Bernard Lonergan

Thematically focused on the theology of redemption or what is called in theology "soteriology," each of the two sections of The Redemption addresses biblical literature and significant moments in the history of Christian theology, and especially the work of Anselm of Canterbury. The second part of the book presents a significant treatment of the problem of good and evil, and introduces the important category of cultural evil. Most significant from the standpoint of Lonergan's original contribution is the treatment accorded in both Part 1 and Part 2 to what he calls "the just and mysterious law of the cross." The treatment of biblical literature contains a valuable distinction between "redemption as end" and "redemption as medium." Beginning with theses 15-17 from Lonergan's Collected Works, The Incarnate Word, this volume also includes rare and never-before-published texts originally written in the late 1950s.

Thematically focused on the theology of redemption or what is called in theology "soteriology," each of the two sections of The Redemption addresses biblical literature and significant moments in the history of Christian theology, and especially the work of Anselm of Canterbury. The second part of the book presents a significant treatment of the problem of good and evil, and introduces the important category of cultural evil. Most significant from the standpoint of Lonergan's original contribution is the treatment accorded in both Part 1 and Part 2 to what he calls "the just and mysterious law of the cross." The treatment of biblical literature contains a valuable distinction between "redemption as end" and "redemption as medium." Beginning with theses 15-17 from Lonergan's Collected Works, The Incarnate Word, this volume also includes rare and never-before-published texts originally written in the late 1950s.

Method in Theology stands with Insight as Bernard Lonergan’s most important work. It is Lonergan’s answer to those who would argue that in this time of cultural change and dissolution, the believer is afloat on a sea of multiplying theologies, without rudder or compass. Lonergan was resolute in his refusal to be defeatist on this point. While agreeing that theology must continually change to mediate between religion and culture, he worked out an integral method to guide and control this ongoing process. Method in Theology is the fruit of this labour. This critical edition has benefited from extensive research into Lonergan's typescripts and from consulting the recordings from several institutes where he lectured over the course of the work’s development. Lonergan's intention was to provide a set of methods that would guide a collaborative community in the ongoing construction of a theology that would move from recovery of the data through resolution of conflicts to contemporary formulations and applications. With this work, the cognitional theory of Insight: A Study of Human Understanding underwent a surprising set of developments in the form of what he calls functional specialization.

Method in Theology stands with Insight as Bernard Lonergan’s most important work. It is Lonergan’s answer to those who would argue that in this time of cultural change and dissolution, the believer is afloat on a sea of multiplying theologies, without rudder or compass. Lonergan was resolute in his refusal to be defeatist on this point. While agreeing that theology must continually change to mediate between religion and culture, he worked out an integral method to guide and control this ongoing process. Method in Theology is the fruit of this labour. This critical edition has benefited from extensive research into Lonergan's typescripts and from consulting the recordings from several institutes where he lectured over the course of the work’s development. Lonergan's intention was to provide a set of methods that would guide a collaborative community in the ongoing construction of a theology that would move from recovery of the data through resolution of conflicts to contemporary formulations and applications. With this work, the cognitional theory of Insight: A Study of Human Understanding underwent a surprising set of developments in the form of what he calls functional specialization.

A Third Collection, prepared for the Collected Works of Bernard Lonergan by editors Robert M. Doran and John D. Dadosky, is a helpful companion to volumes four and thirteen in the series. The volume contains fifteen papers, written between 1974 and 1982, and includes some of his most important shorter writings such as "Prolegomena to the Study of the Emerging Religious Consciousness of Our Time" and "Natural Right and Historical Mindedness." The relevant archival entries are specified, so that readers can consult them. The papers in this volume rehearse in a new key the themes of a lifetime. Without in any way going back on the major emphases of Lonergan's early work–cognitional theory and then the exploration of a fourth, existential level of consciousness– they are focused more on love and on the movement from above downwards in consciousness. Community is emphasized as the context and the fruit of the emergence of authentic subjects.

A Third Collection, prepared for the Collected Works of Bernard Lonergan by editors Robert M. Doran and John D. Dadosky, is a helpful companion to volumes four and thirteen in the series. The volume contains fifteen papers, written between 1974 and 1982, and includes some of his most important shorter writings such as "Prolegomena to the Study of the Emerging Religious Consciousness of Our Time" and "Natural Right and Historical Mindedness." The relevant archival entries are specified, so that readers can consult them. The papers in this volume rehearse in a new key the themes of a lifetime. Without in any way going back on the major emphases of Lonergan's early work–cognitional theory and then the exploration of a fourth, existential level of consciousness– they are focused more on love and on the movement from above downwards in consciousness. Community is emphasized as the context and the fruit of the emergence of authentic subjects.

For the edition of A Second Collection prepared for the Collected Works of Bernard Lonergan, editors Robert M. Doran and John D. Dadosky have added archival materials directly related to almost every one of the papers, bringing the reader closer to the original compositions. The papers date from 1966 to 1973, and span the most creative period in Lonergan’s development. Two major themes run through these papers: the primacy of the fourth, existential level of human consciousness, and the significance of historical mindedness with all its implications for culture, hermeneutics, and phenomenological thinking. The theme of conversion makes a grand entrance in ‘Theology in Its New Context,’ a paper that charted the course for the unfolding of Method in Theology. This new edition makes extensive use of original manuscripts, variants in drafts of the essays, and hand-written corrections.

For the edition of A Second Collection prepared for the Collected Works of Bernard Lonergan, editors Robert M. Doran and John D. Dadosky have added archival materials directly related to almost every one of the papers, bringing the reader closer to the original compositions. The papers date from 1966 to 1973, and span the most creative period in Lonergan’s development. Two major themes run through these papers: the primacy of the fourth, existential level of human consciousness, and the significance of historical mindedness with all its implications for culture, hermeneutics, and phenomenological thinking. The theme of conversion makes a grand entrance in ‘Theology in Its New Context,’ a paper that charted the course for the unfolding of Method in Theology. This new edition makes extensive use of original manuscripts, variants in drafts of the essays, and hand-written corrections.

The Incarnate Word contains the first four of five parts in Bernard Lonergan’s De Verbo Incarnato, a Latin textbook for the course he taught at the Gregorian University in Rome. Fully translated and annotated, it brings to a wider audience Lonergan’s major contribution to Christology, the doctrine concerning the person of Christ. In this work, Lonergan applies his unique theory of consciousness to the question of the nature of Christ, the book offers a rich and provocative treatment of Christ’s consciousness and his human knowledge. The Incarnate Word presents the original Latin and the first-ever English translation of the text on facing pages. The volume includes not only the final text of De Verbo Incarnato but also material which Lonergan had rewritten or eliminated from the 1964 Gregorian University edition.

The Incarnate Word contains the first four of five parts in Bernard Lonergan’s De Verbo Incarnato, a Latin textbook for the course he taught at the Gregorian University in Rome. Fully translated and annotated, it brings to a wider audience Lonergan’s major contribution to Christology, the doctrine concerning the person of Christ. In this work, Lonergan applies his unique theory of consciousness to the question of the nature of Christ, the book offers a rich and provocative treatment of Christ’s consciousness and his human knowledge. The Incarnate Word presents the original Latin and the first-ever English translation of the text on facing pages. The volume includes not only the final text of De Verbo Incarnato but also material which Lonergan had rewritten or eliminated from the 1964 Gregorian University edition.

This volume is the first of two that treat Bernard Lonergan’s courses on method at the Gregorian University in Rome between 1959 and 1963. An earlier volume (22), Early Works on Theological Method 1, contains a record of the institutes on method that Lonergan conducted in North America between 1962 and 1968. This volume is presented with the original Latin and an English translation on facing pages. Among the documents featured in Volume 23 are two complete texts written or approved by Lonergan: “Understanding and Method” (1959) and “The Method of Theology” (1962). Also included are Lonergan’s own text of a portion of the 1959 course “System and Method,” as well as editorial reports on the remainder of that course and on the 1961 revised course on “Understanding and Method.” Finally, the book contains an appendix with short materials found in the Lonergan archives relevant to the 1962 course “The Method of Theology.”

Continuing where Volume 23 left off, Volume 24 of the Collected Works of Bernard Lonergan traces the background to Lonergan’s notion of functional specialization as it emerges in his Latin courses and seminars on method. This volume contains editorial reports based on Lonergan’s handwritten notes for two courses in 1963, both entitled “Method in Theology.” Also included is the lecture “De Notione Structurae,” dating from 1964, along with an English translation on facing pages. Together with Volumes 22 and 23, Early Works on Theological Method 3 provides readers with a thorough presentation of the data on Lonergan’s development through the 1960s as he worked out what became the classic book Method in Theology (1972).

Early Latin Theology presents seven of Bernard Lonergan's most important early theological works in English translation and the original Latin on facing pages under one cover for the first time. First composed as supplements to the texts he used in his courses, these writings are considered to be Lonergan's initial efforts in the functional specialty he would come to call ‘systematics.’ They also represent ideas that would remain constant throughout his career. Among the significant works included is ‘Supplementary Notes on Sanctifying Grace.’ This seminal essay contains what is likely Lonergan's most complete systematic treatment of the topic, and a much more extensive presentation of Lonergan's four-point hypothesis regarding the divine relations and created grace than many have previously read.

The renowned Christian theologian Bernard Lonergan was also a professor, teaching courses on theological method at universities in Canada, the United States, and Italy. This volume records his lectures and teaching materials, thus preserving and elucidating his intellectual development between the publication of Insight in 1957 and Method in Theology in 1972. The present volume contains a record of the lectures delivered in 1962 (Regis College, Toronto), 1964 (Georgetown University), and 1968 (Boston College). This is the most 'interactive' volume yet published in the Collected Works series. The audio recordings of the 1962 and 1968 lectures are now available on the website www.bernardlonergan.com, as are PDF files of original papers from his 1964 institute at Georgetown. These lectures help to elucidate the development of Lonergan's ideas on such key notions as horizon, conversion, and meaning, as well as his evolving opinion on how best to divide theology into fields of specialization.

The renowned Christian theologian Bernard Lonergan was also a professor, teaching courses on theological method at universities in Canada, the United States, and Italy. This volume records his lectures and teaching materials, thus preserving and elucidating his intellectual development between the publication of Insight in 1957 and Method in Theology in 1972. The present volume contains a record of the lectures delivered in 1962 (Regis College, Toronto), 1964 (Georgetown University), and 1968 (Boston College). This is the most 'interactive' volume yet published in the Collected Works series. The audio recordings of the 1962 and 1968 lectures are now available on the website www.bernardlonergan.com, as are PDF files of original papers from his 1964 institute at Georgetown. These lectures help to elucidate the development of Lonergan's ideas on such key notions as horizon, conversion, and meaning, as well as his evolving opinion on how best to divide theology into fields of specialization.

Written in Latin for students at the Gregorian University in Rome, Bernard Lonergan's De Deo Trino (The Triune God) is a monumental two-part examination of trinitarian theology published initially in 1961 and again, in revised form, in 1964. The first part, the pars dogmatica, is here translated into English in an edition that includes the original Latin on facing pages. The work begins with the Prolegomena, which traces the dialectical development of trinitarian doctrine by Christian thinkers from the time of the New Testament to the Council of Nicea (AD 325). Following is a discussion of five theses outlining the evolution of the principal features of trinitarian doctrine from the New Testament through the patristic era. Along with its companion volume on systematics, The Triune God: Doctrines represents the most comprehensive treatment of trinitarian theology in recent centuries. This English translation ensures that Lonergan's masterpiece will at last be available in its entirety to contemporary readers.

Buried for more than forty years in a Latin text written for seminarians at the Gregorian University in Rome, Bernard Lonergan’s important work on systematic theology, De Deo Trino: Pars systematica, is presented here for the first time in a facing-page edition that includes the original Latin along with a precise English translation. De Deo Trino, or The Triune God, the second part of which is the pars systematica, continues a particular strand in trinitarian theology, namely, the tradition that appeals to a psychological analogy for understanding trinitarian processions and relations. The psychological analogy dates back to St Augustine but was significantly developed by St Thomas Aquinas. Lonergan advances it to a new level of understanding by bringing to it his extensive exploration of cognitional theory and deliberative process. Suggestions for a further development of the analogy appear in Lonergan’s late work, but these cannot be fully comprehended and implemented without the background provided in this volume. With this definitive translated edition, one of the masterpieces of systematic theology, will at last be available to contemporary scholars.

As a prolific scholar and theologian, Bernard Lonergan authored a significant amount of material aside from the works with which he is commonly associated. Shorter Papers is a collection of lesser-known items written by Lonergan over the course of his career. Together, they offer privileged access to the author's thought and work, as well as a glimpse at some of his most personal qualities. The items in this volume extend from some of the earliest writings – the Blandyke Papers, for instance, which predates any of the materials represented in the Collected Works – to pieces written near the end of Lonergan's life. Organized chronologically, they give an impression of his development as a writer, his ever-strengthening religious commitment, and his role as teacher. As a sampling of pieces from the late 1920s to the early 1980s, Shorter Papers testifies to the cumulative impact of Lonergan's work, as well as to the amazing continuity that he maintained throughout his career as an author and intellectual.

A companion to Philosophical and Theological Papers 1958-1964 (Volume 6 in the Collected Works of Bernard Lonergan series), this anthology contains Lonergan's lectures on philosophy and theology given during the later period of his life, 1965-1980. These papers document his development in the discipline during the years leading up to the publication of Method in Theology, and beyond to 1980 when he was more engaged in his writings and seminars on macroeconomics. Philosophical and Theological Papers 1965-1980 is divided into five sections, forming units on the basis of dates. The three central sections are each a set of lectures respectively given at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Gonzaga University in Spokane, and Trinity College (University of Toronto). Although there is some repetition amongst the lecture sets and in relation to other more familiar works, this repetition displays occasional new turns of phrase that the careful reader will note. In at least one instance, familiar material suddenly opens out onto expressions not to be found anywhere else in Lonergan's work. Other very interesting developments regard the movement from speaking of the immutability of dogmas to their permanence of meaning and the permutations among 'real self-transcendence,' 'performative self-transcendence,' and 'moral self-transcendence.'

A companion to Philosophical and Theological Papers 1958-1964 (Volume 6 in the Collected Works of Bernard Lonergan series), this anthology contains Lonergan's lectures on philosophy and theology given during the later period of his life, 1965-1980. These papers document his development in the discipline during the years leading up to the publication of Method in Theology, and beyond to 1980 when he was more engaged in his writings and seminars on macroeconomics. Philosophical and Theological Papers 1965-1980 is divided into five sections, forming units on the basis of dates. The three central sections are each a set of lectures respectively given at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Gonzaga University in Spokane, and Trinity College (University of Toronto). Although there is some repetition amongst the lecture sets and in relation to other more familiar works, this repetition displays occasional new turns of phrase that the careful reader will note. In at least one instance, familiar material suddenly opens out onto expressions not to be found anywhere else in Lonergan's work. Other very interesting developments regard the movement from speaking of the immutability of dogmas to their permanence of meaning and the permutations among 'real self-transcendence,' 'performative self-transcendence,' and 'moral self-transcendence.'