Nature and Grace : A New Approach to Thomistic Ressourcement

A contribution to the debate regarding nature and grace, offering a perspective based on the insights of the 19th-century German theologian Matthias Scheeben.

Conventional wisdom has it that thinking on nature and grace among Roman Catholic intellectuals between the sixteenth century and the eve of Vatican II was severely clouded by the work of Cajetan and his fellow Thomistic commentators. Henri de Lubac has rightly been given credit for pointing this out; and to all appearances, de Lubac's influence won the day, as can be seen by the imprint of his thought upon not just the Second Vatican Council, but also the pontifi cates of John Paul II and Benedict XVI.
In recent years, however, a new crop of Thomistic scholars has arisen who question whether de Lubac's word on nature and grace should be the last; hence, the debate over the nature-grace relation, so heated in the mid-twentieth century, has been stirred once again. Andrew Dean Swafford here offers a 'third way' by way of the nineteenth-century German theologian, Matthias J. Scheeben, who has been neglected in academic appraisals of the subject until now. Swafford shows that Scheeben captures the very best of both sides, while at the same time avoiding the characteristic pitfalls so often alleged against each.

Andrew Dean Swafford holds a Doctorate in Sacred Theology from the University of St Mary of the Lake, Mundelein Seminary, and a Master's degree in Old Testament and Semitic Languages from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. He is a contributing author to 30-Second Bible (2012) and is currently an Assistant Professor of Theology at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas.