Bogoslovska smotra, Vol. 91 No. 4, 2021.
Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.53745/bs.91.4.4
The Anthropological Approach to Theology of Religions. A Comparison Between Jacques Dupuis and Henri de Lubac
Jakov Rađa
; Catholic Faculty of Theology, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
Jacques Dupuis and Henri de Lubac are two Jesuit theologians whose names are unavoidable when one deals with topics related to the theology of religions. Although they belonged to the same theological spectrum of inclusivism, they did not belong to the same theological school; while Dupuis emphasized the presence of Christ in other religions, de Lubac saw in religions only and exclusively the longing for God that finds its fulfillment only in the Christian revelation. Despite differences between Dupuis and de Lubac, they both built their theologies of religions on an anthropological basis; more precisely, on Origen’s spiritual anthropology that they interpreted differently from each other. Thus, Dupuis perceives the spiritual experience of those human beings who live outside of the Christian economy of salvation as a way for the Holy Spirit to reach those human beings and enables them to participate in God’s truth and life, while de Lubac interprets that same experience as an encounter with the depths of one’s own being, with the image of God. While Dupuis considers mysticism outside of Christianity to be an authentic way in which God enters into the lives of human beings, de Lubac held that outside of Christianity one can generally talk only about natural mysticism, but not true mysticism. Dupuis and de Lubac’s theologies of religions are, therefore, based on different views of the relation between grace and nature. In that sense, Dupuis puts a larger emphasis on the immanency of God’s agency, while de Lubac directs his attention more in the direction of transcendency of the relation between God and human beings. Despite differences in the evaluation of the spiritual experience of those human beings who live outside of the Christian economy of salvation, the theologies of Jacques Dupuis and Henri de Lubac are both an important contribution to a better understanding of the ways in which God acts in human being.
Keywords
Jacques Dupuis; Henri de Lubac; spiritual experience; religions.
Hrčak ID:
275024
URI
Publication date:
15.3.2022.
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