THE NATURE AND GOAL OF THEOLOGY ACCORDING TO RÉGINALD GARRIGOU-LAGRANGE'S INTERPRETATION
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17721/sophia.2023.22.13Keywords:
Catholicism, Thomism, scholasticism, revelation, subjectivism, particularism, spiritualityAbstract
As one of the leading Thomist thinkers of the 20th century Catholic Church, the Dominican theologian and philosopher Réginald Garrigou- Lagrange was for a long time in the shadow of his great contemporaries, namely, Jacques Maritain and Étienne Gilson. In this study, that was primarily intended to draw the attention of Ukrainian academic community to this extraordinary figure, the author offers a concise analysis of R. Garrigou-Lagrange's views on the fundamental principles of authentic scholastic theologizing and the far-reaching strategic goals of any theological reflection. The article's author begins with a focus on the Catholic theologian's emphasis on the insufficiency of purely "cabinet" theological research, which instead should always have a powerful potential for further practical applications in Church's everyday life. According to Garrigou-Lagrange, the basic value of theology is grounded in its function to normalize or recognize as false this or that spiritual experience acquired by a practicing Christian. This function of theology allows for avoiding two main threats – subjectivism and particularism, the essence of which is examined in the research. In addition, the article contains an analysis of the Dominican's ideas regarding the arguments that can be used to justify the approach to theology as an academic discipline. The essence of Garrigou-Lagrange's rendering of the concept of God's revelation as a set of those truths that are not anti-rational but consistent with human reason is also revealed by the author in the proposed text. Finally, the article concludes that the uniqueness of Garrigou-Lagrange's theological vision lies in his ability to maintain a nuanced balance between (1) uncompromising devotion to rigid traditionalist Thomism and (2) openness to mystical empiricism, i.e. to the practical spiritual experience of dogmas proclaimed by the Church but without slipping into subjective individualistic spiritualism.
References
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Teresa of Ávila. (1961). Interior Castle (E. A. Peers, Ed.; E. A. Peers, Trans.). Doubleday.
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