The Christian Faith
Henri de Lubac's "La foi chrétienne" emerged from his decades of wrestling with the relationship between faith and reason in an increasingly secular age. Writing in 1969 amid the intellectual upheavals following Vatican II, the French Jesuit theologian sought to articulate a mature understanding of Christian faith that could engage honestly with modern philosophical challenges while remaining rooted in the Church's theological tradition.
De Lubac argues that Christian faith is neither blind acceptance nor mere intellectual assent, but rather a total response of the human person to God's self-revelation. He traces how faith involves both the mind's recognition of truth and the will's commitment to that truth, showing how these dimensions cannot be separated without distorting faith itself. The work examines how faith relates to knowledge, demonstrating that while faith transcends reason, it does not contradict it. De Lubac addresses contemporary objections to religious belief, particularly those arising from scientific materialism and existentialist philosophy, arguing that faith actually fulfills rather than negates human rational capacity. He explores how faith functions as both a personal act and participation in the Church's communal believing, showing how individual and ecclesial dimensions of faith interpenetrate.
This work represents de Lubac's mature synthesis of themes he developed throughout his career, offering a nuanced theological anthropology of believing that has influenced subsequent Catholic theology. His treatment of faith as simultaneously personal and ecclesial helped shape post-conciliar understanding of how individual believers relate to the Church's tradition. The book remains valuable for its careful philosophical analysis combined with pastoral sensitivity to modern believers' struggles with doubt and uncertainty.
Who should read this: Theologians, philosophy students, and educated Catholics seeking a sophisticated treatment of faith's rational dimensions will find de Lubac's analysis rewarding. This is not an introductory work and assumes familiarity with scholastic terminology and modern philosophical movements.