforts
to find a job in the engineering field proved unsuccessful; and he found
himself again hearing a call that he had originally experienced in his
early teens, a call to the religious life. Thus in 1936 he joined the Upper
Canada Province of the Society of Jesus. For the next seventeen years
his life was to follow the lines of the standard Jesuit order of studies.
He spent four years in the Jesuit novitiate and juniorate at Guelph,
Ontario, three years studying philosophy at Christ the King Seminary
in Toronto, three years teaching languages, physics, and philosophy in
Halifax, four years studying theology in Toronto—during which time
he was ordained to the priesthood—and, after a year of tertianship in
Connecticut, another two years in advanced theological studies in
Rome. And it was during his philosophy studies that he first met the
teacher and confrere, eleven years his senior, who was to join Thomas
Aquinas, Ignatius of Loyola, and John Henry Newman as major influ-
ences on his adult life and work: Bernard Lonergan.
In 1953 Crowe successfully defended his doctoral dissertation, Conflict
and Unification in Man: The Data in the Writings of St. Thomas Aquinas.
Returning to Toronto, he was assigned to Christ the King Seminary—
subsequently Regis College—as a professor of theology. He carried out
that assignment with high distinction for the next twenty-seven years,
IX