What does grace do to human nature?

In general, I love writing. It’s how I think and process. Justice Scalia was known to say, “I don’t enjoy writing; I enjoy having written.” I feel solidarity with the late justice this week. Lots going at work and home. I’m heading to Providence this weekend to give two workshops at the Diocese of Providence Convocation. If you’re in the area, please consider attending!

Here’s the prompt for de Lubac: Scholarly readings of de Lubac are often critical of his account of nature and grace, something that you’ve seen in one of the lectures for this week. In this response, either defend or critique de Lubac based on what you’ve read in the text that we read this week. Does de Lubac fall into the intrinsicist trap? Make sure that you prove this point based on your reading of de Lubac himself.  

At the end of A Brief Catechesis on Nature and Grace, Henri de Lubac quotes Ratzinger, “a Christianity which offers man something less than making him God is too modest” (172). This bold and continuous refrain connects Christian thought and hope, from Ratzinger, through de Lubac, to early Church Fathers like Saint Athanasius, who wrote, “God became man that man might become God.” These statements reveal several points that de Lubac expands upon in his Catechesis. First, human nature is distinct from divine nature. Second, God infuses human nature with divine grace, transfiguring human nature to “supernatural.” Third, the Divine Nature, revealed in the Incarnation, offers salvation to humanity, and with grace, humanity may freely turn from sin toward the teleological end of unity with God in eternity.

De Lubac employs precise vocabulary in his Catechesis. His treatment of “nature”, “supernatural”, “grace”, and “sin” merit careful attention. Some have criticized de Lubac as being an “intrinsicist” — someone who professes that creation already possesses divine grace and is supernatural perhaps even without grace. This blog reviews de Lubac’s understanding of these terms, and when rightly understood, we can see that de Lubac was keenly aware of humanity’s need for God’s grace and salvation through Christ. De Lubac was not an intrinsicist.

Defining Human Nature

              De Lubac professes the fundamental Christian anthropology that God created humanity in His image and likeness (see Gen 1:26). “Human nature” or what is “natural” is anything that does not derive from divine adoption in man, even if it does derive from the spirit and liberty in him” (13).  Notice that “liberty” is part of human nature (we’ll return to this later). This definition may seem opaque, but de Lubac is distinguishing between human nature, God’s grace acting within human nature, and divine nature. An intrinsicist would see human nature as already possessing divine grace. De Lubac notes, however, that human nature does not derive from divine adoption because he believes in the necessity of God’s grace to penetrate human nature.

Within human nature, de Lubac sees profound dignity. De Lubac is troubled by a growing perception in some theological and anthropological circles that humanity is mere atoms and human creatures are “free agents” in the cosmos (17). Human creatures are beloved! Relying on Saint John Paul II, de Lubac reminds, “man is the image of God; [] he cannot be reduced to a mere atom in universal nature or an anonymous element in the human race” (17 quoting Saint JPII).

De Lubac believes that humanity was made for unity with God. Quoting Saint Leo the Great de Lubac reminds us, “O man, awaken! Know the dignity of thy nature; remember that thou wert made in God’s own image” (18)! While human nature is certainly distinct from the divine, human nature bears the image of the divine. Even though de Lubac sees a restlessness of humanity for the divine within human nature, according to de Lubac, humanity needs more than human nature for unity with God.

The Work of Grace – Elevating Human Nature to the Supernatural

               As Athanasius wrote, “God became man that man might become God,” yet humanity cannot divinize itself (41). God’s grace “penetrates” human nature, elevating it, so that human creatures become “partakers in the divine nature” (2 Pet 1:4). In this, human nature is transfigured to the supernatural. “The influx of God’s spirit does not remain external to man, that without any comingling of natures; it really leaves its mark on our nature and becomes in us a principle of life” (42). De Lubac’s understanding that grace affects human nature by “comingling” human nature and the divine nature further reveals that he is not an intrinsicist; grace infused into human nature is necessary for salvation.

De Lubac also avoids “extrinsicim” or the idea that the supernatural is something extra or added onto human nature. De Lubac takes great care in language to ensure that readers understand that the supernatural is not a “supernature” with unique substance. Rather, rightly understood, grace penetrates, elevates, and transfigures human nature (36-37) even “remolding” or “exorcising” it (86). Saint John of the Cross beautifully held in concert the dignity of human nature and the effusive beauty of its supernatural elevation: “the supernatural permeates and spiritualizes the natural order, without, for all that, depriving it of its rights and riches” (86).

Interestingly, De Lubac attends to the grammar of nature and supernatural. He notes that “nature” is a noun. We name human nature because we can fully experience it. Human nature is proper to humanity. It is comprehensible. However, “supernatural,” is an adjective. De Lubac maintains a careful circumspection, which maybe even some apophaticism, in defining “supernatural.” Much like Moses’ attempt to know the name of God, we can only articulate the supernatural insofar as God reveals it (33-34). Thus it is fitting to understand “supernatural” adjectivally.

On the Incarnation and Salvation

“One cannot move from man to God by ‘walking forward on the same level’” of human nature (32). The abyss between creature and Creator can be bridged only ‘by the marvelous invention of divine charity,’ the Incarnation of Jesus Christ (32). Jesus, like His mission, belongs to a “different order” (166).

Jesus draws human nature into the life of the Divine. However, human creatures have put at least two obstacles in the way of participation in Jesus’ divine life. The first obstacle is sin. De Lubac defines that “Sin is not the simple refusal to abide by a law, even a divine law, but a refusal of God’s invitation to share his life” (169). Recall that de Lubac identified liberty an aspect of human nature. A person must be free to choose and accept Christ’s offer of reconciliation, forgiveness, and salvation. Sin inhibits human liberty. De Lubac understands that liberty has been wounded (but not completely destroyed) through sin, and sin perpetuates antagonism between human nature and grace. Humanity requires grace in order to elevate human nature and freely turn from sin.

De Lubac hears Augustine’s words “Our souls are restless until they find their rest in you O God,” as an expression of the experience of a sinful man who understands his sinful state as antagonistic to grace and participation in the divine life (115). This is not the belief of an intrisicist; this is the belief of someone who knows humanity’s yearning for God.

The Church’s Evangelical Responsibility

Especially in modern culture, de Lubac identifies “bedazzling” self-sufficiency and a denial of even the existence of sin as the second obstacle to life with Christ. He notes that we dismiss sin as psychology or relativism, or deny it completely because we profess ourselves as final arbiters of morality. With so many cunning alternatives to God, de Lubac asks, “Would man with good sense today still want to become God” (171)?  

In this de Lubac reminds readers of the evangelical mission of the Church, “This salvation, this sharing in the divine life, was offered to man in Crist; and the Church of Christ has received the commission to transmit it to all generations” (170). For de Lubac, part of this evangelistic mission is avoiding the trap of intrinsicism or extrinsicism and reintroducing an understanding of human nature, and God’s movement, through human nature, both through grace imparted to us, and through the Incarnation to draw us into the divine.