A Theological Journey Book

Preface     vii
Introduction: The Road Traveled     1
From Salvation to Reflection     1
Our Proposed Itinerary     5
The Scriptures     7
Scriptural Principles     7
Awaiting Christ     7
Saint Paul     10
The Synoptic Gospels     12
Saint John     13
Conclusion     14
The Period of the "Fathers" and of the "Councils': Spiritual Worship and Mystical Theology     15
The Encounter with Hellenistic Culture     15
Christ     17
Understanding the Scriptures     19
The Divine Names     20
The Contribution of Philosophy     21
The Way to Orthodoxy     22
The Question of Evil     23
The Church     25
Conclusion     25
The Middle Ages: The Road to Christian Humanism     29
The Renewal of the Old Paradigm     30
Jesus' Humanity in Its Weakness     30
The Movement of the "Spiritual Franciscans"     32
Saint Bonaventure (1221-1274)     32
Acclimation to the New Thinking     34
Human Autonomy     34
The Scope of Language     35
Aristotle     36
Averroist Thought in the Universities     37
St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)     37
The Question of Evil     39
Conclusions     40
Confrontation     40
Evaluation by the Church     41
Christian Reflection: Setting Off the Human     42
The Modern Period: The Enigma of Motion     45
A Decisive Turning Point     45
Transition from Antiquity to Modernity     45
A Hypothesis Regarding Modernity     48
Stages of Modernity     48
Triumphant and Wretched Modernity     50
Triumphant Modernity     50
The Nominalist Option     50
The New Shape of the World     51
The Mastery of the Human     51
The Awareness of Time and History     53
The Social Contract     55
Theology that is Rational     56
Wretched Modernity     58
The Anti-Modern Reform     59
The Modernity of the Reform     60
Conclusion to Triumphant and Wretched Modernity     62
Dialectical Modernity     63
The Return of Theology     63
Dialectical Materialism      65
Catholicism in Disarray     68
Conclusion: Critical Modernity     70
Theology in Outline     73
An Overview of the Route Traveled     73
A Hypothesis: Desire, Tragedy, and "Tragic Misfortune"     76
Time and Divine Covenant     79
Christianity and a Space for Memory     79
The End-Time     80
Anthropology     81
Tragedy, Love, and Death     81
"Tragic Misfortune": Human Failure     83
Christ     85
The Death and Resurrection of Christ: Tragedy     85
The Impact of Human Failure and the Nature of Redemption: "Tragic Misfortune"     86
God     87
The Language of Revelation and Trinitarian Love     89
The Limits of Talk about "Kenosis"     90
Brief Reflections on the Suffering of God     91
Church and the World     94
Liturgy     94
Ethics     95
Conclusion     99
Creation and Being     101
Ethics     103
Metaphysics     106
Creation     109
The Being of God     110
The Sacraments      113
Conclusion     114
Conclusion: Open to the Future     117
Toward a World in the Form of Christendom     119
Toward a World in the Form of Globalization     121
A Glossary of Terms     127
Writings in English by and about Ghislain Lafont, O.S.B.     137
Suggestions for Further Reading     139
Index of Names     145
Index of Subjects     147