RamistThomist
Puritanboard Clerk
de Lubac, Henri. S. J. The Drama of Atheist Humanism. San Francisco, 1995.
I was given this book several Christmases ago back in my apologetics craze. I guess I started reading it with the wrong expectations. The book divides into three or four sections. First, Henri de Lubac gives a thorough (if at times dense) analysis of the major atheist leaders: Marx, Feurbach, and Comte, Comte providing a foil for a brief Christian response. He thoroughly outlines and deconstructs Comte.
Per Marx: I would probably start somewhere else. But definitely find deconstructions of Marx, as we are seeing Evangelical institutions beginning to cater to Cultural (if not economic) Marxism.
Per Feuerbach: He provided Marx with his break from Hegel. Hegel said that consciousness or Mind precedes matter. Essence precedes existence. For all of the terrible wrongs Hegel is guilty of, he is correct on this point. Marx, through Feuerbach, inverted this. Existence precedes essence. Indeed, there is no essence.
Per Comte: Your modern sociology class.
The next section is on Dostoevsky the prophet. Compares and contrasts Nietszche. Sheds a lot of light on some of Dostoevsky's lesser-known works.
The final section is "Search for a New Man." The first part of this is rather good. He gives several brief, short critiques of "progressivism" and ends with a plea for a new Christian Humanism. His criticism of Marxism's historicism is perfect (and too long to post here. His discussion of "the supernatural" was sublime.
The supernatural is not a higher, more beautiful, or more fruitful nature...it is the irruption of a wholly different principle. The sudden opening of a kind of fourth dimension, without proportion of any kind to all the progress provided in the natural dimension (466).
The final part of the book is about Nietszche's mystical experiences. Aside from a few good quotes here and there, I found it to be rambling.
Maybe not the best intro to Henri de Lubac, and certainly not the easiest book to follow, but one that is definitely worth reading and will certainly repay multiple readings.
I was given this book several Christmases ago back in my apologetics craze. I guess I started reading it with the wrong expectations. The book divides into three or four sections. First, Henri de Lubac gives a thorough (if at times dense) analysis of the major atheist leaders: Marx, Feurbach, and Comte, Comte providing a foil for a brief Christian response. He thoroughly outlines and deconstructs Comte.
Per Marx: I would probably start somewhere else. But definitely find deconstructions of Marx, as we are seeing Evangelical institutions beginning to cater to Cultural (if not economic) Marxism.
Per Feuerbach: He provided Marx with his break from Hegel. Hegel said that consciousness or Mind precedes matter. Essence precedes existence. For all of the terrible wrongs Hegel is guilty of, he is correct on this point. Marx, through Feuerbach, inverted this. Existence precedes essence. Indeed, there is no essence.
Per Comte: Your modern sociology class.
The next section is on Dostoevsky the prophet. Compares and contrasts Nietszche. Sheds a lot of light on some of Dostoevsky's lesser-known works.
The final section is "Search for a New Man." The first part of this is rather good. He gives several brief, short critiques of "progressivism" and ends with a plea for a new Christian Humanism. His criticism of Marxism's historicism is perfect (and too long to post here. His discussion of "the supernatural" was sublime.
The supernatural is not a higher, more beautiful, or more fruitful nature...it is the irruption of a wholly different principle. The sudden opening of a kind of fourth dimension, without proportion of any kind to all the progress provided in the natural dimension (466).
The final part of the book is about Nietszche's mystical experiences. Aside from a few good quotes here and there, I found it to be rambling.
Maybe not the best intro to Henri de Lubac, and certainly not the easiest book to follow, but one that is definitely worth reading and will certainly repay multiple readings.
