Autor: Lonergan, Bernard J.F.

Buch: A Third Collection

Titel: A Third Collection

Stichwort: Lonergan über Voegelin; Zug - Gegenzug; Offenbarung - Information, zweifache Offenbarung u. Gnade; "In-Between"

Kurzinhalt: only through one's own experience of that dynamism one can advert to its working in others; a twofold grace: an inner operative grace - an outer grace; "In-Between" and "Beyond"

Textausschnitt: 35/12 I believe, then, that Welte has a real point insofar as he associates doctrine with a grave risk of congealed minds. But Voegelin makes a similar point though in a quite different manner. He is aware of the self-transcending dynamism of truly human living, of its mythical and symbolic expression, of its philosophic expression, and of its expression in the prophets of the Old Testament and in the writers of the New. 35/12 I believe, then, that Welte has a real point insofar as he associates doctrine with a grave risk of congealed minds. But Voegelin makes a similar point though in a quite different manner. He is aware of the self-transcending dynamism of truly human living, of its mythical and symbolic expression, of its philosophic expression, and of its expression in the prophets of the Old Testament and in the writers of the New. He is aware that only through one's own experience of that dynamism can one advert to its working in others. By a brilliant extension he moves on to his distinction between revelation and information. Items of information are all about us: they are the stock in trade of the media. But revelation is not just one more item of information. In its essential moment it is a twofold pull: being drawn by the Father, listening to him, learning from him; and being drawn by the Son, crucified, dead, and risen. Again, it is a twofold grace: an inner operative grace that plucks out hearts of stone and replaces them with hearts of flesh; and the outer grace of the Christian tradition that brings the gospel to our ears. (195; Fs) (notabene). By a brilliant extension he moves on to his distinction between revelation and information. Items of information are all about us: they are the stock in trade of the media. But revelation is not just one more item of information. In its essential moment it is a twofold pull: being drawn by the Father, listening to him, learning from him; and being drawn by the Son, crucified, dead, and risen. Again, it is a twofold grace: an inner operative grace that plucks out hearts of stone and replaces them with hearts of flesh; and the outer grace of the Christian tradition that brings the gospel to our ears. (195; Fs) (notabene)

36/12 Now I think Voegelin's criticism of doctrines and doctrinization to be exaggerated. But everyone will expect this of me, so there is no point in my repeating here what I have already said rather abundantly. What I do believe to be important on the present occasion is to insist how right I consider Voegelin to be in what he does say. For what he does say is foundational. It is the kind of knowledge by which people live their lives. It is the kind of knowledge that scientists and scholars, philosophers and theologians, presuppose when they perform their specialized tasks. It is the knowledge of which Newman wrote in his Grammar of Assent, Polanyi wrote in his Personal Knowledge, Gadamer in his Truth and Method. It is the kind of knowledge thematized by ascetical and mystical writers when they speak of the discernment of spirits and set forth rules for distinguishing between pull and counterpull, between being drawn by the Father to be drawn to the Son and, on the other hand, the myriad other attractions that distract the human spirit. (195; Fs)

37/12 Indeed it is in this long history of spiritual writing that one finds the confirmation of Voegelin's "In-Between" and his "Beyond." For being drawn by the Father is neither merely human nor strictly divine but "In-Between." As movement is from the mover but in what is moved, so the drawing is from the Father but in the suppliant. Again, because the drawing is from the Father, it bears the stamp of unworldliness; it is not just me but from the "Beyond." Finally, because there are not only pulls but also counterpulls, because the first can dignify the second, and the second can distort the first, there is need for discernment and, no less, difficulty in attaining it. (196; Fs) (notabene)