Grace after Faculty Psychology
Sku: 66310V0E070
Archival Number: TV 663.1
Author: Lonergan, B.
Language(s): English
Decade: 1970
Description:
An interview conducted by Eric O’Connor and Cathleen Going at Thomas More Institute, 31 December 1971. Dr Going begins with a question about the relation of Lonergan’s rejection of faculty psychology and the recent emphasis on will and action with which he seems in agreement. ‘Operations on the fourth level’ is the expression that replaces talk of ‘will.’ This is the main concern of everyone in life. ‘Speculative intellect’ is not a faculty. It is the first three levels of consciousness. The fourth level is what is in control. Aquinas’s understanding of sanctifying grace and the supernatural virtues in metaphysical terms is not found in Augustine. It comes from Aristotle. The occasion was to account for grace in the baptized infant. Augustine was not a theoretical theologian. He knows more about consciousness than Thomas, but he was not a speculative thinker. His talk is that of a rhetorician. His adjectives about grace were treated as technical terms in the twelfth century. The problem of human liberty was another problem that led to the metaphysical developments found in Aquinas. Lonergan presents a summary of Aquinas’s development on the issues. He is pushed further to clarify his own views on liberty and responsibility, and invites us to distinguish what happens in peoples’ living from what their theories expound. The relation of will and action is explored. The criterion of a judgment of value is the good conscience of a virtuous person. The relation between Insight and Method on ethics is explored, as is the need in general for a contemporary theological method. (Method had not been published.) The method can be used by others besides Catholic theologians, and in any discipline that draws upon the past to guide us into the future. Interesting crosscultural issues are raised and discussed toward the end of the interview.
Editing and restoration by Greg Lauzon.
Database and descriptions © Copyright 2017 by Robert M. Doran
Transcription:
No transcription available.