Catholicism: Christ and the Common Destiny of Man

Henri de Lubac may just be the father (although unsung) of modern Catholic theology. "Catholicism: Christ and the Common Destiny of Man" is clearly an example of this. Jesus Christ is not some long gone historic figure, but lives on in the Church - the Mystical Body of Christ. The common destiny of man is to live on in this living Christ. Criticism of the difficulty in reading de Lubac are somewhat unfounded in that, the important nuances that separates simplistic understanding of Church, theology, and doctrine from a more profound understanding often require complexity. I welcome the difficulty should it provide a greater insight into the meaning of Church as the Living Body. Although written from a Catholic perspective, de Lubac's engagement of the patristic teachers transcends the Orthodox-Catholic-Protestant divide. I would challenge all those who are serious about faith, doctrine, theology, and ecumenism to explore this book and "entertain" the possibility of the meaning of Church - that which our fathers and mothers in the faith deeply understood and embraced. Reviewed by: Dr. Jeffrey Wincel (D.Min), author of "Climbing The Mountain of God, The Path to Mystical Discipleship" and "Defying the Trend, Business Ethics and Corporate Morality from a Faith Perspective."

Considered one of the most important books of 20th Century Catholic theology, this book is incredible. I was amazed at De Lubac's knowledge and handling of the Church Fathers. I came away with a deeper understanding of the social nature of Catholicism and the underpinnings of Communio theology. The only complaints I have are that a) there are too many footnotes and b)as someone whose Latin is very rusty and wasn't that good to begin with the Latin in the footnotes was almost worthless. I hope they come out with a translation that includes translations of the footnotes. The Appendix with excerpts, mainly of the Fathers, is great too. Pick this book up and savor it.

Fr de Lubac is known for his "rebellion" (tongue-and-cheek) against scholasticism, opting instead for a reading of early Church Fathers and doing theology through that lens, so-called Patrisitic theology. This book is essentially a synthesis of that concept, touching briefly on almost all areas of theology using the early Church fathers as guidance. Topics include the more standard ones like the Eucharist and the doctrine of God and Jesus, but there are also other ones that are less well known like the doctrine of salvation outside the Church. de Lubac has many quotes and whole chunks of writings from Origein, Cyril, Augustine, and many other Church fathers. One aspect of the book that I was particularly interested in reading was a short section that de Lubac has on the interior life. It is my understanding that Fr. de Lubac had planned for most of his religious life to write an entire book devoted to the interior life, but never got around to doing so. This short section gave me a small glimpse into some of his ideas concerning the interior life and our relationship with God, though it could be argued that the whole book discusses our relationship with God in the sense of the interior life. Although the book is a hard read (like all of de Lubac's books), it is very good and well worth it to devote some time to the writings of one of the greatest theologians of the 20th century.

"He who beholds the Church really beholds Christ" says St Gregory of Nyssa; "Any soul, in cultivating its vineyard, cultivates that of his neighbour as well. The two are so closely united that no one can do good or evil to himself without doing good or evil to his neighbour at the same time. Together you form but one single, universal vineyard" (Saint Catherine of Siena). These are but two of the many many quotes of the patristic age and of the middle ages that De lubac cites and explains to lead us to an inner understanding of the mystery of catholic and orthodox christianity. The effects of subjectivisim and individualism, so prevalent in our culture, can affect us all in insidious ways. De lubac points to the deep mystical social nature of the ecclesia catholica. This is a treasure to be read and re-read with the wisdom of the centures at one's finger tips, so to speak. The one irritant is that some of the footnotes are in latin, which is a little off putting.

The idea that keeps recurring in this book is unity. Henri de Lubac brilliantly draws the theme of unity out of the sacraments, the Church, Dogma, etc, etc. What is refreshing about this book even though it is 60 years old is that unity is to be found within the Mystical Body of Christ, not like some heterodox theologians of today who believe unity is achieved by adhering to some pseudo progressive liberal political ideology. An added bonus is a 75+ page appendix of excerpts from various works of famous Church Saints & Fathers.